Action Project

Garden Location
143-145 N. St. Nicholas Avenue
New York, NY 10026
United States

Youth Program
TRUCE Fitness and Nutrition Center

Setting out to do community survey.		Soil preparation; notice back wall, future Community Arts Team project.

Program Contact
Raymond Figueroa Jr.
wnorris@hcz.org

Gardener(s) involved in Action Project
Raymond Figueroa, Jr. [TFNC Nutrition Team Coordinator], Christine Peng [TRUCE Community Arts Coordinator (TCA)] , Shunua Rodriguez (TCA), Alexandra Reitzes (TCA), Emily Venizelos (Community Gardener)

Date of Action Project
January - July, 2003

Project Report
• Goal
The goal of our Garden Mosaic project was to reclaim a city-owned lot that had been abandoned for many years and develop a vegetable garden as part of our on-going nutrition education program at the TRUCE Fitness and Nutrition Center. In addition, the TRUCE Community Arts program saw an opportunity to develop an open-space for community-based art including an outdoor theatre.

This subsequently led to a partnership between the two programs that share the TRUCE name. Together we approached the local governing Community Board to seek their support for our garden project. Much to our disappointment, their response was very discouraging, as they informed us that our garden site was slated for real estate development.

During our neighborhood investigation, the Garden Mosaic Nutrition Team documented the lack of availability of fresh fruits and vegetables in our community. One of our members observed:

"...We came up with two conclusions from our survey. First, out of 43 stores and restaurants in our neighborhood, there are only 4 healthy spots according to the data on the map. Second, most of these healthy stores are near the commercial areas. We asked ourselves, 'Why is it that these healthy stores are near commercial areas? Why aren't more healthy stores in the residential areas where we live?'"

So we decided to do something about this problem by planting a vegetable garden in our community.

Calculating growing space for seedlings.		Transplanting tomato seedlings.

• Steps Taken
When the youth from the GM/Nutrition Team learned of the intentions of the local Community Board, they decided that it would be good idea to create a petition and circulate it in their neighborhood during the summer. In the course of two months, they collected 1,000 signatures from people in the Central Harlem community where they live, supporting the preservation of their garden.

As a result of our community survey, our vegetable gardening project also led to a partnership with a local non-profit organization that runs a community kitchen serving 700 free, nutritious dinners a day to hungry people in our community.

Since we had a bumper crop of collard greens, our team members thought it would be "cool" to give some of it to help the hungry in their community. Our GM/Nutrition Team youth harvested approximately 100 pounds of collards from our garden and donated it to the community kitchen.

We celebrated this harvest on October 1, 2003, calling it "UMOJA DAY OF HARVEST COMES TO HARLEM...UNITING HARLEM YOUTH WITH THEIR COMMUNITY". UMOJA is the first principle of KWANZAA and in the Swahili language it means unity. This event also took place during NY Harvest for NY kids Week (from September 27 to October 5, 2003) a statewide event sponsored by the State of New York.

The community kitchen director wrote us a letter recognizing our contribution. Part of it reads:

"Seeing the results of the hard work done by the youth involved in your garden was very rewarding. We were able to make excellent use of the collard greens grown, harvested and then donated to The Community Kitchen. The collards enhanced our menu plan exactly as we have been developing it. The use of fresh, naturally grown, produce remains our goal. The consumers that we serve expressed enthusiasm about the fresh collard greens and were pleased to know that they were grown right here in our community."

• Reflections
One of our team members wrote the following about the importance of our gardening project:

"The garden gives us a chance to work together as a team on a project to grow our own healthy foods. It also gives us a chance to see how good and tasty fresh fruits and vegetables are. Our gardening project is important, because it is the first thing people in the community see when they walk by TFNC. It shows them what we are all about. They see the discipline, hard work, and skills of the Nutrition Team."

Some of the youth kept journals to reflect their learning experiences in the garden. One of the journal entries from a Nutrition Team member talks about the gardening project in relation to the sharp increase in gang activity this summer among increasingly younger youth:

"Violence is something that can be abused all the time. The garden project takes your mind off of all that. It gives you a positive note, even when you want to beat someone up. The garden takes that anger out of you. Violence is like a drug; it is very addictive...once you start, and you cannot stop. TRUCE and the garden project help you to stop before you start."

In the future, team members expressed a desire to plant more vegetable gardens in our community wherever there are abandoned lots so that they could help more people in our community.

Garden petition being signed by local commmunity resident.		Umoja Harvest, collards to feed the hungry; art on back wall by TRUCE Community Arts Team.