Happy 5th Anniversary
City Green!
Happy 5th Anniversary City Green!
City Green is celebrating its Fifth Anniversary this year. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that it was five years ago that City Green broke ground on what was to be their first garden project, The Women of Faith Com-munity Garden on East 27th St. in Paterson. In just five years, City Green has helped plan and construct twelve gardens, built the City Green Learning Garden in Eastside Park, started and continues to implement science, nutrition and environmental education programs throughout Paterson communities and schools, and runs a variety of community gardening and beautification programs.
City Green continues with its New Ground community garden program and City Sprouts youth gardening program, working with the community to facilitate the creation of gardens for open space, growing food, environmental and nutrition education and neighborhood beautification.
Through programs at Paterson Public Schools, the YWCA, the Paterson Public Library, the Boys & Girls Club of Paterson, Straight and Narrow’s residential rehabilitation facility, St. Paul's Church and Community De-velopment Corporation, the YMCA of Paterson, NJ CDC’s Birch St. Apartments, and the City Green Learning Garden in Eastside Park, City Green has been successful in engaging Paterson's residents, families and children in growing healthy fresh food, creating green open spaces and growing opportunities for community collaboration and revitalization.
The City Green Learning Garden, constructed last year with the help of the city of Paterson, is a beautiful space where children learn about cultivating plants and exploring the environment while participating in fun and educational activities. There are vegetable and flower beds, bird and butterfly habitat gardens, native plantings, fruit trees, composting bins, learning stations and winding paths for exploration. This summer City Green will serve over 150 children at this garden weekly, and grow over 600 pounds of fresh produce to be taken home by the young gardeners and sold at “Green Markets” run by the high school interns.
In 2008, interns learned basic business and marketing skills by organizing and publicizing City Green’s first “Green Market”, selling cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, collard greens, and zucchini. Paterson families had an opportunity to buy fresh organic produce at prices as low as twenty five cents. City Green plans to expand the “Green Market” with an additional location near the Paterson Library this summer. Other programming at the Learning Gar-den includes “Family Days in the Garden,” “Green Your Block!” and Back Yard Gar-dener Workshops, as well as field trip programming for Paterson Public Schools.
This year, the City of Paterson gave City Green and the Eastside Park Neighborhood Association access to their unused greenhouse in Eastside Park adjacent to the City Green Learning Garden. The use of this greenhouse is an exciting step forward, and will support many of City Green’s gardening and beautification programs, including the “Green Your Block!” and Back Yard Gardener workshops. The greenhouse will also offer opportunities for internships and part time jobs for high school students.
In 2009, City Green looks forward to their sixth gardening season with the new Boys and Girls Club vegetable and flower Children’s Garden, new intergenerational garden program with seniors and youth gardeners at the YWCA, and the expansion of our school garden and environmental club programming. City Green will also continue to incorporate the arts, such as “Theater in the Garden” and “Poetry in the Garden” into their curriculum based on caring for and understanding the urban environment.
“We have accomplished in-credible feats in these past five years”, said Jennifer Papa, Executive Director of City Green. “City Green would never be where it is today if it weren’t for the many volun-teers, Americorps members, interns, the Passaic County Sheriff’s Labor Assistance Program, the support of the city of Paterson, and of course the generous support of our friends and the foun-dations and corporations that have supported us along the way.”
City Green has been generously supported by Kraft Nabisco Fair Lawn Bakery, The Geraldine R Dodge Foundation, The Henry and Marilyn Taub Foundation, Whole Foods Market Ridge-wood, The Captain Planet Foundation, local garden clubs, Van Vugt Nursery, and many individual donors.
With the new vegetable garden built by Michelle Obama on the grounds of the White House, City Green is on the cutting edge of a movement creating access to fresh af-fordable healthy food. “It is a very exciting time!” said Jennifer, “We are in full bloom!”
City Green, Inc. * PO Box 748, Ringwood, NJ 07456 * Phone (201) 444-7514 * Fax (201) 444-7515
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