Renew America Success Stories

Homeless Garden Project

Description

The Homeless Garden Project (HGP) employs homeless people in one of three city gardens in Santa Cruz, providing meaningful employment and a therapeutic environment. The food and flowers that are grown are sold at local Farmer's Markets, at natural food stores, to local restaurants and to shareholders participating in a Community Supported Agriculture program. Through this work, HGP endeavors to restore the biodynamic relationships within nature that generate fertility, renewable resources and sustainable agriculture.

The Homeless Garden Project was founded in May 1990 with a single garden on Pelton Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz. Since then, the project has expanded and now operates three gardens, each providing employment for the homeless and training in organic and sustainable agriculture.

The Pelton Avenue site grows the produce for the Community Supported Agriculture program. Local residents buy shares of the garden's anticipated harvest. In exchange for buying shares in advance, shareholders receive a bag of fresh, just-picked flowers and produce once a week for 29 weeks. A rich variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs are grown -- sunflowers, eggplant, melons, squash, peppers, tomatillos, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, cilantro, basil, parsley, dill, carrots, strawberries, lettuce and rutabagas-- all using organic methods, to provide shareholders a diverse diet.

The Women's Organic Flower Enterprise focuses on flower cultivation and arranging, and the Natural Bridges Farm grows flowers and vegetables to sell at the local Farmer's Markets.

The gardens take delivery of kitchen waste from local restaurants, which serves as the primary ingredient for compost.

The HGP offers a unique way to empower individuals who have been marginalized while simultaneously promoting environmental education and resource conservation. Organic waste from restaurants is put to use, vacant city lots are made productive, organic agricultural methods prevent erosion and reduce the use of pesticides and herbicides, and most important, people who want to work are given an opportunity.

Program Highlights

Pelton Avenue Garden

• This 2 1/2-acre site is owned by the city of Santa Cruz and slated for development. The site is being temporarily leased to HGP until the real estate market improves.
• Fifteen homeless are employed for $5.00 an hour, working 12 hours each week to grow a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers for shareholders in the Community Supported Agriculture project.

The Women's Organic Flower Enterprise (WOFE)

WOFE employs homeless and marginalized women to grow flowers in the 1/4-acre garden in downtown Santa Cruz across the street from the HGP offices, retail store and workshop. The flowers are then arranged or dried and crafted into wreaths and sold in the shop. In the winter, while the gardens are resting, WOFE offers employment in wreath making and candle making.

• The Natural Bridges Farm employs four homeless individuals who engage in sustainable agriculture practices to grow vegetables and flowers on a 2-acre plot. The flowers and produce are then sold at two local farmer's markets.

Vital Statistics

Program Management/Partnerships: The Homeless Garden Project began in May 1990 and is affiliated with the Santa Cruz Citizen's Committee for the Homeless, a nonprofit organization serving the homeless of Santa Cruz County. HGP is a member of the Golden West Chapter of the American Horticultural Therapy Association. HGP relies on the generous financial support of numerous organizations, individuals and agencies, and on the dedicated efforts of its volunteers.

Budget: $280,000 for 1996.

Community Served: The homeless population of Santa Cruz who receive job training and an income, and the "housed" community of Santa Cruz who can obtain fresh produce and help bridge the gap between themselves and the homeless through volunteer efforts in support of the program.

Measures of Success:

Since 1990, HGP has employed more than 100 homeless people in one or more of their gardens and paid out more than $200,000 in wages to these individuals.

The project's culinary herb wreaths are featured in the nationally-distributed Seventh Generation catalog.

Bill and Dave, two program participants who were trained at the Pelton Garden Project and became its head gardeners, are now directing the Natural Bridges Farm.

Success stories designed by Mark Nowak

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