Latest Review
Reviewed by: Sig
on 04/23/09:
I moved recently to SF from NYC. Didn't really know anyone and unlike NYC you don't run into people all the time. Started taking my dog to Daniel Koshland Park in the morning and found an awesome community that's really sweet and caring. They make my days start so much better.
The day I fo...
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Mission
CommunityGrows is an environmental education program serving high-needs youth, especially those living in public housing in San Francisco. Youth acquire the necessary skills to live a healthy life through garden education, nutritious cooking and eating, and green jobs training.
Key Facts
Geographic areas served:
Western Addition/Hayes Valley San Francisco
Target demographics:
low-income, high needs youth, especially those living in public housing in San Francisco’s Western Addition neighborhoods
Results to date:
Renovation of Rose-Page Mini Park-1999
Renovation of Koshland Park-2002
DPH-7 Principles Project-Infant Mortality Nutrition Grant-2003
Environmental Adventures-Urban kids Outdoors-2004-2005
Community Learning Garden-Koshland Park Upgrades-2007-2008
San Francisco PEACE WALL Installation-2007
John Muir Elementary School Green Schoolyard Project-1996-present
BEET Rangers-Teen Stipended Envir Ed & Green Jobs Training-2007-present
LetUsGrow Summer Camp-2006-present
Seed-to-Mouth Cooking Classes at housing development and at Modern Tea Restaurant-2006-present
Park Monthly Workdays-1994-present
Direct beneficiaries per year:
500 youth and 400 adults (from John Muir School, Hayes Valley North & South Redevelopment, YMCA Beacon Center, Park stewards and volunteers for five parks/gardens, families receiving produce, participants at events, workshops, celebrations).
Indirect beneficiaries per year:
500 people who use the parks and gardens, and families and friends of the people we serve
Obstacles:
Difficulty funding staff and director’s salary and organization’s operating expenses.
With 3 hours a volunteer can:
help us at our workdays-sign up for our newsletter by sending your e-mails;
help us with developing a flash animation;
become our volunteer coordinator;
help with office filing and organizing.
What your donation will allow us to do:
keep our programs alive and thriving!
Your donation of $50
enables us to:
enroll one youth in our after school cooking class at Modern Tea Restaurant for five weeks.
Your donation of $100
enables us to:
enroll one youth in our summer LetUsGrow Camp for one week
Your donation of $500
enables us to:
support the salary of one Garden Educator to plan a BEET Rangers outing to a green partner site.
Board Members and Affiliation:
Sheryl Davis, Director, Mo’ Magic-Western Addition
Sara Moren, Business Planner
Elizabeth Sullivan, founder City Car Share
Oscar Wolters-Duran, Blue Thistle Consulting
Auria Styles, Apple
Past and Current Funders:
City and County of San Francisco: Dept of Children, Youth and Families, Community Development, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, Community Challenge Grant, Neighborhood Services
The San Francisco Foundation
The Stewardship Council
Rose Foundation-Northern California Environmental Grassroot Fund
Center on Ecoliteracy
San Francisco Educational Fund
The Koshland Family
Community Challenge Grant
San Francisco Parks Trust
Kaiser Permanente
Union Bank
African American Arts and Culture Center
Key Staff
Barbara Wenger, Director
Nora Brereton, Environmental Educator, Garden Coordinator
Elokin Orton, Environmental Educator, BEET Rangers Coordinator
Description
In addition to the advocacy and fundraising undertaken during its history, CommunityGrows currently oversees seven related initiatives. All of its programs and activities are structured to meet its mission and to empower all youth and their families to be healthy, safe and to positively impact their community. The organization's current major initiatives include the following:
Programs
Koshland Park Community Learning Garden
This garden is located in the lower part of Koshland Park, on the corner of Page and Buchanan Streets in San Francisco, CA. The garden is ground zero for most of our programs and serves hundreds of youth and neighbor each year. It is a 54- plot garden shared by the students of John Muir Elementary School and community gardeners.
The primary goals of the Community Learning Garden are to help at-risk youth in the community to develop an understanding and passion for nature, to build core academic and interpersonal skills, and to create a sense of community and caring between neighborhood youth and adults.
Environmental Education Classes
• John Muir Elementary School-Western Addition Beacon Center and Hayes Valley Youth Center
Our environmental education classes with John Muir Elementary School offer the Science Content Standards to all students. These classes help students improve their learning through hands-on experience and activities in the outdoor classroom at the Koshland Park Garden. Students also have an opportunity to continue their learning in our afterschool and summer programs.
• Garden Workdays with groups, high schools and youth organizations
Numerous groups, high schools and youth organizations work with CommunityGrows on a regular basis, bringing their youth to the Koshland Park garden for classes in gardening, composting and park maintenance.
BEETS-Band of Environmentally Educated and Employable Teens
We are also hoping to continue our successful BEETS Program (Band of Environmentally Educated and Employed Teens), a green jobs training program for low-income, underserved teens in the Western Addition. This is a six-month stipend program that meets every other Saturday for six hours and every Wednesday after school (for 1.5 hours). Some of the activities include workshops on recycling (Norcal Transfer); nutrition (Next Course): composting (Garden for the Environment); bike maintenance (SF Bike Kitchen). There is also organic gardening, harvesting and cooking nutritional foods. There are field trips to Marin Headlands, Crissy Field, Alemany and Green Gulch Farms. SF Recreation and Park Department teaches participants how to use tools and assists them in maintain five local parks.
LetUsGrow Summer Camp
Begun in 2005, our environmental summer camp, LetUsGrow, offers youth and teen counselors, three weeks of garden fun. Camp started each day with breakfast donated by Kate’s Kitchen, which was followed by fieldtrips, gardening and arts activities and ending with a healthy lunch. Some of our adventures are trips to Green Gulch Farm in Marin County, Alemany Farm in San Francisco, the Arboretum, the Civic Center Farmers Market, painting watercolors of our garden, gardening, composting, and a graduation with our parents.
Seed-to-Mouth Cooking Classes
Begun in 2005 with weekly classes at Modern Tea Restaurant in Hayes Valley and at the Hayes Valley Housing Complex, CommunityGrows offers neighborhood youth and their families, opportunities to prepare delicious, healthy meals with produce harvested from the Koshland Park Garden.
Western Addition Peace Wall at Koshland Park
This project, started in 1998, brought together over 1,000 people, members of churches, schools, and community based organizations to learn a peace empowerment process that culminated in painting tiles of what peace means to each person. Through the integration of the visual arts, a curriculum and program was taught that focused on tolerance, understanding, and non-violence, and collectively learned ways to develop positive and proactive solutions to resolving conflicts and defusing anger. The project has been developed and implemented by residents for residents—a true community endeavor.
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