Happy New Year Gardeners (and Happy Birthday GreenThumb)!
On behalf of the entire GreenThumb team, I want to thank and congratulate all of our 20,000 community gardeners on another amazing year. Your volunteer efforts – topping one million combined hours – continue to strengthen communities across our City. It goes
without saying that a neighborhood with a GreenThumb garden is one that is greener, healthier, and more united.
Did you know that 2018 marks GreenThumb’s 40th anniversary? GreenThumb was founded in 1978 to support neighborhood activists who had reclaimed vacant lots throughout the City and turned them into green oases. Today, 40 years later, GreenThumb’s mission to support
New Yorkers in coming together through the shared stewardship of open space remains as important as ever. We are thrilled and humbled at the prospect of another 40 years of partnership with you all, and we can’t wait to see what is possible in the decades
to come.
We can’t wait for the next season to begin, and we’re putting the finishing touches on a season-long celebration of our four decades supporting gardeners. Together, we’ll continue to green, beautify and strengthen communities across New York City in 2018.
Thank you so much for all that you do.
My best,
Bill LoSasso
Director, GreenThumb
Save the Date and Register Now!
34th Annual GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference
March 31, 8:30am-4pm
Borough of Manhattan Community College
199 Chambers Street,
New York, NY 10007
Directions:
Subway:
A, C, J, M, 1, 2, 3 to Chambers Street
R to City Hall
Buses:
M20, M22 – Stop outside College
M5 to Broadway and Chambers Street
Join NYC Parks GreenThumb for our annual GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference, where we’ll be “Honoring Our Roots” and kicking-off the community gardening season surprises. Check back in early March for an updated schedule of speakers and in New York City! The
day will be packed with workshops, kids’ activities, and fun workshops.
Join us in the celebration and
get your $5 discounted tickets here for GreenThumb GrowTogether today! Tickets at the door on the day of the conference will be $10.
The first 500 people to purchase discounted tickets in advance will receive a special 40th anniversary gift!
Call for Workshop Proposals
It’s that time of year again! We’re excited to invite you to
submit a workshop proposal for the 34th Annual GreenThumb GrowTogether Conference on Saturday, March 31.
Please complete the form here by Monday, January 8th.
All workshops will be confirmed by the first week in February.
Volunteers Needed for GrowTogether Conference
We are seeking volunteers to help with the annual GrowTogether conference! Must be 18 or older.
Register here to volunteer. Volunteers will assist with making sure the event runs smoothly, helping with a range of tasks from collecting compost to running youth activities
and registration. If you have any questions, please contact:
greenthumbinfo@parks.nyc.gov
Timeframe:
8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
News
MulchFest – January 6th & 7th
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Bring your holiday tree to a designated city park or garden to be recycled into mulch that will nourish plantings across the city. Join the NYC Parks, the
New York City Department of Sanitation, and
GreeNYC to recycle your trees into wood chips. These wood chips are used to nourish trees and plants on streets and gardens citywide. Or, take home your very own bag of mulch
to use in your backyard or to make a winter bed for a
street tree. More than 26,000 trees were recycled last year. Help us top this number!
For
MulchFest locations, please visit here.
Portable Toilet Rentals
GreenThumb has updated its process for reserving and paying for portable toilet rentals at registered GreenThumb gardens, effectively immediately. All orders for rentals from March 2018 – June 2018 must be received by GreenThumb and paid in full no later than
February 9, 2018. Please contact your Outreach Coordinator if you need a Request Form.
Snow Removal
Garden groups are reminded to keep sidewalks, walkways, and curbs inside and adjacent to the garden clean and free of snow and ice as per the
GreenThumb Handbook and license agreement. Please review
this snow removal guide to prepare for the winter season.
Bylaws Requirements for the 2019 Relicensing
As we get ready for the 2019 relicensing of all GreenThumb community gardens, we’d like to inform you that GreenThumb will be requiring all community garden groups under Parks jurisdiction to submit copies of their bylaws to their Outreach Coordinators as a
prerequisite to being licensed. We will be offering workshops on group structure and bylaws every quarter during 2018, and we encourage all members of your garden groups to attend these workshops if you haven’t already.
For
more information, please visit here.
GreenThumb Soil Requirements
Growing food in urban soils can be a challenge, and it is important that all food grown in GreenThumb gardens is done so in the safest manner possible. To help educate and support GreenThumb gardeners in growing food in the safest way, we have summarized GreenThumb’s
requirements and best practices on our
website here, and in more detail,
in this document. Please take a look, share with your fellow gardeners, and contact your Outreach Coordinator if you have further questions.
GreenThumb Volunteer Program
We have started a volunteer program to further connect volunteers from the community and beyond, with gardens that need assistance with occasional projects and beautification efforts. Potential projects include assistance with breaking down and building new
raised planting beds or planting bulbs. The continued success of community gardens come from the dedicated gardeners and community members critically up keeping the green space of their neighborhood. If you are interested in recruiting volunteers for your
garden or in volunteering with one of our community gardens please reach out to
Hauwa.Abubakar@parks.nyc.gov or call 212-602-5315.
2018 GreenThumb Youth Leadership Council
We’re recruiting youth ages 14 to 21 to volunteer in our fourth iteration of GreenThumb Youth Leadership Council (YLC) at these community gardens from May to early August. The YLC is a great way to give back to the community, earn volunteer hours, learn new
skills, and have fun! Youth are required to volunteer at a garden at least twice a month and accumulate at least 20 service hours.
| Borough | Neighborhood | Community Garden |
|---|---|---|
| Bronx | University Heights | Green Patch on Walton |
| Bronx | Melrose | Jardin de Roca |
| Bronx | Melrose | Melrose New Generation Community Garden |
| Bronx | Melrose | Rainbow Garden of Life and Health |
| Brooklyn | Brownsville | A Better Community Garden |
| Brooklyn | Park Slope | GreenSpace Native Plant Community Garden & Environmental Center |
| Brooklyn | Brownsville | Jes Good Rewards Children’s’ Garden |
| Brooklyn | East New York | St. John Cantius Parish Community Garden |
| Brooklyn | East New York | TLC Sculpture Park Garden |
| Manhattan | Hamilton Heights | Dorothy K. McGowan Memorial Garden |
| Manhattan | Hamilton Heights | Edgecombe Avenue Garden Park Sanctuary & Sugar Hill Garden |
| Manhattan | Greenwich Village | LaGuardia Corner Community Garden |
| Manhattan | Hamilton Heights | Riverside Valley Community Garden – Jenny’s Garden |
| Queens | Jamaica | Discovery Garden |
| Staten Island | New Brighton | HEALTH for Youth, Skyline Playground Community Garden |
| Staten Island | New Brighton | Joe Holzka Community Garden |
Go
here to apply.
Deadline: March 5, 2018
For more information please email our YLC Coordinators:
Amanda.Groziak@parks.nyc.gov &
Carina.Nieves@parks.nyc.gov
Grants and Opportunities
View a listing of other grant opportunities, resources, and workshops, like below, on the
City Parks Foundation website.
Get funding for your park or garden group’s ideas and efforts to improve NYC Parks from our Capacity Fund Grant. If you are an active community park or garden group supporting an NYC Parks property in any of New York City’s five boroughs, you may be eligible
to apply for a small grant of up to $5,000 for park projects including events, tools, websites, and outreach materials.
Next deadline: February 1, 2018
Upcoming deadlines: October 1, 2018
Learn
more about the Capacity Fund Grant
The Safe in the City Grant offers funding opportunities designed to support community based actions and activities that will make neighborhoods safer. In addition to funding, applicants will also receive best practices and strategies from the Mayor’s Office
of Criminal Justice’s Public Safety Tool Kit, further empowering them to employ prevention, intervention and trauma response methods while amplifying the voice of community to stand against violence and promote healthy, vibrant neighborhoods.
Deadline: Rolling
Learn
more about the Safe in the City Grant
Community Board Applications are now available for the 2018-2020 term
Please see the links below if you’re interested in learning more or applying:
As hand-on volunteers with deep community ties, GreenThumb gardeners are great candidates to serve on boards, which play an important advisory role on neighborhood issues including land use, city budgets, local service provision, and other community issues.
Community boards are consulted when new gardens are begun, and they identify funding priorities in neighborhoods every year during the City budget process.
Learn
more about Community Boards
NYC
Food Policy and Practice Database
A free, searchable directory of all food-related organizations, groups, businesses and agencies in New York City who are working to create healthier, more sustainable food environments and who use food to promote community and economic development. View more
than 300 food-related and socially minded organizations in the
directory here.
For more information please contact:
Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center
2180
Third Avenue, New York, NY 10035
info@nycfoodpolicy.org
List your organization by filling out this
Submission Form.
The Mayor’s Office of Food Policy recently published its
fifth annual Food Metrics Report. This report is an annual snapshot of the City’s many initiatives and accomplishments in increasing food security, improving the quality and
nutritional value of food the City purchases and serves, expanding access to healthy food in all neighborhoods, and promoting a sustainable and just food system.
Learn
more here.
Get on the map!
Did you know that you can add your community garden to Google Maps yourself? Nearly all GreenThumb gardens are already visible, but if not you can suggest it yourself and let the world know about your garden!
Learn
how to get on the map!
Workshops
Did you know that ALL our workshops are free and open to the public? You can find soil and lumber request forms at ALL GreenThumb-led workshops.
GreenThumb Workshop Survey
Do you have ideas for GreenThumb workshops? Would you like to host a workshop in your garden, share your skills by teaching other gardeners, or simply let us know which workshops you’d like us to offer? Let us know in the
GreenThumb Workshop Survey.
Thursday, January 11
Grant-writing
101
6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
GreenThumb, Partnerships for Parks, Citizens Committee for NYC
During this workshop and info session, we will demystify the grant-writing process by discussing tips for applying for community-oriented grants. We will also share detailed information about Citizens Committee for NYC’s Love Your Block and Neighborhood Grants,
Partnerships for Parks’ Capacity Fund Grant, and other resources offered to community gardens with upcoming deadlines. This workshop is offered in collaboration with Partnerships for Parks and Citizens Committee for NYC.
Location:
A.R.R.O.W.
Field House
35-30
35th
Directions
to this location
QUEENS
Saturday, January 13
Organizing
for Garden success: Group Structure (Part 1 of 2)
11:00 a.m.–1:30 p.m.
GreenThumb
Disorganization creates dysfunction. This two-part workshop series is designed to help your garden group build a strong foundation to deal with the many issues that arise in a community space. In this workshop, we will discuss different examples of group structure
and how they can help alleviate stressful decision-making.
Location:
GreenThumb Office (Please bring photo ID)
100
Gold St., Third Floor Grand Conference Room
MANHATTAN
Thursday, January 18
People
Power Within NYC Local Government
6:00 p.m.–8:00 p.m.
GreenThumb, Just Food
Learn about the roles and responsibilities of key city government departments and officials – in particular those who have funding and oversight on issues that impact the work of gardeners. Attendees will explore together how to influence key city government
stakeholders from the ground up. This workshop is offered in collaboration with Just Food.
Este taller se ofrecerá con traducción al Español.
Location:
Pelham Fritz Recreation Center (in
Marcus Garvey Park)
Directions
to this location
MANHATTAN
Tuesday, January 30
Crop
Planning 101
6:00 p.m.–7:30 p.m.
GreenThumb, NYC Compost Project
Grow more vegetables by planning ahead. Learn how to map out more than one season of bountiful harvests using planting calendars, knowledge of plant families, plant spacing charts, and more. This workshop is offered in collaboration with NYC Compost Project
and hosted by Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden.
Location:
Snug
Harbor
1000
Richmond Terrace
Directions
to this location
STATEN ISLAND
Grow to Learn, the citywide school garden initiative, of which GreenThumb is a principal partner, provides workshops and programming for school and community gardeners as well as the general public. GTL has a wide variety of topics for you to select, including
learning about soils, carpentry or about how your fellow school gardeners are raising chickens in their gardens. You must register to attend any Grow to Learn workshop- fill out the information below to sign up for one or more workshops of your choice. View
the
Grow to Learn Workshop Calendar. The sign-up information is there as well. We hope you will come and join us this fall to learn and share skills with us.
Wednesday, January 31
Grant
Writing and Garden Design
9:30 p.m.–11:30 a.m.
5:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m.
Grow to Learn
This introduction to the Grow to Learn mini-grant will give you all the information you need to create an incredible application for a new or expansion garden project. The Spring 2018 Grow to Learn mini-grant RFP is open for applications from January 22 – February
23, 2018.
*You do not need to attend both workshops.
Location:
GrowNYC
(Please bring photo ID)
100
Gold St., Third Floor, Suite 3300
MANHATTAN
Access all workshop info and more in:
GreenThumb’s Winter Program Guide
