An Urban Oasis

More and more public libraries around the United States are creating seed libraries as a way to encourage gardening, combat hunger insecurity, and build community resilience. For example, the Jefferson Public Library in Georgia has seen the number of people using the seed library grow to more than 300 in 2021. It can be a lot of work to maintain the seed libraries, but some librarians see it as a way to engage the community.

On average, community gardens don't last longer than a decade, but Harambee Garden in Chicago is defying the odds during its 12th year in operation. A large part of its success lies in the involvement of local churches, library, firehouse, and multiple youth volunteer organizations, one which even paired local high school students with adult mentors.

The city of Chicago is offering municipal bond investors — specifically those interested in ESG investing — opportunities to fund social projects like planting 15,000 trees in historically disinvested neighborhoods over the next three years, converting motels and single-room buildings into housing for people transitioning out of homelessness and replacing the city’s gas-powered vehicles with electric.

Urban farms across the United States are bringing affordable, fresh, and healthy foods to communities facing food insecurity and are forming connections with residents along the way.

Food bartering helps families during times of food insecurity, which is often exacerbated by crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Families with lower incomes have bartered for food for a long time but the pandemic has brought diversity to the families exchanging food with friends and neighbors. Food bartering is part of the cultural fabric of different groups, such as the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which hosts workshops on cultivating gardens. Food bartering is an inclusive and community-building practice but when bartering is the only way to get food, the communal reliance can be an emotional drain.

After incarceration, Black men and women have a difficult time re-integrating into society without financial and educational resources. A former Black Panther activist has created the non-profit Oakland &the World Enterprises to offer an urban farm as a prisoner re-entry program and community center. The Oakland project supports self-sufficiency, self-determination, and empowerment for Black people.

Heritage Growers, a 200-acre nonprofit native seed farm founded in 2021, is addressing California's critical shortage of locally adapted native seeds by producing 30,000-40,000 pounds annually of seeds. They have already helped restore thousands of acres with native plants, including the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge (2,500 acres).

In some cities, empty urban lots transformed into multilayered "food forests" that mimic natural ecosystems are providing free, accessible fresh produce to city residents through strategically designed edible plantings that feature native and adapted fruit trees, nut trees, and berry bushes.

The creation of forest gardens—the modern term for an ancient agroforestry model that mixes shrubs, herbs, vines, fruit and nut trees, and perennial vegetables—are helping supply communities in sub-Saharan Africa with food, medicine, and animal feed. The U.S.-based NGO TREES claims to have created 38,000 active forest gardens in five countries, each comprising about 4,000 trees. This has restored 99,743 acres of degraded land, having reached 56,273 farmers and their families across 174 community projects.

In Phoenix's historically Black neighborhoods, community organizations have transformed vacant, heat-trapping lots into thriving urban farms. One initiative, Spaces of Opportunity, converted a 19-acre abandoned site into a community farm with 250 garden plots available. Spaces of Opportunity serves over 1,000 residents each month, and other community farming initiatives also help in providing food and jobs for participants, many of whom are formerly incarcerated or unhoused.