The Friends of the Community Gardens is here to protect, grow, and support community gardens in Northeast, WI. Together we can grow better and support the families of our greater Green Bay area provide healthy food for themselves. The FCGF can provide food security and economic relief for families within Brown County. While local gardening efforts like the Brown County UW-Extension Community Garde
ning Program (BCCG) have provided community gardening for the past few decades, FCG, supported by this endowment, will be able to provide services that BCCG cannot. Programs like BCCG currently empower all county residents to grow healthy food by providing resources, organizational capacity, temporary garden space, and logistical assistance. These amenities facilitate residents’ access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food. Community gardening programs like BCCG bring diverse communities together to grow food, and provide a particularly meaningful service to our area’s low-to-moderate income population. With each growing season, BCCG has recently reached capacity in terms of staff, land use, education, and access to other resources. While BCCG is as stable as it has ever been in recent years, it relies on inconsistent government Funding and local granting. These challenges limit BCCG’s growth, casting doubt on whether the benefits of community gardening can be maximized without mobilizing further community change. FCG operates outside of this parent organization and is not limited by changing government budgets. For that reason, FCG aims to own land and to provide secure, long-term Funding to community gardening locally. All that is needed to continue to increase food security for low-income individuals, foster trusting relationships between community members, and maximize city beautification through the creation of gardens is your help. A 2017 report estimated that for every $1 contributed to community gardening in Green Bay alone, our community members receive an average of $4.74 in economic relief--just by growing their own food. This means your contribution to the FCGF will not just maintain the existence of food security in our community, but grow it. Help us grow better together with your financial gift. Let’s grow better together,
The Friends of the Community Garden Fund
