Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
desired outcome is tangible—a vegetable garden that will become a fixture of the community. This type
of organizing allows the outcome to be a true expression of the participants' efforts, values, and ideas.
It can create meaningful and long-lasting change.
WHERE THERE IS NO VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH:
DEVELOPING A MISSION
That old verse may be a bit dramatic but it proves a time-tested point: without a common direction,
nothing gets accomplished.
Regardless of the motivation to start a community garden, it is important at the very beginning for
you and the team that emerges from your organizing work to define the collective vision. The mission
may change over time, and that's okay, but by stating the reason for your community garden from the
outset, you will have a framework to address all the key aspects of a healthy start: communication, com-
munity outreach, funding, rallying volunteers and neighbors, and more.
How Will Your Garden Serve the Community?
The first step toward creating a community garden is to discover and articulate the reason for starting
it—to create your mission statement. This will help everyone involved understand what it will take for
the garden to survive for the long haul. Motivations could include community building, social justice,
food insecurity, or religious outreach. It might simply be an empty eyesore of a lot that's been bugging
you and your neighbors for a long time. All reasons are valid and only your group knows the outcomes
that will best impact the community.
The mission questionnaire contains a list of questions that the community can use to develop the
garden's mission statement (the process of which is covered in
chapter 2
,
where you'll find guidelines
for what to include in your initial meetings). Collectively answering these questions will give the com-
munity as a whole an understanding of what the group can do with the garden space. There will be
many possibilities and ideas presented, which then can be used as discussion points during organiza-
tional meetings, as you work toward a consensus on how the garden is going to serve the community.
The mission will become the story of your garden, its origin myth, and formally articulating it with a
mission statement in those seminal first meetings will help tremendously through the challenges and
issues that will be encountered as the garden comes to life.
THE MISSION QUESTIONNAIRE
1.
Are any existing organizations sponsoring or starting the garden? Do their missions need to be part of
how the garden is developed?
2.
Are funders sponsoring the garden? Do the funds dictate the garden mission in any way?
3.
Does the garden location influence the mission? (For example, if the property is privately owned by an or-
ganization, their mission might impact what you are allowed to do on the property. If the property is
owned by a city or municipality, does the land use require that it be open to the general public or unavail-
able to certain types of special interest groups?)
