Progress 09/01/19 to 11/30/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for theCommunity Driven Home Gardens Program Expansion were individuals and families of all ages in Portland, Gresham, Milwaukie, and Oregon City. We focused on building partnerships with households with limited financial resources and experiencing food insecurity.This program also worked with BIPOC communities with language support in English and Spanish. Our participants in the program consist of individuals, combined households, multigenerational families, and affordable housing communities. For community support, we engage the community at large. We offered many ways for engagement in our program from participants in the garden program, individuals and group volunteers, as well as local businesses and business franchises, to support with supplies, building gardens, sorting seeds, and many other activities that any community member can engage with equal opportunities for all member including those that identified in protected classes such as age, physical ability, etc. Changes/Problems:Decrease in volunteers due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing/shelter-in-place orders during the project period. Increase in requests for gardens due to the decrease in grocery store accessibility and increase in food insecurity in the community at large due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having language support beyond English and Spanish andbuilding up Vietnamese program support. Not enough funding in the planned allocation for program evaluation consultants. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Throughout the project and adjustments made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to enhance the skills of our community organizers and coordinators. Our team of 9 Home Gardens members were trained as Crew Leaders to guide volunteers in constructing gardens at the residences of program participants. They learned additional outreach skills to get volunteers' support and obtain donations from local businesses. The need for healing has been prevalent in the time of the pandemic and by request from our community the Home Gardens teamgained knowledge in Herbalism techniques with Mariquita Medicinals farm, utilizing common garden herbs and plants that can be cultivated in the garden. This 12-month course took the team through the growing season of plants that could be used formedicine and taught the team how to create plant-based medicine. The Community Coordinators conducted a program evaluation through an anti-racist lens, utilizing a popular education model. As we gained knowledge on program evaluation techniques, we were also able to evaluate our own program. Through our partnership with Providence Health and Services Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE), our team members developed new skills and techniques in evaluation. We conducted a collaborative evaluation of the partnership between gardening, culinary, and sharing community voice. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?With the changes that have come from the Pandemic, we were unable to gather for our annual community connection event. However, we have a multimode sharing this information with the community we serve, the funders, and the community stakeholders invested in and supporting the work we do. We shared the information in our multiple newsletters as an organization. The community we serve has access to this information via email and is updated by their designated community organizer. Through our annual community brunch held online this year, we were able to highlight the work and communicate the outcomes and impacts of our work throughout the year. We also have additional information shared on our social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1:Develop two regional hubs of the Home Gardens program where food insecurity is high Accomplishments: 180low-income households living in Gresham and North Clackamas have been enrolledin the program over the duration of the project. 5/5 new partnerships solidified with organizations serving Gresham and North Clackamas; We are continuing work with Providence Community Teaching Kitchen in Milwaukie, Clairmont Mobile Home Park in Oregon City, and,Metro in both areas. We are currently in a new partnership with Gresham Senior Center, Play Grow Learn,andRockwood Food Systems Collaborative in our Gresham area hub. 0/60 Crew Leaders living in the expansion hubs are recruited and trained to lead small crews of volunteers to build backyard gardens (a totalover 4 years) - Due to the restrictions of the gathering of the COVID-19 pandemic, we transitionedto train our Community Organizers and Coordinators to lead garden builds for their neighborhood gardeners. We paid internal staff for the additional hours to provide this essential support during a time when food insecurity reached an all-time high. 291 one-time volunteers recruited to build backyard gardens. With the COVID pandemic, shelter-in-home orders, and social distancing, we did not have volunteers in 2020 and are starting to see an increase in volunteers from 2021 to current. 30 Garden mentors living in the expansion hubs were trained and recruited towork one-on-one with gardeners throughout the growing season to help them build garden skills. We builtrelationships beyond our goal of8 Plant Grower volunteers in expansion hubs.We have established partnerships with skilled gardeners who grow seeds indoors or in small greenhouses. We depend on those connections while fostering new ones with home-scale gardeners and producers, bringing in over 10 new community growers.We increased our work with localfarmers to provide plant starts to gardeners. Farms in our expansion hubs included Empowered Flower, Flying Onion, Wild Roots, Wild Ginger Farm, Good Rain Farm, Sofia Farm, Farm D'ici, Uncle Waynes Farm, and other local supporters with Greenhouses in Milwaukie. We exceeded our goal of 8 partnerships solidified with local businesses to donate or discount garden materials for families. Current partnerships include Ace Hardware, Birds and Bees Nursery, West Wind Farm, Wichita Hardware, Starbucks, Ledding Library in Milwaukie, Grocery Outlet, Portland Nursery, Kincos, New Avenues Ink, Providence CORE (evaluation team). We are continuously meeting new businesses to support our work in Home Gardens. GOAL 2:Increase the capacity of home-scale food production Accomplishments: 80% of surveyed participants reported increased their knowledge and skills in urban food production on average over the duration of the project. 86% of surveyed householdsreportedan increase in fruit and vegetable consumption as a result of home gardening over the duration of the project. 69% of surveyed households reported reduced reliance on emergency food. This is 39% above our target with the implementation of no-cost community-supported agriculture (CSA) as a part of the program to support increased food access. 64% of surveyed households reported feeling more connected to their community even through social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic over the duration of the project. GOAL 3: Improve nutrition and health of families with limited resources Accomplishments: 80% of surveyed participants reported an increased understanding of nutrition and healthy food preparationover the duration of the project. 77% of children in surveyed households reported an increase in their preference for fresh fruits and vegetables through home-scale gardening. 85% of surveyed participants reported increased physical activity and improved mental health. GOAL 4:Support partner organizations to replicate the program model across the country We did not accomplish the goal of creating a"Home Gardens" how-to manual, created through participatory methods, outlining the philosophies, strategies, and practices of starting and operating the Home Gardens Program. With the change in program leadership, COVID-19, and Natural disasters in Oregon. We listened to the needs of the community and supported in creating more avenues for food access. This is a project that we will seek to revisit as we are starting to see recovery from events out of our control. Accomplishments: Farm partnerships increased,not only providing plant starts to community members in our service areas. We also were able to receive a surplus of produce that we distributed tocurrent and waiting Home Gardens participants. We were able to bridge a relationship to health and wellness with 2 clinical partners (Providence and Cascadia Health) to increase access to gardening to address food insecurity while incorporating a lens of wellness and providing cooking and nutrition-based workshops. We distributed over 35,000 plant starts from 2019-2023 and started a fall plant distribution that allowed for crop extension through the fall and winter months.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
Growing Gardens Grows More than Just Plants. Portland Monthly, 2 Dec. 2020, www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2020/12/growing-gardens-grows-more-than-just-plants.
Peck, Dennis. Growing Gardens Plants Seeds of Confidence, Connection and Community: Season of Sharing 2021. Oregonlive, 11 Nov. 2021, www.oregonlive.com/hg/2021/11/at-growing-gardens-the-main-crops-are-confidence-connection-and-community-season-of-sharing-2021.html.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Growing Gardens Grows More than Just Plants. Portland Monthly, 2 Dec. 2020, www.pdxmonthly.com/news-and-city-life/2020/12/growing-gardens-grows-more-than-just-plants.
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Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:The Home Gardens project works with low-income communities and communities of color experiencing food insecurity with in Portland, Gresham, Milwaukie, and Oregon City. Changes/Problems:Decrease in volunteers due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing/shelter-in-place orders during the project period. Increase in requests for gardens due to the decrease in grocery store accessibility and the increase in food insecurity in the community at large due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having language support beyond English and Spanish and building up Vietnamese program support. Not enough funding in the planned allocation for program evaluation consultants. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Throughout the project and adjustments made as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were able to enhance the skills of our community organizers and coordinators. Our team of 9 Home Gardens members were trained as Crew Leaders to guide volunteers in constructing gardens at the residences of program participants. They learned additional outreach skills to get volunteers' support and obtain donations from local businesses. The need for healing has been prevalent in the time of the pandemic and by request from our community the Home Gardens team gained knowledge in Herbalism techniques with Mariquita Medicinals farm, utilizing common garden herbs and plants that can be cultivated in the garden. This 12-month course took the team through the growing season of plants that could be used for medicine and taught the team how to create plant-based medicine. The Community Coordinators conducted a program evaluation through an anti-racist lens, utilizing a popular education model. As we gained knowledge on program evaluation techniques, we were also able to evaluate our own program. Through our partnership with Providence Health and Services Center for Outcomes Research and Education (CORE), our team members developed new skills and techniques in evaluation. We conducted a collaborative evaluation of the partnership between gardening, culinary, and sharing community voice. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?With the changes that have come from the Pandemic, we were unable to gather for our annual community connection event. However, we have a multimode sharing this information with the community we serve, the funders, and the community stakeholders invested in and supporting the work we do. We shared the information in our multiple newsletters as an organization. The community we serve has access to this information via email and is updated by their designated community organizer. Through our annual community brunch held online this year, we were able to highlight the work and communicate the outcomes and impacts of our work throughout the year. We also have additional information shared on our social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have completed our project.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1: Develop two regional hubs of the Home Gardens program where food insecurity is high Accomplishments: 1. 180 low-income households living in Gresham and North Clackamas have been enrolled in the program over the duration of the project. 2. 5/5 new partnerships solidified with organizations serving Gresham and North Clackamas; We are continuing work with Providence Community Teaching Kitchen in Milwaukie, Clairmont Mobile Home Park in Oregon City, and, Metro in both areas. We are currently in a new partnership with Gresham Senior Center, Play Grow Learn, and Rockwood Food Systems Collaborative in our Gresham area hub. 3. 0/60 Crew Leaders living in the expansion hubs are recruited and trained to lead small crews of volunteers to build backyard gardens (a total over 4 years) - Due to the restrictions of the gathering of the COVID-19 pandemic, we transitioned to train our Community Organizers and Coordinators to lead garden builds for their neighborhood gardeners. We paid internal staff for the additional hours to provide this essential support during a time when food insecurity reached an alltime high. 4. 291 one-time volunteers recruited to build backyard gardens. With the COVID pandemic, shelter-in-home orders, and social distancing, we did not have volunteers in 2020 and are starting to see an increase in volunteers from 2021 to current. 5. 30 Garden mentors living in the expansion hubs were trained and recruited to work one-on-one with gardeners throughout the growing season to help them build garden skills. 6. We built relationships beyond our goal of 8 Plant Grower volunteers in expansion hubs. We have established partnerships with skilled gardeners who grow seeds indoors or in small greenhouses. We depend on those connections while fostering new ones with home-scale gardeners and producers, bringing in over 10 new community growers. We increased our work with local farmers to provide plant starts to gardeners. Farms in our expansion hubs included Empowered Flower, Flying Onion, Wild Roots, Wild Ginger Farm, Good Rain Farm, Sofia Farm, Farm D'ici, Uncle Waynes Farm, and other local supporters with Greenhouses in Milwaukie. 7. We exceeded our goal of 8 partnerships solidified with local businesses to donate or discount garden materials for families. Current partnerships include Ace Hardware, Birds and Bees Nursery, West Wind Farm, Wichita Hardware, Starbucks, Ledding Library in Milwaukie, Grocery Outlet, Portland Nursery, Kincos, New Avenues Ink, Providence CORE (evaluation team). We are continuously meeting new businesses to support our work in Home Gardens. GOAL 2: Increase the capacity of home-scale food production Accomplishments: 1. 80% of surveyed participants reported increased their knowledge and skills in urban food production on average over the duration of the project. 2. 86% of surveyed households reported an increase in fruit and vegetable consumption as a result of home gardening over the duration of the project. 3. 69% of surveyed households reported reduced reliance on emergency food. This is 39% above our target with the implementation of no-cost community-supported agriculture (CSA) as a part of the program to support increased food access. 4. 64% of surveyed households reported feeling more connected to their community even through social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic over the duration of the project. GOAL 3: Improve nutrition and health of families with limited resources Accomplishments: 1. 80% of surveyed participants reported an increased understanding of nutrition and healthy food preparation over the duration of the project. 2. 77% of children in surveyed households reported an increase in their preference for fresh fruits and vegetables through home-scale gardening. 3. 85% of surveyed participants reported increased physical activity and improved mental health. GOAL 4: Support partner organizations to replicate the program model across the country We did not accomplish the goal of creating a "Home Gardens" how-to manual, created through participatory methods, outlining the philosophies, strategies, and practices of starting and operating the Home Gardens Program. With the change in program leadership, COVID-19, and Natural disasters in Oregon. We listened to the needs of the community and supported in creating more avenues for food access. This is a project that we will seek to revisit as we are starting to see recovery from events out of our control. Accomplishments: 1. Farm partnerships increased, not only providing plant starts to community members in our service areas. We also were able to receive a surplus of produce that we distributed to current and waiting Home Gardens participants. 2. We were able to bridge a relationship to health and wellness with 2 clinical partners (Providence and Cascadia Health) to increase access to gardening to address food insecurity while incorporating a lens of wellness and providing cooking and nutrition-based workshops. 3. We distributed over 35,000 plant starts from 2019-2023 and started a fall plant distribution that allowed for crop extension through the fall and winter months.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The Home Gardens project works with low-income communities and communities of color experiencing food insecurity with in Portland, Gresham, Milwaukie, and Oregon City. Changes/Problems:We have a transition of staff, leaving an opening in Gresham for our Coordinator role for over 4 months during the beginning of 2022. We also still had restrictions on our gathering due to the COVID pandemic and were not able to recruit volunteers at the projected capacity per pandemic. We needed additional supportfor ESL Spanish-speaking team members, the process of creating policy creation, documentation, andusing technology. The need for simultaneous interpretation to complete the process was not factored into the project. Due to the barriers and need for additional training beyond the participants learning of program evaluation, we had to make adjustments to the work on the manual. We are not able to create a full "How-To" procedure manual for the program in the time allotted to the set back in the timeline due to the pandemic. With the increased request in Gresham for language-specific garden support beyond Spanish and English, we are seeking to add additional language to our Home Gardens participant manuals in 1-2 new languages over the remainder of the grant. We have an increased number of requests to join the Home Garden program with limited capacity for Community Coordinators. We are seeking additional funding to increase hours, livable wages, and development of the Community Coordinators and Leadership. Another challenge was communication with our grant coordinator. We didn't have a response on our support needs and request n both finance and changes request due to the Pandemic and transition needed. This put our reporting, invoicing, and project progress on hold while trying to insure we had adequate information to proceed with the Home Gardens program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Community Coordinators are participating in program evaluation that is being trained through a popular education model. While we learn to do program evaluation we will simultaneously be evaluating our program. This training is being provided to all staff with the use of simultaneous interpretation in Spanish and English. The Community Coordinators and Home Gardens leadership attend continued education in gardening with the Master Gardeners Program. We have learned over the past year and reporting period,Herbalism practices with Mariquita Medicinals using common herbs and plants that can be grown in the garden. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?With the changes that have come from the Pandemic, we were unable to gather for our annual community connection event. However, we have a multimode sharing this information with the community we serve, the funders, and the community stakeholders invested in and supporting the work we do. We shared the information in our multiple newsletters as an organization. The community we serve has access to this information via email and is updated by their designated community organizer. Through our annual community brunch held online this year, we were able to highlight the work and communicate the outcomes and impacts of our work throughout the year. We also have additional information shared on our social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We are happy that the restrictions of the pandemic are lifting. We plan to continue our work in Gresham and North Clackamas County to bring in more volunteers, participants, and supporters of the Home Gardens Program. We will host hybrid educational workshops to get information to the community with both in-person and virtual options. For engagement with the community, we will be attending more community events and tablings for both Home Gardens participants and volunteers. We will outreach to Gresham City Council members and other official agencies like parks, water treatment, and conservation to build relationships, partnerships, and connections to Gresham resources and communities. Provide more training to our Community Coordinators for their professional development. Continue to build on our partnership with Providence Milwaukie Community Teaching Kitchen and offer more educational, volunteer, and connections.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1:Develop two regional hubs of the Home Gardens program where food insecurity is high Outcomes: 47/120 low-income households living in Gresham and North Clackamas enroll in the program Sept 2019-August 2022. 3/5 new partnerships solidified with organizations serving Gresham, and North Clackamas;We are continuing work with Providence Teaching Kitchen in Milwaukie and Clairmont Mobile Home Park in Oregon City. Partnering with Metro. 0/60 Crew Leaders living in the expansion hubs are recruited and trained to lead small crews of volunteers to build backyard gardens (total over 4 years) - We are transitioning to train our Community Organizers and Coordinators to lead garden builds. 135/420 one-time volunteers recruited to build backyard gardens. 6/30 Garden mentors living in the expansion hubs are trained and recruited. 8/8 Plant Grower volunteers that live in expansion hubs were recruited. 4/8 partnerships solidified with local businesses to donate or discount garden materials for families; Tony's Garden Supplies, Starbucks Milwaukie, Flying Onion Farm, and Wild Roots Farm. GOAL 2:Increase the capacity of home-scale food production Outcomes: 73% of participants increased their knowledge and skills in urban food production. 83% of households increased fruit and vegetable consumption. 53% of households reduced reliance on emergency food. 63% of households feltmore connected to their community. GOAL 3: Improve the nutrition and health of families with limited resources Outcomes: 73% of participants increased their understanding of nutrition and healthy food preparation. 71% of children increased their preference for fresh fruits and vegetables. 59% increased theirknowledge of supplemental food resources (Emergency food boxes, SNAP). 83% of participants increased physical activity and improved mental health. GOAL 4:Support partner organizations to replicate the program model across the country Outcomes: "Home Gardens" how-to manual is in the process to create policies and procedures with an equity lens. We have utilizedparticipatory methods, outlining the philosophies, strategies, and practices of the Home Gardens program with Empress Rules Consulting. With the Pandemic, we have not been able to work together in person. Due toCOVID impacts and technology barriers, we have not created this manual. We are looking to change our work from a How-To manual to translating our current Home Gardens Manual for participantsinto another language due to the increase in requests from Slavic and Asian language-speaking community members. Manual is shift will stillreflectGrowing Gardens' commitment to community leadership, undoing racism, and equity 0 partner organizations across the country use Manual to help develop new programs or refine existing programs
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is low-income families living in Portland, Gresham, and North Clackamas County, Oregon. We have focused on areas and work with individuals and communities experiencinghigh rates of food insecurity and live in areas identified as food deserts. Changes/Problems:Our major change in our program is the availability to use volunteers to support the work of our program. We highly rely on the support of volunteers for garden builds, mentorship, delivery, and other community engagements. With the COVID-19 global pandemic, we were restricted from hosting volunteers throughout 2020 and into 2021. With the shelter in place and social distancing restriction in the state of Oregon, we increased our staff time hours to support the community and households enrolled in the program. We also shifted our workshops and educational support to gardening households from in-person to virtual through Zoom and Google platforms. This also increased the need for professional development within our team. 50% of our staff are Spanish-speaking as their first or primary language and we had to allottedadditional time to translate documents and training materials, interpret workshops, and provide additional technical assistance to execute the workshops to our participants. We have implemented a Spanish interpreter contractor for program evaluation training to support the learning and communication internally and externally for our program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Community Coordinators are participating in program evaluation that is being training through a popular education model. While we learn to do program evaluation we will simultaneously be evaluating our program. This training is being provided to all staff with the use of simultaneous interpretation in Spanish and English. With the increased use of technology to provide services and support to the community, staff has been training in the use of Microsoft and Google Suite to create documents, fliers, surveys, and other promotional materials to share information about the project and engagement opportunities. We have provided training and ongoing support for video production and editing with the use of virtual workshops and video content. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest??With the changes that have come from the Pandemic, we were unable to gather for our annual community connection event. However, we have a multimodesharing this information with the community we serve, the funders, and the community stakeholders invested in and supporting the work we do. We shared the information in our multiple newsletters as an organization. The community we serve has access to this information via email and is updated by their designated community organizer. Through our annual community brunch held online this year, we were able to highlight the work and communicate the outcomes and impacts of our work throughout the year. We also have additional information shared on our social media platforms including Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. Through our local media outlet KGW, we were able to share the work we are doing with the broader community in the state of Oregon. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?1. We have continued outreach efforts and organize meetings with regional partners in Gresham and North Clackamas. We have 4 staff dedicated to these regions, 1 Spanish and 1 English organizer in each location. 2. Recruit 148 volunteers: Due to COVID-19 Pandemic, we have been restricted and limited in our volunteer support. 0/17 Crew Leaders 0/119 garden build volunteers 2/8 Garden Mentors 0/2 seed-sorting/packing 7/2 Growers 3. Recruit participants in each region: During this grant period we have had the following outcomes for our goals 86/60 people on the interest lists. With 25 in North Clackamas region and 61 in Gresham. 15 applications on the waitlist met and exceeded. 22applicants for Gresham and 15 applicants in North Clackamas. Enroll 34 new households; 20 in Gresham, 14 in North Clackamas met. During this period we enrolled 20 new households in Gresham and 15 new households in North Clackamas. 4.Solicit donations with 2 new partnerships with local businesses each year. We have had a new partnership with Wild Roots Farm located near the Gresham region. This partner grows plant starts for our gardening households in our program and also has become a part of our Farm to Community (CSA) project. In North Clackamas, we are buildinga relationship withClackamas Water Environment Services. They create bio soil and would like to have a demonstration and community garden. 5. Education: We provided education through virtual webinars and videos. We provided take home-activities in support of family engagement activities for adults and children as an alternative to in-person parent-child classes. We hosted 18workshops virtually and have them recorded on our Growing Gardens YouTube channel (Growing Gardens PDX). 6English and 12 Spanish workshops for food production. 100 new adult and children attendees. Our project has provided 2/4 recipe demonstrations available via youtube and emailed directly to participants. Over 50seasonal recipes have been provided to 80 individuals in North Clackamas and Gresham regions. In collaboration with our Youth Grow program within Growing Gardens, we were able to supply more than 120 households with garden activities for adult and children engagement and education.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GOAL 1:Develop two regional hubs of the Home Gardens program where food insecurity is high Objectives: 47/120 low-income households living in Gresham and North Clackamas enroll in the program from Sept 2019-August 2021. 2/5 new partnerships solidified with organizations serving Gresham, and North Clackamas. We are working with Providence Teaching Kitchen in Milwaukie and Clairmont Mobile Home Park in Oregon City. 0/60 Crew Leaders living in the expansion hubs are recruited and trained to lead small crews of volunteers to build backyard gardens (total over 4 years). Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been unable to host Crew Leaders. ##/420 one-time volunteers recruited to build backyard gardens (a team of 7 volunteers builds two gardens during a volunteer day: 420 total one-time volunteers)Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been unable to host volunteers to build gardens. 0/30 Garden mentors living in the expansion hubs are trained and recruited. Garden Mentors work one-on-one with gardeners throughout the growing season to help them build garden skills (approx. 1 mentor for every 4 gardeners: 30 total). Our priority is to recruit community members that have shared culture, language, and experiences as program participants 4/8 Plant Grower volunteers that live in expansion hubs recruited. These experienced gardeners who start seeds indoors and grow plants start to distribute to gardeners during the summer for plants that cannot be direct-seeded in our climate (approx. 1 grower for every 300 plant starts/15 families: 8 total over 4 years) ##/8 partnerships solidified with local businesses to donate or discount garden materials for families GOAL 2:Increase the capacity of home-scale food production Our programs annual self-reported survey was answered by 82 program participants Objectives: 80% of participants increase knowledge and skills of urban food production. Year-end 2020 reported: 94% increased knowledge/ 85% of households increase fruit and vegetable consumption.Year-end 2020 reported: 93% increased consumption. 30% of households reduced reliance on emergency food.Year-end 2020 reported:83 % decreased in the use of emergency food resources. 70% of households feel more connected to their community.Year-end 2020 reported: 77% reported meeting neighbors through gardening. GOAL 3: Improve nutrition and health of families with limited resources Objectives: 75% of participants increased their understanding of nutrition and healthy food preparation.Year-end 2020 reported: 89% reported an increase in food preparation and cooking fresh produce. 80% of children increase their preference for fresh fruits and vegetables.Year-end 2020 reported:Year-end 2020 reported:87 % of children in reported households increased interest in fresh fruit and vegetables. 40% increase knowledge of supplemental food resources (Emergency food boxes, SNAP).Year-end 2020 reported: Not reported. 65% of participants increased physical activity and improved mental health. Year-end 2020 reported: 74% reported an increase in physical activity and 93% reported mental health improvement. GOAL 4:Support partner organizations to replicate the program model across the country Objectives: 1. "Home Gardens" how-to manual, created through participatory methods, outlining the philosophies, strategies, and practices of starting and operating the Home Gardens Program We are in the progress of training and developing staff in program evaluation through thePopular Education model. 2. Manual reflects Growing Gardens' commitment to community leadership, undoing racism, and equity As a part of the program evaluation training, we are learning through diversity, equity, and inclusion lens and leading with race in our operation. Each employee at Growing Gardensis enrolled in the People's Institute Undoing Racism training as a part of their employment. All ofthe project staffin Gresham and North Clackamas have attended this training. All Home Gardens team members participated in a group book reading and discussion in English and Spanish in "How to be an Antiracist" by Ibram X. Kendi. January-March 2021. 3.5 partner organizations across the country use Manual to help develop new programs or refine an existing program Not yet started.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is low-income families living in Portland, Gresham, and North Clackamas County, Oregon. Changes/Problems:We did not receive the USDA funding until April 2020. Due to this we were not able to increase our staff time and hire additional staff andprogram evaluator until June 2020. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?With the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have had an increase in training and professional development around the use of technology to execute our programming. The community leaders are developing skills in Microsoft Office Suite, Google Suite, Zoom and the use of electronic devices such as iPads, Gimbos, and smartphone capabilities. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of our services are shared within our website and program page. We also share the details of the survey through our program events, webinars, and presentations throughout the communities we work and live in. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We have hired our staff and plan to continue our work throughout the pandemic. To accomplish our goals we will increase the level of hours we have in the communities of North Clackamas and Gresham.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Accomplishments from September 2019-August 2020. GOAL 1:Develop two regional hubs of the Home Gardens program where food insecurity is high 11low-income households living in Gresham and North Clackamas enroll in the program. 0 new partnerships due to COVID-19. 7/60 Crew Leaderstrained and recruited. Due to COVID-19 we had to stop volunteers in March 2020. 109/420one-time volunteers recruited to build backyard gardens.Due to COVID-19 we had to stop volunteers in March 2020. 2/30Garden mentors living in the expansion hubs are trained and recruited. 0/8 Plant Grower volunteers that live in expansion hubs recruited. 0/8 partnerships solidified with local businesses to donate or discount garden materials for families GOAL 2:Increase the capacity of home-scale food production 82% of households increase fruit and vegetable consumption. 71% of households reduced their reliance on emergency food. 65% of households feel more connected to their community. GOAL 3: Improve nutrition and health of families with limited resources 71% of children increase their preference for fresh fruits and vegetables.? GOAL 4:Support partner organizations to replicate the program model across the country We have not started work on this goal.
Publications
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