Fantastic Community Chat yesterday on community engagement. I'm feeling super grateful for this community and how supportive all of you are (I would insert a heart emoji if that was an option on here).
We didn't share resource links during this Chat as we have in many others so I took notes on some of the key ideas that were shared and listed those below as a summary of sorts. The full recording is attached and time stamps below for those who want to dive deeper and/or connect with anyone from the Chat.
Are there any other questions or ideas folks want to share???
Broad themes and suggestions related to community engagement:
- Get to know your community members!
- Share about your program at community meetings and events and have a presence at a local farmer's market or see if you can have materials there about your garden program
- Connect with your local Master Gardeners (if they're interacting with students that can count as "education" and count toward volunteer hour requirements)
- Connect with your local county extension office (they can connect you with other gardens in the area, master gardeners, local grant opportunities, and often offer low-cost or free workshops)
- Look for ways that you can support other garden programs and they could then support yours
- Reach out to the parents and caregivers of your youth participants (they might have skills and connections that could help your program - e.g. tools to borrow, carpentry skills to build a raised bed, a source for soil donations, etc.)
- Connect with your local nurseries (could also offer some free consultation services for your program)!
- Thank any organizations that contribute to your garden and show the impact of their donation/support (show pictures of your garden, thank you notes from kids, bouquets from the garden, etc.)
- Think about what will motivate people to volunteer (an opportunity to socialize or learn something new) - people are more likely to come if they will get something out of it
- Connect with groups that have volunteer hour requirements (HS groups like National Honor Society, 4H, Boy/Girl/Eagle Scouts, church youth organizations, etc.)
Some specific engagement ideas:
- Pumpkin collection - have families drop off their old pumpkins to add to the compost
- See if your local nurseries can donate seeds at the end of the season that have not sold
- Many local or regional restaurants/businesses might support local orgs with a "donate portion of proceeds" fundraiser for a window of time
- See if your local hardware stores can offer items at wholesale prices or make donations
- Some donation sources you might not have thought of: local banks, utility companies (could support irrigation), tree removal companies (for mulch!), hospitals/health centers/health departments, local environmental education orgs, farm bureaus (they may have education committees that want to work with schools/youth orgs!), local agriculture orgs (and soil and water departments), local grocery stores (can donate food and drinks for a garden work day!)
- If there are any articles or promotional materials about your program, include information about how to support your program or get involved
- Use sign up genius or another tool to keep a list of garden needs and projects that can be distributed to parents/community
- See if you can access a foundation directory at your local library to check out grant opportunities
- Host a guest speaker/lesson/workshop in your garden (soil, seeds, composting, etc.)
- If you're at a school or larger organization, have a "beautification" or "clean up the campus" event and introduce people to the garden as part of it
- See if there is a local organization that wants to sponsor one of your garden projects and/or have an employee volunteer day in your garden
- Is your garden close to a senior center? This can be a great opportunity to have community speakers from the senior center, multi-generational activities, have a garden club meet at the senior center and build a garden there, etc.
- College students might have service learning projects they want to do in your garden
- Host events or promote toolkits/activities for grandparents to garden with their grandkids!
- Coordinate a reading/storytime program where high school students select books to read to younger students either during school hours or at community gardens as a family storytime program
- Show appreciation for grandparents/seniors/other community groups by having kids make crafts/gifts from the garden
- Include garden updates/info about your garden in school and community newsletters, PTA newsletters, bulletin boards at grocery stores, create Facebook events, local online forums (does your neighborhood have a forum/chat/FB group?), ads or interviews on your local radio station, publicize via the chamber of commerce, have students create videos/pictures about the garden that you can share
Recording time stamps:
12:25 - Ideas for engaging your community (who and in what ways)
19:30 - Tapping into your community for donations (supplies and money)
35:00 - Tips for building a volunteer base when you don't have a specific volunteer "ask" or immediate project
46:30 - Ideas for multi-generational gardening and gardening with multiple youth age groups
55:00 - Ideas for communicating with the community
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Amelia Dupuis
Kids Garden Community Manager
KidsGardening
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