The Garden Steps Process
1
Identify USDA Food Desert areas
2
Identify health conditions involved
3
Develop strategy to increase local food production
Develop strategy to increase local food production with community participation
4
Implementation phase 1
Healthy 22nd Street Families, Schools, Neighbors, Healthcare Providers, and Community Gardens – Growing Healthy 22nd Street, One Garden Step at a Time!
In 2017, COCG was one of 50 recipients to receive $10,000.00 in Aetna Foundation’s Healthiest Cities/Counties Challenge to improve the health of our community. The following two years, Garden Steps came in runner up and was awarded $50,000.00 to implement the action plan over the next three years.
- To encourage the sustainability and formation of Community Garden, the Garden Steps team sponsored the first annual Grow Community Gardens – Tampa Bay Conference with 120 attendees participating.
- Garden Steps installed 2 Pop up Garden with the strong capacity of community volunteers.
- Working with the City of Tampa Transportation Department, a Pedestrian Wayfinding pilot project to a Community Garden was completed
- Addressing population health, Garden Steps has hosted two Vegetable Cooking & Tasting Sessions for seniors who are learning to manage Diabetes. New partnership with Senior Connections offered an opportunity to assist in the support of better outcomes in the health and wellness of older adults.
- Garden Steps has collected data on food deserts, chronic health conditions, transportation facilities and related indicators; creating the Hillsborough County Health Atlas, a public tool which currently features over 65 health indicators.
- The Garden Steps Health Initiative proposed a model approach to improving health equity through presentations at events such as the Community Indicators Consortium 2017 Impact Summit, the Florida Brownfields Conference and the 2018 National Conference on Equitable Development.
- A Health in All Policies resolution demonstrating the relationship between the MPO’s regional, short- and long-term transportation plans with the Department of Health’s priorities in addressing health equity has been created.
- Garden Steps has used annual community events such as the Neighborhoods Conference and Clean Air Fair to encourage and educate on the benefits of community gardens.
- Partnering with our transit partner, Garden Steps created an education poster on the value of community gardening that is on display at all bus transfer stations and at stops along our bus transit way.
- Garden Steps has established a web page sharing information on how to begin a garden at: http://www.planhillsborough.org/gardens/.
- Attended 15 neighborhood and community group meetings to consult and collaborate.
COCG completed year two of the Garden Steps Project with the following results!
- Healthy 22nd street demonstration garden
- Middleton HS school & community garden
- 6 community partner gardens
- 20 residential front yard gardens
- 12 community workshops
