by Alyssa Toye
I plan to turn the cul de sac in front of my house into a community garden. I chose this project to engage, educate, and inspire my neighbors about growing your own food. Currently, the space I have in mind is just an island with mulch and a few lily plants. I chose to work primarily with my neighborhood and the community in my City because I want to impact the lives of the people around me, and this is something I would have enjoyed having access to as a child growing up. Hopefully this can be a source of education about healthy and sustainable food as well as another way that neighbors can get to know each other and strengthen the sense of community in the neighborhood. Metrics to measure the outcomes include the number of people who show up to work on it, percentage of households who work on it, number of plants produced, and number of other examples that this garden inspires. The timeline for my project is approximately approximately 10 months for preparing for the installation. The budget estimations I made for installation are just over $5,000 dollars. Challenges I anticipate are finding community interest, funding, being in a different city during the school year, the bureaucratic process, and the time commitment necessary. Click here to read Alyssa’s full action plan.
