The Role of Community Gardens How Do Community Gardens Function with Health, Food, and Communities Mariana Gozalo Virginia Commonwealth University Abstract Community gardens have been becoming more popular throughout the years because they provide fresh produce to the population of close neighborhoods. They are able to give the less fortunate access to healthy foods, and able to donate produce to food pantries. There have been studies that research how communities’ gardens have impacted local neighborhoods and communities. Because of the previous studies, a random sample of neighborhoods, and communities will be taken from selected random community gardens in Richmond, Virginia to assess their garden and see which aspect of it really influenced the benefits the most. They will be given a questionnaire, and to compare their health and crime rate before and after a community garden existed in their area. It is expected that communities that have more active participants have better health, and in areas where there is community gardens, there is much more less crime. Keywords: Community Garden, Health, Food, Neighborhood, Crime Community gardens are pieces of land that are gardened by groups of people to provide fresh produce and plants. They are usually developed in communities that have unused land, and for people to grow their own fruits and vegetables. Community gardens benefit the public of lower socioeconomic status neighborhoods in many
A community is a social group established by geographic boundaries or common values and interests. Its members know and interact with one another and function in a particular social structure and exhibit and create norms, values and, social institutions (Stanhope, 2008).
In community gardens they have been proven to be accredited for having many beneficial outcomes especially to those who take part in the gardens and everyone around it. The practice of environmental education where participants learn about the sustainable agriculture can be proven beneficial to almost everyone. Although community gardens are proven to have many benefits there is also proven studies that show why having a community garden is a beneficial part of any community, throughout this essay I will use real world statistics and successful community gardens to further back up my statement on why it is beneficial to have a community garden.
The importance of conserving the initial attraction that gave people a reason to visit the area is critical to its identity. Whether it is a run-down factory or abandoned home, the fact that a structure plays a meaningful role in supporting individuals in their times of hardship gives its standing a more compelling value. Nonetheless, the alternative means to improve a community would be to repurpose neglected buildings, by merely restoring them and giving them back to the community, where everybody could use them. An instance of spaces given back to a neighborhood is the use of urban farms in run-down Chicago neighborhoods. The purpose of an urban farm is to allow the community to work collaboratively and produce agriculture, which is also beneficial in providing a source of food for those in need. Additionally, the urban farms serve the purpose of allowing youths to voluntarily keep themselves busy planting fruits and vegetables, while also avoiding the violence that takes place on the
The community I decided to research and compose this paper is one from which I live, Kent County Michigan. I gathered data from several different resources such as the Kent County Health Department and Michigan Department of Community Health in order to create a community assessment. The data I collected can be broken down into four different assessment pieces.
Lastly the author recommends community gardening as the best option because it will bring the community together. The author claims that the garden will be ‘a great way for children to learn,’ also that ‘kids spend far too much time inside’ and the garden will provide a healthy option for them to go outside and do some physical work in the fresh air. Referring to children as one of the main benefiters from the garden the author not only appeals to the council, because children are the future of their community but also appeals to parents as they want their community to be a healthy and sufficient place for their children. The author declares to the council
A community is a group of people who live in the same area, interact with each other, and share certain norms and values. A community is defined as a locality-based entity, composed of systems of formal organizations reflecting societal institutions, informal groups, and aggregates that are interdependent and whose function or expressed intent is to meet a wide variety of collective needs (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012).
This project is a focus on how variables such as population, ethnicity, and income affect crime rates throughout different neighborhoods throughout a city. I feel that this information finding this information could be useful to many people. For example if you are looking to buy a new home or even start a new business, you’ll probably want it located in a safe neighborhood. This study will help identify the signs of a safe neighborhood. Knowing why crime rates are higher in some areas may also help prevent the crime rate to rise in other neighborhoods. For example, if crime rates are higher in neighborhoods with
First, we will analysis supermarket ratios, and income disparities to defined lack of access between Jackson Heights and Bayside. Second, we will analysis poverty rates, unemployment rates, and income disparities to defined economic disparities. Third, we will compare violence ratios to defined neighborhood stability. Finally, we will compare percentages of racial and ethnic populations, healthy food intake ratios within Jackson Heights and Bayside to define the racial and ethnic
For the purpose of this paper, the community being analyzed will involve the population that lives within the boundaries of the Nutley, New Jersey. Nutley, a township within Essex County, New Jersey, is home to a dense population of individuals within its small borders. It meets the criteria of a community due to the fact that the individuals share some mutual characteristics (Kirst-Ashman, 2011). Nutley is a residential neighborhood that consists of 11,301 households. Nutley, New Jersey is also a geographical community, where individuals share the common variable of location (Kirst-Ashman, 2011). Subsequently, Nutley contains one high school, one middle school, and five elementary schools (Nutley, New Jersey, 2016). Within the 3.428 square miles that Nutley is comprised of, there are 10 public parks where residents are welcomed to play soccer, basketball, lacrosse, and baseball among other sports.
Community can be defined in many ways. According to Meriam Webster (n.d), there are 12 different ways that community can be defined. Community can best be defined as “a group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, or neighborhood)” ("Community," n.d). To most people, community is the area and people that surround the place they live and/or work. Community health is defined by Stanhope and Lancaster (2014) as “the meeting of collective needs through identification of problems and management of behaviors within the community itself and between the community and the larger society.” Community as
According to Maurer and Smith (2009), a community's defining features include its attributes, people, places, interactions, and common characteristics, interests, and goals. Every community assessment involves a process of collecting and analyzing data and then interpreting the data to form valid conclusions. This analysis can include demographic and epidemiological data as well as other types of data. This paper contains a community assessment of Jamaica Queens, one of forty-two different neighborhoods in New York City. Jamaica Queens is a diverse community within the county of Queens, and was the neighborhood of the authors employment and near the author's residence/
Gentrification is often related to the improvement of community in terms of crimes, economy and housing conditions. In this article, Scott C Macdonald discusses the relationship between gentrification and crime rates and how it affects the residents of gentrified neighborhoods. Furthermore, Macdonald explains why gentrification should reduce crime by stating that affluent neighborhoods typically have low crime rates that poor neighborhoods, thus as the urban neighborhood become more affluent the crime rates should decrease because of the change in social class. Similarly, the new comers of the neighborhood tend to be more engaged in the neighborhood security activities such as organizing citizen patrols and neighborhood watches than
The response rate of our survey was 68.1% (81 out of 119 households we visited). The re-sponse rate was at par with similar survey studies that involved environmental issues. Kreiger et al. (2009) conducted a door to door survey of 281 households and got data from 155 households in 2005 of the residents of the old High Point community, a multicultural public housing site, in Seattle, WA to evaluate how built and social environments affect walking activity of a public housing community. Osmond and Hardy in 2004 conducted a door to door survey of the five communities in North Carolina to understand and determine residential fertilizer and water use behavior for future lawn education programs. The
The definition of community when I google it, is “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” I would describe community as a group of people who have common goals, thoughts, or interests.
The purpose of this speech is to provide information and encourage city residents to invest in gardens in their neighborhoods by showing that community gardens increase property value as well as improve the emotional and physical well-being of their citizens who participate in the project. Additionally, community fruit and vegetable gardens can help provide fresh produce for residents on fixed incomes for little to no cost outside of volunteer time.