On the QT | The Official Newsletter of GWA April-May 2016 | Page 9

SNAPSHOTS
P H OT O C OUR T E S Y D AW N H UM M E L

GWA Foundation hits the road
with Gro1000 projects
B Y A S H L E Y H O D A K S U L L I VA N

Providence’s General Street Park is a neighborhood park surrounded by a low-income housing complex, where many families live. Despite the large numbers of
youth in the neighborhood, the connection to city-managed facilities, a free, federal
summer-meals program and other park amenities, the park has historically been
underutilized. This project aims to transform General Street Park into a vibrant, creative
and safe place for residents and youth, through the installation of a fruit tree grove.
The trees will serve as a natural play-hiding-discovery space for youth, as well as a
healthy food access and environmental education opportunity. Edible garden planters
will support nutrition literacy and food access, while a pollinator garden will reinforce
recent garden installations and the fruit tree grove. The dedication will take place on
Wednesday, May 11.
The Pleasant Village Community Garden plays a vital role in providing healthful,
affordable produce for residents in the New York City neighborhood of East Harlem.
About two thirds of food stores are bodegas, which typically offer fewer healthful, fresh
foods than larger grocery stores. Thirty-eight percent of residents live below the poverty line, and almost two-thirds of the adults are overweight or obese. The garden effectively functions as a non-profit cooperative, providing food for more than 200 community residents. In addition to the edible garden, the property has a chicken coop, which
supplies the community with eggs. Surplus eggs are sold and the revenue is poured
back into maintaining the garden. The dedication will take place Friday June 3.
The Atlanta Urban Agriculture Expansion Project will connect and expand three
successful, but under-resourced, urban agriculture programs across Atlanta, including the city’s 10 successful fire stations’ vegetable gardens. These gardens provide
firefighters with fresh, naturally grown vegetables and herbs as a healthful supplement
for their fire station meals, and serve as teaching and demonstration gardens for the
surrounding communities. The grant will also benefit urban agriculture projects in Atlanta’s historic Vine City neighborhood and within the Atlanta University Center’s four
historically black colleges and universities. The dedication will take place on Saturday,
June 11.

P H OT O C OU R T ES Y KIRK B ROW N

The St. Louis Riverfront Butterfly Byway will span approximately 31 acres of monarch butterfly habitat along the northern portion of the 19-mile riverfront. It will consist
of native plants, which will attract pollinators and serve as urban prairie patches for
other species. GRO1000 grant funds will establish a prominent southern terminus for
the byway. The proposed southern monarch garden areas will be close to two city
parks. The anticipated result will be two large monarch-pollinator gardens. These will
also provide additional acreage of monarch habitat and serve as an extension of the
St. Louis Riverfront Butterfly Byway pollinator pat