Bryant Hill Community Garden and Sustainable South Bronx
SSBx wants to protect this important green space and food resource for the Bronx’s Hunts Point neighborhood, while providing job training and transitional employment to out of work New Yorkers!
Leader
Toby Sheppard-Bloch
Location
901 Bryant Ave Bronx, NY 10474
About the project
Helping us build a beautiful and accessible community garden is as easy as 1-2-3:
Bryant Hill Community Garden is located in Hunts Point, and is one of only two community gardens in the South Bronx. Half the residents in Hunts Point live more than a five-minute walk to a park, making open space like Bryant Park Community Garden a particularly important community asset.
1. Your donation will create a more productive, accessible garden and a healthier community in 2018:
While the garden is highly valued in the community, it is in disrepair and difficult to navigate. The garden is situated on a steep incline, and rainwater has stripped away much of the topsoil. The existing walkways are crumbling, and the irregular nature of the debris results in many large openings that are susceptible to erosion. Runoff water is not contained on the site and spills onto the adjacent sidewalk. Several of the garden members have limited mobility, and the rough condition of the paths prevent them from fully enjoying the garden.
We plan to rebuild the walkways, build rain gardens, and ultimately improve safety and access to the garden.
These improvements will preserve and protect this essential greenspace, and increase community engagement in the production of vegetables and honey from the beehive on the site.
2. Your donation will create job training for local residents:
Students from The HOPE Program’s green-collar job training program, Sustainable South Bronx, have volunteered at the garden for several years, completing general cleanup projects and installing rain gardens.
With this support, we will generate 300 hours of living wage employment to graduates of Sustainable South Bronx, offering them an opportunity to build their skills and work experience while earning income.
3. Your donation will be doubled:
Every donation to this fundraiser will be doubled, on this page in real time, by the New York State Health Foundation (up to $1,000 per donation). Thank you for your gift!
The Steps
The Steps (with an estimated time-line):
March 2018: SSBx will acquire and install the wooden cribbing to improve the stability of the garden's walkways.
Why we‘re doing it
Hunts Point is a notorious food desert, which is particularly ironic since it is home to the largest produce distribution hub in the world. Combined with the other industrial uses of the area there is excessive amounts of air pollution, leading to disproportionately high rates of asthma and heart attack hospitalizations. Studies of the health impacts of air quality in the area have concluded the neighborhood needs the creation of additional green space. This project will provide residents of Hunts Point with improved access to open space where they can get first-hand experience with food production while strengthening the fabric of their community.
This project addresses three out of five priorities that emerged from a recent community based assessment of the challenges facing Hunts Point; food access, community gardens, and space for community programing.
In addtion to providing Hunts Point residents with a valuble community asset, this project provides important training and transitional employment to unemployed New Yorkers through Sustinable South Bronx's signature green jobs training program. It's a win-win!