Chicago Demonstration Gardens
We're promoting the use of easy-care flowerbeds, wildflowers, and edible landscapes by creating demonstration gardens, including participation by community volunteers and job reentry training programs.
Leader
Bill Morrisett
Location
Back of the Yards and Woodlawn neighborhoods Chicago, IL 60609
About the project
Chicago South Side locations will host different types of growing beds demonstrating how to create high-impact and low-maintenance flowerbeds, native plant species, pollinator habitats and edible landscapes that contribute to a local eco-system. Each of the locations will share plant material (seeds, divides, cuttings, etc.) and knowledge. This project includes community outreach and gardening workshops to promote gardening and beautification in the neighborhood of each location.
The Chicago Demonstration Gardens Project combines promoting urban public space beautification with job skills development for those with obstacles to employment in low income neighborhoods. We plant to partner with organizations that have an existing job re-entry program..
This is a collaborative project of the Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network.
GROW (Garden Resources of Woodlawn) will provide overall project coordination. Each participating organization will recruit neighborhood volunteers to assist with the project work. Participating organizations include:
1) Pleasant Farms, Treeocracy and Plant Chicago, NFP (Back of the Yards location)
2) GROW, Sunshine Gospel Ministries, Inspired Community Garden and Woodlawn Peace Center (Woodlawn location)
Expected outcomes for the project:
- Create demonstration gardens that can be easily replicated in any Chicago neighborhood.
- A prototype network among community gardening groups for sharing plant material (seeds, divides, cuttings,etc.)
- Provide a variety of workshops for beginning and intermediate level gardeners.
- Provide a job re-entry for people with barrier to employment through skills gained working in the demonstration gardens.
We've started our garden designs:
Visit http://www.chicagodemogardens.org for more information about our project.
The Steps
After IOBY campaign funds are received, about April 22, here are the project steps for each location:
1. Refine work plan for the remainder of the project. Include who does what, due dates.
2. Order materials needed.
3. Conduct ongoing volunteer training as needed.
4. Refine plans for job entry program participation: training, work schedule, supervision, payment to participants, partner organizations.
5. Prepare garden beds. Schedule volunteer workdays.
6. Prepare plant signage and educational information, with more info directing to the web.
7. Plant growing beds. Mostly starting in May, continuing perhaps through much of the summer at some locations.
8. Maintain new plantings
9. Observe and Document successes/failures to share with public through open-source e-content. Publish plant assessments, lessons learned.
10. Overall Project report. What should we do differently next year? Publish by Oct. 15. for open-source e-content.
11. Report results yearly? Hopefully we will continue with this effort, and be able to report in five years (or more?) to what extent each of the growing beds is still being maintained, by whom, etc. Also creating an open-source web site where other demonstration gardens can published as they become available.
Why we‘re doing it
Chicago neighborhoods lack spaces that bring awareness to low maintenance gardening techniques that implement the use of beneficial native plant species, pollinator-specific habitats, and functional edible landscapes.
The Chicago Demonstration Gardens Project overcomes this deficiency by demonstrating an easy to follow and replicate guide to anyone interested in developing their own community-involved educational space. The Chicago demo garden project will provide spaces where urban community residents may learn, interact with gardening projects that benefit themselves and the spaces they live.