Reactivate a Community Garden on Warwick St in East New York

The Leaders in Environmental Action for the Future (LEAF) Ambassadors are a youth-led and youth-driven group of high school alumni of The Nature Conservancy's high school internship program. We are passionate about increasing access to urban green space and improving environmental quality of life in our neighborhoods. The Conservancy’s LEAF program offers hands-on stewardship experience and environmental career development opportunities to youth from cities across the country. With the support of professional mentors and scientists, LEAF interns gain valuable skills for work and life within the context of the natural world.

Our Vision:

Our vision is to reactivate a vacant lot into a community garden where local residents of East New York can grow their own food, build community, teach environmental literacy, and improve the environmental quality of life in their neighborhood. We are inspired by the many documented health benefits that result from increased access to green spaces and increased connection to nature. 

Our Goal:

We have located an empty lot in East New York, Brooklyn that we would like to reactivate. Through the revitalized Warwick Community Garden, we are hoping to promote community building, healthy eating, environmental ethics and a greater ecological presence in New York City. Our goal is to host a volunteer community work day on June 4^th where we re-open the space to the public, clear out debris and trash, build raised beds, conduct soil tests, spread mulch and fertilizer, plant wild seeds, steward street trees, clean up the block, and celebrate with art and food. To achieve this goal, we would like to fundraise $1600 to obtain the proper materials and tools to start the garden build. To date, we've already secured the support of citywide and local neighborhood partner organizations and residents.

Why Warwick Street Greenery Glow Garden?

Warwick Street Greenery Glow garden was used in the past by Warwick Street neighbors and gardeners. It has not been active for several years and has the potential to become a flourishing community space once again. As LEAF Ambassadors, we would like to apply the skills we learned during our summer internship to transform this lot into a thriving community garden, We're passionate about connecting people to nature and increasing access to urban green space. The community garden will serve as a sanctuary for social gatherings, an educational tool for the community, a source of fresh food, habitat for pollinators, and a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the city!

Our empty lot is city-owned property which has been vacant for a few years. We reached out to neighborhood residents and community partners to let them know that we wanted to provide energy and support to bring the garden back to life. The neighbors next to the lot are also excited. 

Since then, we have brought together a broad coalition of city-wide and local community partners including the New York City Community Gardens Coalition, Green Thumb, 596 Acres, GrowNYC and East New York Farms to ensure the successful reactivation of this lot into a community garden and green space for the residents of Warwick Street and East New York.

Between now and June we plan to:

1) Recruit 30 or more volunteers for our Make Warwick Green Again project.

2) Gather tools and materials for the garden build.

3) Inform the stakeholders about our plans for the community.

4) Attend workshops to learn how to build raised beds

5) Execute our Community Work Day in June!

6) Report back to partners on lessons learned 

The Nature Conservancy in New York City is working to create healthy, sustainable, and climate-resilient cities where people and nature can thrive together. Building on the Conservancy’s science-based, collaborative approach, we launched the New York City Program in 2013 to address emerging urban conservation challenges. Our goals are to improve resilience to climate change; enhance environmental quality of life; and, inspire the next generation of conservationists. The reactivation of the Warwick Street Greenery Glow garden is about contributing to the environmental quality of life in a Brooklyn neighborhood that has a strong history of urban farming and community gardens.