Community Building and Organizing’s (CB&O) jam-packed summer of hosting various volunteer groups has extended into the fall with some great days of service! CB&O has been working with neighbors and resident-driven groups to welcome students to local community gardens. As discussed in our Annual Report, the department has embarked on new partnerships with local organizations to increase urban organic food production. Combining food production efforts with volunteerism is one of the many ways that Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven takes a holistic approach to neighborhood revitalization.
Volunteer groups have spent many hours contributing to the Ivy Street Community Garden and Greenhouse, as well as the newly formed STREET garden across the street.
These gardens saw a flurry of activity in the month of August, ranging from woodchip deliveries to community service and educational programming. In addition to the perennial Yale FOCUS first-year orientation program, we welcomed the Harris & Tucker Preschool Summer Camp, and the combined efforts of all these groups and activities helped ensure that the Ivy Street Community Garden was well-tended and ready for winter.
Harris Tucker campers amidst the cauliflower, tomatoes and peppers. Note the wood-chips between the rows helping to define the space and protecting the roots of the plants.
Then, in the fall, we welcomed Choate Rosemary Hall students who came and moved mulch and built four new hügelkultur mounds. Hügelkultur is a horticultural technique that involves building a mound out of decaying wood and other compostable biomass plant materials, which is then planted as a raised bed.
Hügelkultur mounds.
In October, we also welcomed 31 students from Quinnipiac University, who spread mulch over one-fifth of an acre at the STREET Garden. This will create the initial layer above the existing soil and set the stage for a series of hügelkultur mounds designed to mimic the streets and avenues of the Newhallville neighborhood.
Students spreading woodchips thickly onto what will become STREET Garden.
CB&O’s work with volunteerism extends beyond community gardening. For example, one day in early October, Director of Community Building & Organizing, Stephen Cremin-Endes, received three large boxes of winter care supplies from a Choate collaborator. The students had collected and packaged materials like socks, snacks, and handwarmers to be distributed with the food by Newhallville fREshSTARTs. This aligns with their goal of providing more than just food, and “helping the whole person holistically.”
Melissa from Choate Rosemary Hall with said donations.
Often volunteerism provides groups with learning experiences, like when Lincoln-Bassett Elementary School second, fifth, and sixth graders performed important fall work while learning about ecology, harvest plants, and preparing the soil for next year by planting rye!
Lincoln-Bassett Students picking final tomatoes and sorting them by size!
And as the fall season starts to get colder, our gardening work will begin to dwindle. Before the frost comes, the Lincoln-Bassett students helped us to carry out our final harvest and start preparing the garden beds for the wintertime.
We’d like to thank all our volunteers and community partners for continuously helping us tend these gardens to improve the community and well-being of the residents.
