Grassroots Gardens WNY (GGWNY) enables community-led efforts to revitalize the city and enhance quality of life through the creation and maintenance of community gardens that beautify blocks, grow healthy food, and strengthen neighborhood spirit. Grassroots Gardens of Western New York is a determined group of activists who educate and lead committed neighborhood gardeners. We collaboratively cultivate and manage more than 300,000 square feet (and growing!) of green space in Buffalo and Niagara Falls. Our work is rooted in the belief that a garden has the power to transform an urban neighborhood. Gardens deliver beauty and escape and produce healthy food. A garden creates a shared sense of purpose that empowers a community and acts as a vehicle for environmental awareness and public health in unexpected places that previously had little to no value. Since 2010, Grassroots Gardens’ network of community and school gardens has doubled to over 100 gardens. We steward a network of over 2,000 gardeners tending over 300,000 square feet of previously vacant land. These gardeners represent more than 30 cultural backgrounds, and cultivate more than 150 varieties of vegetables and fruits in gardens that are designed and maintained by and for the communities they are in. This growing season, we will provide roughly 250 cubic yards of soil and mulch, 6500 seedlings, 500 seed packets, and enough lumber to construct nearly 100 raised beds for food production. In 2015, an estimated 30,000 lbs of food was produced by our gardeners. We anticipate more than 35,000 in 2016.
