HOPE Community Garden is a project coordinated by Greenest City, which is a non-profit, charitable, environmental organization in Toronto that is committed to regenerating urban life, reducing pollution and promoting social equity. Greenest City projects embrace community diversity and engage people in finding locally appropriate solutions to global environmental problems.

The garden is part of an initiative called From the Ground UP, a summer program which engages and employs youth as stewards of change. With a current focus on the neighbourhood of Parkdale, our program goals include reducing contaminants in food, increasing local food security, reducing use of pesticide in local gardening, working in a diverse community, and developing youth leadership skills.

HOPE Community Garden will have three main areas and three types of gardeners:

• Youth hired by From the Ground UP
  
• Community agency plots
• Parkdale community members who have been volunteering at meetings and garden work days interested in growing their own food

(There will also be drop-in gardeners taking care of the “pick-your-own” areas: the outside of the fence; a communal, perennial herb circle in the middle of the garden; and flowers along the fence.)

Plot are assigned by the Garden Coordinator. Garden plots and available plants are free, but we will gratefully accept donations of any kind and can provide tax receipts.

Education: We intend to sponsor regular, free workshops on garden and environment-related topics and also offer children’s programming.
Contact: Shannon Thompson, Project Coordinator, 647-438-0038 shannon[at]greenestcity.net                                                                                              We have a brand new blog site set up as well. Check it out here.

Thanks to: Canadian Tire, Urban Harvest, Parkdale C.I and all our wonderful volunteers.