A Community of Friends' Community Garden Initiative

LA LISC selected A Community of Friends to be a recipient of a $15,000 grant as a part of our local Elevating Equity: Health and Housing program in March of 2016. The purpose of the award was to support the expansion of A Community of Friends’ community garden initiative at 7 permanent supportive housing communities in Los Angeles County. Seven properties were supported with completed gardens by this grant: Figueroa Court Apartments, Avalon Apartments, California Hotel, Fedora Apartments, Fox Normandie Apartments, Las Palomas Hotel and Woodland Terrace. Most of these properties are older buildings that did not originally have garden space as part of their designs. In addition, with enough remaining funds, ACOF was able to construct a garden for an eighth building, Osborne Place Apartments, another property that had begun to ask for their own garden. 

Three of the aforementioned buildings are for families. All eight buildings provide 363 homes to 649 adults and children, who all have access to fresh fruits and vegetables thanks to the gardens. Implementing healthier ways of eating fruits and vegetables is often challenging for tenants because of the lack of affordable grocery options in the community, however ACOF’s case managers encourage tenants to see gardening as an alternative. ACOF continues to look for creative ways to incentivize tenants, while also being mindful of cultural diversity and family dynamics when it comes to gardening and making healthier choices.

This work is supported in part by California Community Foundation.