Background

Our chapter has built a strong relationship with the Urban Farm and Garden Alliance by carrying the momentum of the Peace Sanctuary Project to the Victoria Community Garden project in St. Paul. A portion of the project was completed in the 2021-2022 school year and summer with more design and implementation to come this fall semester.

Our Partner

Urban Farm & Garden Alliance (UFGA) is a network of eight community gardens throughout the St. Paul neighborhoods of Rondo and Frogtown. As taken from UFGA’s website: “The alliance of these gardens serves to share ideas, resources, and co-host educational workshops and summer activities and events through partnerships with other organizations and institutions. […] These partnerships and relationships have been important in creating community around healthy, nutritious foods and continuing to help create greater access to growing food and green space for residents in neighborhoods that have suffered the consequences of institutionalized racism. This includes, in particular, the destruction and severing of the historic Rondo neighborhood by building interstate 94 through a thriving African American community.”

Our Work

The Victoria Community Garden focuses on providing a growing space to gardeners in the surrounding area. Individual raised-bed plots are used to grow fresh produce as long as the growing season will allow. EWB-USA UMN has partnered with the community to improve some key components of the space: garden box structures, water distribution, seating, accessibility, and composting in Summer 2022. Our team will continue to collaborate closely with community members to design more improvements including a seating pergola area, lighting, and new garden boxes in Fall 2022.

For more information, contact:
Alex Hawkins hawki587@umn,edu or Sydney Romandine [email protected]