Community gardens could play key role in NYC’s outdoor learning plan — if the city lets them

Community gardens are particularly concentrated in predominantly low-income communities of color like Northern Manhattan, the Bronx and Central Brooklyn. Image via Parks Department

By David Brand

For months, Clarisa James carefully tended her organization’s plot of land in Springfield Gardens, working with colleagues to clear weeds as she waited for the city to allow visitors to return.

James, the director of the tech education nonprofit DIVAS for Social Justice, had planned to use the space — the Garden of Resilience — to host students from schools in and around Springfield Gardens, including P.S. 52 four blocks away. After COVID regulations closed gardens to outside visitors, she found creative ways to engage young people, like using a 3D camera to allow kids to help design planting beds and a gallery wall.

With a new school year approaching, James saw another opportunity for the Garden of Resilience and more than 550 other community plots around New York City.

“If there are so many issues with ventilation systems in schools, why don’t we partner with them and say we’ll make space available to you,” James said. 

On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Ricahrd Carranza announced that schools can hold classes outside this September. That decision has only galvanized James’ effort to host local students in the Garden of Resilience. 

Traditional parks are scarce in many communities of color, but community gardens can fill the need for outdoor learning space, she wrote in an essay on her website laurelton.nyc. The plan announced Monday will enable schools to hold classes in on-campus yards and to seek outdoor space in off-campus parks.

“In more affluent communities where there is access to green space this is possible,” James said. “Access to green spaces in Black and Brown communities is limited.”

The gardens are concentrated in predominantly low- and middle-income Black and Latino communities of Northern Manhattan, Central Brooklyn and the South Bronx, according to a Parks Department garden site map. Local residents there have turned vacant lots into flourishing farms.

“The Garden of Resilience is a blank slate,” James said. “To protect our community let’s open up our parks and gardens to be learning spaces as our children navigate our new normal.”

Community gardens are particularly concentrated in predominantly low-income communities of color like Northern Manhattan, the Bronx and Central Brooklyn. Image via Parks Department

For weeks, principals and education advocates have urged the city to sign off on outdoor classes, pointing to evidence that suggests COVID-19 does not spread outside as easily as it does indoors. De Blasio acknowledged that effort in his announcement Monday.

“We want to give schools the option to do as much outdoors as they can,” he said. “In certain cases, we can make space available in local parks. It really depends on the circumstance of each school.”

In a June survey of 390 parents, educators and community-based organizations conducted by education advocates Class Size Matters and Kids Rise PAC, respondents recommended partnering with CBOs and holding classes outside.

So far, however, the Parks Department has declined to give community gardens the go-ahead to host classes, though the sites may welcome some members of the public at their discretion. No garden, regardless of size, can host more than 25 people at a time, according to department rules.

“Due to the relatively small size of community gardens and limitations of social distancing, public events and gatherings inside gardens remain prohibited at this time,” said Parks Department spokesperson Dan Kastanis. “NYC Parks and licensed gardens groups will review all event requests for feasibility when community gardens can safely reopen to public events.”

The Department of Education recommends that community garden groups get in touch with local schools to discuss outdoor learning, but actually implementing a plan depends on the Parks Department allowing the gardens to host the gatherings.

“We are considering many different Outdoor Learning proposals, and we are so grateful for the community-based outdoor spaces that have expressed their interest in helping make the upcoming school year our strongest one yet,” said DOE spokesperson Katie O’Hanlon.

James laser-cut QR codes into pieces of wood to allow students to learn via mobile devices. Photo courtesy of James

If and when community gardens are allowed to host students, James already has a plan and says she has been in touch with local schools.

She said the garden could provide a space for classes “that range from English to Science” as well as room for socially distanced physical activity.

The garden would also offer students an opportunity to learn about civic engagement and food justice in Southeast Queens. James has laser-cut QR codes into treated wood to allow students to use mobile devices to unlock educational material.  

James, whose garden is located at 179-18 145th Drive, is the not the only Queens nonprofit leader willing to host classes in her group’s garden.

Milan Taylor, the director of the Rockaway Youth Task Force, said his organization’s community garden in Arverne could also host classes if nearby schools and parents support the plan. RYTF recently sorted out bureaucratic obstacles to expand their thriving garden to an adjacent plot of land. 

“If principals and school leadership, most importantly parents, are okay with that idea, we’re on board to support local schools with whatever resources they need to stay open in a smart and healthy way,” Taylor said. “Anything to help the community.”