Over the past two years, the U.S. Botanic Garden and Chicago Botanic Garden have partnered to lead a series of national trainings for public gardens on incorporating food, health, and jobs into public garden urban agriculture program offerings. The events of the past year have underscored the importance of this work to the communities that each public garden serves. They have revealed stark health inequities in our nation, brought to light the impending crisis that is climate change, and have shined a light on the lack of diversity within our institutions. The trainings and partnership have brought together garden and community partner staff to study how urban agriculture can address these issues and have birthed a toolkit for gardens looking to grow their urban agriculture work. 

In this session, participants will be introduced to the tools in the manual, hear from garden practitioners who have used these tools, and start to envision how the toolkit can help their garden embark on the journey to begin this work or expand on current offerings.

Education and Communication Track Sponsor: