Brings Communities Together

Increasing plant material in the environment around homes, schools and neighborhoods builds community pride and discourages vandalism. The California Department of Transportation, for example, encourages planting vines on sound walls to prevent graffiti. The University of California Cooperative Extension Common Ground Garden Project trains lowincome people to grow plants to help them become emotionally and socially invested in their neighborhoods and as a way to produce low-cost fruits and vegetables. In Los Angeles, for example, the Carmelitos lowincome housing development community garden was designed by Common Ground and constructed with the help of the Growing Experience, an on-the-horticultural-job-training crew co-sponsored by Common Ground and the Los Angeles Community Development Commission. The project brought job training and community pride to the neighborhood.