Community Gardening and Urban Agriculture: An Analysis of Food Growing Organizations in the Capital Region, Portland, and Milwaukee

With 80.7 percent of Americans living in urban areas, 13.5 percent of Americans living in poverty and 42.2 million living in food insecure households, the need for accessible and affordable foods in cities is on the rise. Non-profit organizations that specialize in community gardening and urban agriculture have been influential in closing the food scarcity gap that is prevalent across the U.S. Organizations such as Capital Roots (NY), Village Gardens (OR), and Growing Power (WI) have collaborated with communities, local governments, and other organizations to conveniently provide organic, locally sourced foods to low income residents. These organizations have also provided the communities, in which they work, with the resources and tools to grow their own foods in the comfort of their neighborhoods. They have worked to build community food markets, develop mobile produce delivery systems and execute programing for youth, families, and seniors. However, the work of these organizations is made possible by generous donations, volunteers but most importantly through public and private grant funding. To continue to provide food and supplementary programming to low income communities, food growing organizations rely on grants provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, local city councils, and state governments to sustain and expand outreach into their communities. As these organizations continue to work toward lowering food insecurity, ongoing external financial support is paramount in supporting their role in achieving national food security.