Refugee Fresh Start Community Garden
by Liz Leicht | Apr 09, 2010
| 2 Comments
| 2 Comments
Summary:
Resettled into urban areas like the Twin Cities, many refugees have a desire to farm, but poor access to and little knowledge of where to garden. Helping refugee families to start community gardens at apartment complexes where refugee populations have chosen to settle would help families access healthy and culturally based food otherwise not available to them because of limited income. Apartment based gardens would be a unique way to help families connect with their neighbors and other gardeners around the metro area. The majority of refugees currently coming to Minnesota are from Burma, Bhutan, and several East African countries including Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Based largely in agriculture, many people from these countries are from farming communities. Gardening would be an avenue to learning about food and nutrition in the United States and would give families a way to manage the stress of living in a new country, and would increase social capital therefore benefiting the health of the community and families involved in the project.
Thirteen Karen families from Burma living in an apartment complex in east St. Paul have enthusiastically indicated interested in growing food for their families this summer, and the property owners have graciously agreed to let families use a large flat green space as a garden.
First Name
Liz
Last Name
Leicht
About You
First Name
Liz
Last Name
Leicht
Country
United States, MN, Ramsey County
City
St. Paul
Country
United States, MN, Ramsey County
City
St. Paul
About You
About Your Organization
Organization Name
MN Council of Churches - Refugee Services
Organization Website
Organization Phone
612-230-3221
Organization Address
122 Franklin Ave W. Suite 100 Minneapolis, MN 55404
Your idea
Name your idea
Refugee Fresh Start Community Garden
Describe your idea
Resettled into urban areas like the Twin Cities, many refugees have a desire to farm, but poor access to and little knowledge of where to garden. Helping refugee families to start community gardens at apartment complexes where refugee populations have chosen to settle would help families access healthy and culturally based food otherwise not available to them because of limited income. Apartment based gardens would be a unique way to help families connect with their neighbors and other gardeners around the metro area. The majority of refugees currently coming to Minnesota are from Burma, Bhutan, and several East African countries including Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. Based largely in agriculture, many people from these countries are from farming communities. Gardening would be an avenue to learning about food and nutrition in the United States and would give families a way to manage the stress of living in a new country, and would increase social capital therefore benefiting the health of the community and families involved in the project.
Thirteen Karen families from Burma living in an apartment complex in east St. Paul have enthusiastically indicated interested in growing food for their families this summer, and the property owners have graciously agreed to let families use a large flat green space as a garden.
How do you define your "community"?
The refugee community in the Twin Cities is growing, last year an average of 900 refugees were resettled to Minnesota and this year there will be and estimated 2,000 resettled. A Refugee is defined as a person outside of his or her country of nationality who is unable or unwilling to return because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinions. Two populations of refugees that Minnesota is seeing frequently are the Karen from Burma and the Bhutanese from Bhutan. The majority of these families who are resettled to the Twin Cities live in East St. Paul in apartment buildings. Many families are resettled by refugee resettlement agencies in to this area because this is where the ethic community is. They then bring their families and friends to live in those same apartment buildings when they arrive to the United States. This is the community that the garden would serve. The project would be a model for helping to integrate newly arriving refugees into new lives in Minnesota, but would also serve those who have been here for a longer period of time and still do not know how to access spaces to garden. The goal of this project would be to help these families access the resources necessary to have healthy food, but also to connect these families, to the greater twin cities gardening community.
Tell us how you think the issue of obesity is affecting your community
Refugees are resettled into poverty. They receive a grant upon arrival that is enough to cover rent for a few months and all of the start up costs, but once the transitional grant is spent families live on public assistance until they are able to find jobs. Food costs add up quickly and refugee families find that fresh vegetables, like what they used to grow are no longer affordable. Therefore, families default to eating less nutritious food because it is less expensive, without realizing the health implications of those foods. Labels on food are not always clear, especially to families that are not familiar with English or food nutrition facts. Refugees are a vulnerable population for many reasons, but learning about nutrition and health through growing food would be empowering to families and would give them access to healthy food at little or no cost and could lead to educational opportunities involving nutrition and food in the United States.
Why should your idea be selected?
This is a community driven project with multiple health benefits. Firstly it would mean access to nutritious food that currently these families can not afford, but it also promotes time sensitive community connections for families, it decreases social isolation therefore increasing social capital and would take some of the stress off of the families that moving to a new and difference country may bring. Gardening enhances physical and mental well being and health.
Starting community gardens for Refugees at apartment complexes is a unique idea. It can create a stronger relationship between residents and landlords and is a benefit to landlords because gardening areas would bring more refugee families to the apartment complex essentially putting and keeping more units filled. Because the Karen and Bhutanese communities live so close to each other in pockets around the cities this gardening model could be used at other buildings around the Twin Cities. While the Minnesota Council of Churches – Refugee Services put up posters at the apartment complex hoping to find out if there was interest in gardening, it became very clear at the first meeting that it was not a new idea to these families; they just hadn’t known how to make it happen before. Since that first meeting leaders have come forward to organize the families living at the building, and the Council of Churches only role now is to help connect the families with resources they needs to make this a reality.
 | Angie Willardson said: This seems like a great idea. It would provide an avenue for stress relief, a chance to grow foods that are familiar to home, as well ... about this Competition Entry. - 769 days ago read more > |
| Luke Wilcox said: This seems like a great way to encourage healthy living and provide an opportunity for refugees to feel more at home in their new ... about this Competition Entry. - 769 days ago read more > |
 | Liz Leicht updated this Competition Entry. - 769 days ago |
 | Liz Leicht submitted this idea. - 777 days ago |
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