Working with the Community: Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority Teaching Garden

Working with the Community: Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority Teaching Garden

We are happy to announce that the City of Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority (RRHA) has been awarded a $2,500 Teaching Gardens grant through the American Heart Association, becoming one of fifty other organizations nationwide to be recognized through the Teaching Gardens Network grant program.

The grant has been dispersed from the American Heart Association with sponsorship with CAULIPOWER, and is providing funds to schools and programs from coast to coast in order to boost garden-based learning and to support access to delicious, healthy food!

RRHA is putting this grant to good work, with plans to revamp and begin seeding their community garden at the Roanoke EnVision Center in the coming Spring. Last year, the community garden was an exciting opportunity for youth and families from their Lansdowne Park site to come and participate in an after-school activity that culminated in free, nutritious food to bring home and distribute to their neighbors. With the Teaching Gardens grant, the program’s continuation in 2023 is ensured.

Working with the Community: Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority Teaching GardenGreg Goodman, RRHA’s Director of Community Support Services, has this to say: “We are proud to work with our partners; The Harvest Collective, Take Root, CommUnity Arts, Family Services Of Roanoke Valley, and The Virginia Cooperative Extension. Each of these partners have and continue to go above and beyond to bring resources to our Lansdowne/EnVision Center community, and we could not be more grateful for their work to not only grow food in the garden, but grow our community. With the help of these partners, we look forward to scaling up our garden this year to include more harvest days for the community, holding weekly workshops with youth to allow them the opportunity to learn about gardening, participate in art/music activities, and develop their physical and mental health. This grant will help us make the garden a sustainable piece to the EnVision Center and Lansdowne community.”

“We are thrilled that RRHA is the recipient of this teaching garden grant,” said Paula Wallace, Youth Markets Director (Southwest VA) for the American Heart Association. “I have watched the community work that Greg and the EnVision Center do, and I know that this grant will help further their mission and reach!”

RRHA would like to thank the American Heart Association and CAULIPOWER for their initiative and for their funding, and here at Lansdowne they are absolutely ready to slip their gardening boots on!

Working with the Community: Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority Teaching Garden