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Empowering youth to reclaim their neighborhood through participation in multicultural, intergenerational, creative action projects.

 

There is a movement happening in the JC neighborhood. People have been coming together to create edible front yard gardens, share produce, create public gathering places, clean up Poppy Creek, and more.

 

Growing a Village builds on this momentum by enlisting youth and adults in the JC neighborhood to work together to make where we live a more supportive, sustainable and friendly place.

 

Keeping it Local: We're bringing together neighborhood gardeners, artists, credentialed teachers and more, to create free, safe, hands-on learning projects for neighborhood youth in the following areas:

Community service
Ecological action
Creative arts
Skill building

How will it work? We will gather throughout the year at various indoor and outdoor neighborhood locations, where we will share the progress of our youth-inspired projects, enjoy locally grown and prepared foods, and participate in creative expression activities in English and Spanish.

 

OUR MOTIVATION:

In our modern culture, parents tend to drive their kids around from one after-school activity to another. If parents are not available, the kids often spend their time indoors on the computer, TV, cell phone or other electronic media.

 

Growing a Village/Cultivando un Pueblo is addressing this by providing an alternative that encourages youth in our neighborhood to engage with their natural environment and with the diversity of people, plants and animals that are part of it. Since all of the participants, including educators, artists and specialists, come from the same neighbor-hood, we are building connections and participating in activities that actively reduce our dependence on fossil fuels (no cars needed!).

 

We are also proactive in efforts to engage youth and families from every spectrum of our neighborhood community, including those from low-income, underserved, or otherwise culturally marginalized backgrounds.

 

In this way, we are serving as a replicable model of how collective knowledge can be cultivated and shared in a safe and healthy environment, for children, adults and elders living in any neighborhood.

 

 

Your volunteer time and/or donations will make this program thrive!

Tax-deductible donations can be mailed to our fiscal sponsor, the Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy. Please make checks payable to "Growing a Village Project, The Leadership Institute," and mail to: Leadership Institute for Ecology and the Economy, 555 5th St., Suite 300A, Santa Rosa CA 95401. The Leadership Institute, www.ecoleader.org, is a 501(c)3 public charity. Contributions are fully tax-deductible as allowed by law.

 

Creating a replicable model for sustainable community building.

chalk circle

 

2012 Events

Stay tuned for upcoming events in the spring and summer when we'll continue our work on Poppy Creek and park stewardship.

For more information, contact us at 579-3849 or email growingavillage@gmail.com.

 

April 27 - Fundraiser at Gaia's Garden

1899 Mendocino Ave. 1:00-2:30 pm

 

Julie and friends will be playing music and 10% of music donations will go to Growing a Village. Reservations are suggested if you plan to eat lunch: 544-2491 www.gaiasgardenonline.com.

 

Bohemian article about Growing a Village

November 11, 2011 - read it here.

 

Halloween/Harvest Party in Poppy Park

 

Our fall gatherings in Poppy Park (at the intersection of Carr St. and King St.) included a Poppy Creek clean-up, a planning gathering, and a Harvest/Halloween party that drew over 60 children and adults from our neighborhood and was a wonderful success.

 

There was great enthusiasm expressed by the children for another 'clean the creek' day, so we will set a date for one sometime this spring. A multitude of fabulous ideas were brought forward about how we might come together to make improvements on Poppy Park - ideas that could beautify the space and encourage our neighbors to help us keep the park cleaner, more beautiful, ecologically sound and fun to spend time in. We will discuss these with the appropriate Santa Rosa officials and see what we can move forward with.

 

Looking forward to gathering again in the spring, summer and fall!

 

Ongoing Projects: Poppy Creek Clean-up and Park Stewardship

Poppy Park, at the intersection of King and Carr Streets

 

Children in the neighborhood have expressed interest in Poppy Park (at the intersection of King and Carr, with the walnut trees and footbridge) and Poppy Creek, which runs through the Junior College neighborhood. On 9/23, over 20 children and almost as many adults gathered in the tiny park to discuss possible improvements to the area, as well as ideas for a costume Halloween party on Friday, 10/28 at the same spot. There were an abundance of unique and creative suggestions put forth!

 

Afterwards, we went on a walk following Poppy Creek with Alistair Bleifuss, Santa Rosa's environmental specialist. We learned about how ordinary curbside litter gets washed into the creek when it rains. Our crowd was so enthusiastic about picking up litter from the park, the creek, and curbside, that Alistair left us several litter pick-up 'claws' so that we can keep on cleaning up year-round.

 

September 17-24 was Creek Week in Santa Rosa. For more info click here.

 

Ongoing Projects:

The Children's Garden/Jardín de los Niños

Northeast corner, Spencer and King Streets, behind a wooden fence with a ladybug on the door.

 

We brought children's art from our Open House to our new neighborhood Children's Garden/Jardín de los Niños.   Children, along with parents and volunteers, have been gardening there three times a week ever since.  You are welcome to check out the garden whenever the gate is open, or ask Maj, the generous neighbor who shares this space with us, about possible work projects and times.

 

gardening with kids

 

The Pumpkin Project

Growing season 2011

 

Picture the JC neighborhood overflowing with pumpkin plants! The Children's Garden began when a neighborhood child expressed an interest in having a big neighborhood Halloween event in the fall, and it seemed like a good idea to grow our own pumpkins.  As it turns out, we are growing so many things in the garden, that we don't have enough room for all the pumpkins we want to grow.  So we are distributing pumpkin seeds (along with sunflower seeds, since they go well together) to anyone who wants to be part of the pumpkin project.  We also have pumpkin starts planted by the kids, to give away to anyone who would like to grow some, and then share them.  Please let me know if you want seeds or plant starts.

 

 

Recap of our May 12, 2011 Open House

 

We were treated to the music of a neighborhood teenagers band,  Les Bons Temps, and the drumming of our neighbors from Ghana, master drummer Adwoa Kudota, and her daughter Sena.  That was followed by the amazing Danza Azteca Coyolxauqui, who brought us all together in a circle dance of friendship.  Many  kids got a chance to try out playing the marimbas, made by a neighborhood instrument maker, and a large group of us learned to sing our new, collectively written theme song, Todos Juntos/All Together. The final act of the day was the children's One World Ensemble, who wowed everyone with their beautiful songs from all over the world.

 

We had three different hands-on art stations, as well as an ecology table, where children had a chance to learn about, and get involved in growing food.  There were jugglers, "hoopers", and  young artists galore.

 

We had over 120 people at our event, and served delicious, healthy, free food, prepared  by many volunteers, including a young chef, Ria Lopez.  So many people helped out in so many ways .....thank you!

 

Lastly, Growing a Village is a completely free-for-everyone program, but it is not free to run.  If you have any ideas  for fundraising, or any skills or experience in this area (I don't!), please share them with me!  :) 

 

dancers