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Community Greening
Community gardens on or near social housing areas are a focal point for people to share gardening skills and fresh produce, and create friendships.
Through a longstanding partnership, DCJ engages the Royal Botanic Gardens to deliver the Community Greening program, supporting social housing tenants to create and maintain community gardens and engage in greening activities.
Since 2000, tenants have been involved in creating more than 500 community gardens, including bush tucker, floral, native, herb and mixed gardens.
Benefits
The program supports tenant participation, wellbeing and skills development, and helps improve the look and feel of social housing areas.
By offering a range of activities and attracting community involvement, community gardens have:
- facilitated tenant involvement in community life
- encouraged interaction and stronger communication between tenants of diverse ages and backgrounds
- provided an outlet for healthy exercise and a healthy food source
- allowed tenants to acquire a range of vocational skills in gardening, planning, teamwork, and decision making
- given tenants a genuine sense of pride and accomplishment, and
- improved people’s understanding and appreciation of their physical environment and heritage.
Partnership approach
The Community Greening program is a partnership between DCJ and the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust which operates across NSW, engaging social housing tenants and communities.
Greening projects are undertaken with a range of local partners such as the Tenant Participation and Community Engagement program (delivered by Mission Australia), community housing providers and Aboriginal community housing providers, local Councils and others.
Over the next two years, Community Greening aims to increase its focus on strengthening regional partnerships, particularly in drought and bushfire affected areas and with Aboriginal organisations.
The Royal Botanic Gardens and its partners also support Community Greening activities targeted to children and young people.
Community Greening supporters
Organisations and businesses that support the program include:
- VegePod
- Toolijooa Environmental
- Oasis Horticulture
- Alpine Nurseries
- Eden Gardens
- WaterUps
- Northcote Pottery
- Yates
Greening areas
Across NSW, abandoned back-lots, wasteland and balconies have been converted into areas growing vegetables, fruit and flowers.
New garden sites can be identified and developed in consultation with the Community Greening team and with land owners’ consent.
Community Greening: Have your say!
The annual Community Greening surveys of participants and stakeholders are being held from Monday 8 February and closes at 7.00pm on Friday 9 April 2021.
Tenants involved in community gardens or Community Greening activities are invited to complete the participant survey.
Service providers and other stakeholders are invited to complete the stakeholder survey.