RE: entrepreneurial garden resource

H* A*

Laura:

Thanks for the study. CGs are best used as community and educational
resources. We have a sucessful market gardening program in NYC called
"Greenmarket" which provides market space on NYC streets for local farmers.
Produce, particulary honey is occasionally sold at Greenmarket by some
commmunity gardeners as a non-profit fundraising modality, but nobody thinks
that one can profitably run a self-supporting Market Garden in NYC any more.

Cheers,

Adam Honigman 

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Laura Lawson [SMTP:llawson@uclink4.berkeley.edu]
> Sent:	Friday, December 03, 1999 12:00 PM
> To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
> Subject:	[cg] entrepreneurial garden resource
> 
> Rethinking Direct Marketing Approaches for Urban Market Gardens
> in Low and Moderate Income Neighborhood
> 
> 
> There has been a great deal of discussion in the past few years about
> socially-responsible urban market gardening. But how do such projects fair
> over time?  What are the educational, economic, and community factors that
> effect programs seeking to train and employ people in market gardening?
> Should these ventures be viewed and evaluated as business, as education,
> as a social outlet, or any and all of the above?
> 
> We are pleased to announce the availability of the report, Rethinking
> Direct Marketing Approaches for Urban Market Gardens in Low and Moderate
> Income Neighborhood. This report summarizes a two-year research project
> conducted by Laura Lawson and Marcia McNally for Berkeley Youth
> Alternatives and supported by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and
> Education Program (SAREP) of the University of California, Davis.
> 
> The focus of this study has been the Berkeley Youth Alternatives' (BYA)
> Garden Patch Youth Market Garden Program. Established in 1993 on a
> half-acre site located in West Berkeley, the Market Garden Program trains
> and employs at-risk youth to grow and sell organic produce at farmers'
> markets and elsewhere.  With the goal to improve the program's economic
> viability, this research project explored two related issues: the fresh
> produce purchasing and consumption patterns in the surrounding
> neighborhood and the economic feasibility of a small urban garden.  Data
> collected through surveys, focus groups, and interviews indicate the
> neighbors' complex shopping patterns are motivated by the search for
> quality, affordability, and convenience.  An internal audit of the Market
> Garden revealed contradictory impulses between business development and
> educational programs that resulted in inefficiencies in operating the
> business. 
> 
> With data in hand, BYA staff, experts, and neighbors agreed that emphasis
> should be on the garden's role in youth training instead of profit making.
> Thus, a new vision has emerged for the Garden Patch  that of a community
> laboratory emphasizing the small business learning experiences of youth in
> direct marketing pursuits. 
> 
> Through its methodology and its content, the report will be of interest to
> gardeners, community organizers, educators, urban planners, and others.
> To order a copy of the report, please send a check for $20 to cover
> copying and mailing, payable to Community Development by Design: 
> 
> 
> 			Rethinking Direct Marketing Approaches 
> 			C/O Community Development by Design 
> 			2707 Mathews Street 
> 			Berkeley, California 94702 
> 
> 
> 
> Laura Lawson
> Ph.D. candidate
> Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning
> University of California
> Berkeley, California  94720 

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