ACGA Pre-conference Workshops on City Governments and Community Gardens - Call for Proposals

Hello,

Please find below the call for proposals for a pre-conference municipal training session on community gardening that is being hosted in Toronto in conjunction with the ACGA's 2004 Conference.  

Please forward the call to any municipal (or other government) staff that might be interested in presenting, and encourage them to submit a proposal.  

Thank you,
Julian


ON CITY GOVERNMENTS AND COMMUNITY GARDENS

For Fall 2004 Conference

The American Community Gardening Association is holding a fall conference in Toronto on the theme of "Gardens of Diversity: Growing Across Cultures."  To help grow across the cultures of community activists and government staff, and to enhance the value of attendance at the ACGA conference, City of Toronto staff are hosting a first time-ever pre-conference day of workshops that will be of special interest to employees of government institutions.

The main event, sponsored by FoodShare Toronto in conjunction with the Toronto Community Garden Network, and with support from the City of Toronto, starts on October 1, 2004.  (For information, see www.communitygarden.org/conf/index.html .)

The pre-conference workshops, to be held on September 30, 2004, will be organized around learning needs of government, especially municipal, employees.  Sessions are organized in three streams.  One deals with Getting Started.  One deals with Access and Equity.  And one deals with School Gardens.  Each stream will include three workshops of one hour and a half each.

The pre-conference workshops are designed to share hands-on knowledge gained from direct experience, so that people can learn from each other about practical ways of managing the issues involved in making community gardening a civic success story.  We are hoping that stories from many areas will help stimulate increased use of community gardens as tools for creating a civic culture of citizen participation, physical activity, social equity, community safety, food literacy, neighborhood economic development and urban beautification.

To this end, we are inviting people to submit proposals that feature lessons learned about resolving challenges that come out of your experience.  Even if you cannot make it to the pre-conference workshop, we invite you to submit a written paper that can be published, alongside contributions made at the pre-conference workshop, in a post-conference anthology that will spread the news about city participation in community gardening during the 21st century city.

To give an idea of the kind of submissions we are looking for, here is a list of possible topics that could be covered in each session.  We plan to choose four presenters for each session.  Each presenter will speak for 15 minutes, leaving 30 minutes for open discussion.


STREAM 1 -- Getting Started: Resources, Infrastructure, Equipment

We are looking for four presentations on topics such as (but not limited to):

· options for land (parks, surplus, vacant, utility corridors, traffic islands, rooftops, etc.)
· basic services and infrastructure (water, storage sheds, tools, etc.)
· zoning issues
· insurance and liability issues
· equipment needs
· accessing financial help from foundations and other levels of government
· distinct needs of rural and urban municipalities


STREAM 1 -- Getting Started: Working Relationships

We are looking for four presentations on topics such as (but not limited to):

· personnel policies and procedures for an atypical workforce
· union-management and classification issues for atypical workers and volunteers
· training issues
· role of champions
· overcoming internal resistance from already-overworked staff
· advantages and disadvantages of user fees for community gardens


STREAM 1 -- Getting Started: Food Gardens and Naturalized Gardens

We are looking for four presentations on topics such as (but not limited to):

· site options and requirements for different types of gardens
· advantages of keeping different types of gardens together or apart
· toxicity testing for different types of gardens
· development of membership protocols for different types of gardens


STREAM 2 -- Access and Equity: Developing Community Partnerships

We are looking for four presentations on topics such as (but not limited to):

· legal and legislative issues in relations with community groups
· advantages and disadvantages of forming citizen advisory committees
· opportunities and challenges of linking with NGOs and professional organizations
· working with staff and politicians to promote direct citizen participation
· being pro-active in outreach and communication
· pros and cons of entrepreneurial gardens
· gardens as sites for empowerment, inclusion and community development
· decisions around sale/distribution of community garden produce
· identifying partners for access and equity initiatives
· strategies for addressing institutional barriers


STREAM 2 -- Access and Equity: Working With People of All Ages and Abilities

We are looking for four presentations on topics such as (but not limited to):

· gardening with children, youth, seniors and inter-generational groupings
· working with under-served groups (at-risk youth, homeless people, etc.)
· accommodating gardeners with physical, psychological or mental challenges
· approaches to therapeutic gardening
· gardens as sites for life skills and job skills training


STREAM 2 -- Access and Equity: Working With Ethno-Cultural Communities

We are looking for four presentations on topics such as (but not limited to):

· physical accommodating of cultural preferences (season extension, greenhouses, etc)
· diversity and cultural competency training for staff
· gardens as sites for social and cultural inclusion


STREAM 3 --School Gardening: Starting a School Garden

We are looking for four presenters on such topics as (but not limited to):

· using school gardens to promote a positive culture of conflict resolution
· working with students, teachers, support staff, parents, neighbours, school trustees
· liability issues of school gardens
· approaches to fundraising
· accommodating students with special needs


STREAM 3 -- School Gardening: Linking School Gardens to Curriculum

We are looking for four presentations on such topics as (but not limited to):

· gardens as outdoors labs/classrooms
· linking gardens to nutrition, science, math, social studies, arts, ecology
· school gardens as part of a comprehensive school nutrition environment


STREAM 3 -- School Gardening: What To Do About Summer

We are looking for four presentations on such topics as (but not limited to):

· approaches to maintaining school gardens during the summer season

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please submit proposals of up to 750 words outlining your topic, approach and the knowledge, experience or qualifications you bring to the subject to both: 

Solomon Boye, Toronto Community Gardens Coordinator (sboye@toronto.ca )

and

Wayne Roberts, Toronto Food Policy Council Coordinator (wrobert@toronto.ca ).

The deadline for proposals is June 20, 2004.

If you have any questions about possible topics, please call Solomon Boye at 416-392-7800.

We look forward to seeing your proposals, and to meeting you at the workshops, as well as at the full ACGA conference that our workshops will complement.

************************************************************


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