Main Issue: 
A large number of families in the City of New Bedford were having trouble finding access to healthy and affordable food. 

Solution:
An organization suggested that creating community gardens public schools would not only alleviate a large percentage of the food disparities between families in the community but would bring the families in the community together as a whole. 

 Zoe Hansen-DiBello is the Program Manager and visionary of Grow Education, a program of the Marion Institute working to increase healthy food access by creating community gardens located throughout New Bedford's public schools (link to DiBello’s linked in account)

Community Gardens At Hamline 
Hamline has a plethora of programs and organizations on campus that specialize in the allocation of health and affordable food. One of the organizations on campus that focuses on food justice is the SPROUT garden. SPROUT, which stands for Students Proposing Real Options for Underutilized Territory, was a student group started in 2009. Currently the SPROUT garden is managed by the Hamline United Methodist Church community, with assistance of Hamline student interns supported by the Wesley Center for Spirituality, Service, and Social Justice. Students work with you in the garden to organically grow and harvest produce so that is can be delivered to elderly residents in the community.

The Hamline MicroFarm on Minnehaha is the set of garden beds south of the SPROUT garden, built and maintained by the Sustainability Thrive Team students, who are mentored by the Urban Farm and Garden Alliance, Dream of Wild Health, and the Hamline Midway Environment Group, and who provide fresh produce to Feed Your Brain and the Food Resource Center on Campus. Volunteers and student orgs who want to collaborate on expanding the garden's production are always welcome! (Garden at hamline.edu).



The Hamline Sustainability Thrive Team students and Sustainability Committee also work with Feed Your Brain and volunteers to maintain the Peace and Appreciation garden beds on the Hamline learning lawn, north of East Hall.


Community Gardens In Minneapolis 
There are nearly 300 community gardens scattered throughout the City of Minneapolis, with more than 50 of them being on vacant city-owned lot through the Minneapolis Garden Lease Program. The City of Minneapolis has flexible zoning for urban agriculture and offers certain vacant city-owned lots that people can lease for community or market gardens through the Minneapolis Garden Lease Program. 

If you want more information on this topic follow this link to the Homegrown Minneapolis program.