A regional support model can be a program, policy or staff person(s) that supports multiple school gardens in a defined region (eg. district, city, or county).

Regional support models can empower garden champions at school sites, build partnerships that support garden programs, and lay the foundation for long-term sustainability. Regional support models can be made up of one or more of the following types of organizations:

• Community Volunteer Based Models (Master Gardeners, Volunteers, Scouts, Community Gardens)

• Non-profit Support Organizations

• University / Service Learning Programs

• Government Programs (Department of Education, Food and Ag, Municipalities, etc.

• School Districts

• Policy that Supports School Gardens

• Nutrition and Waste Management Funded Programs

Visit the National School Garden Support Organization Network, a forum of School Garden Support Professionals.Read more on our blog: Sustaining School Gardens – Funding Garden CoordinatorsThe following presentation is part of a longer webinar on regional support models for school gardens.

Common Challenges in Creating and Sustaining School Gardens

• Schools have limited funding.

• Mounting a garden project is a huge task and requires community engagement.

• Summer break creates maintenance challenges. Summer break can also create programming/planning challenges.

• Teachers have their own set of complex variables: no time, many responsibilities, lack of interest, and little knowledge about teaching in the out of doors.

• There are challenges of planning and implementation of solid curriculum that directly links to academic content.

• Networking and communications within the school community requires sophisticated outreach and community building skill. Creating a culture of “environmental solidarity” with all aspects of the school day requires planning (lunchroom composting, classroom recycling, roofwater catchment, non toxic cleaners, organic garden, etc)

• Gardens take a lot of maintenance and a special skill set to keep thriving.

Benefits of a Regional Network

There is power in unity!

• Networks can get larger pools of funding (ie: parcel tax, bond funding, district wide funding). Individual schools can get parent & local support, but often not much more.

• Larger networks have greater political clout when they speak with one voice they can more easily attain:

  • Publicity

  • Recognition

  • District wide program development (institutionalized curriculum or program planning, etc)

  • A network develops relationships, collaborations and colleagues – which in turn strengthen the network

  • A network shares the burden, and “recharges the well “by developing relationships

  • Landscape resources can be bundled and costs can be reduced (or free) when managed by a network (compost, mulch, soil, etc)

  • A network is resilient (more than one person)

  • A network acts like a funnel- gathering and sending information where it is most needed.

  • A network can share best practices by understanding the journey of many.  This can help to make programs more efficient/successful – less “re creating the wheel”

Elements of Regional Networks

What a successful network looks like & how does it operate

• There is no "one model" of a successful support network/program

• Networks serve their members and members are responsive/active to/in the network

• Networks usually have a mission and defined purpose which is know among its members

• Often these networks are acknowledged by the district which they serve (posted on district web site, proclamation/board resolutions or larger involvement such as funding, staffing, professional development)

• Ideally these networks become a program of the district or a project of a non-profit.

• Institutionalizing school gardens and creating a school garden culture often requires the network to support the following tasks/elements:

  • Creating the garden

  • Maintaining the garden

  • Sustaining the garden  (financially)

  • Providing professional development and curriculum to support teachers using the garden

  • An understanding of teacher/school culture and needs

  • Networking meetings, workdays, workshops, and e-communication (NING, Google, Yahoo, Facebook, email lists)

Regional Support Organizations Across the Nation

Urban Sprouts

City Sprouts

Davis Farm to School

DC School Gardens

Boston Schoolyard Intiative

Green Thumb

Real School Gardens

Chicago Botanical Garden

Berkeley Unified School District

Seatle Youth Garden Works

CSGN Regional Chapters

Sonoma School Garden Network

HEAL - Half Moon Bay

Collective Roots

OBUGS

SFGSA

Rhode Island Children and Nature Network

Gardens Project Mendocino

Santa Barbara City College

Mountain View

Puget Sound

Growing Gardens Oregon

The Living Classroom Project

Master Gardeners: San Diego, El Dorado, Orange County, LA - Common Ground

Garden School Foundation

South Carolina Group

Food For Thought

UCCE Alameda County

Project EAT

Santa Clara Unified School District

Petaluma City School District

Growing Great

Macomb County

School Garden Initiative

Other School Garden Support Organizations (not defined to one region). This list is far from complete:

CA Women for Agriculture

Evergreen

Learning Through Landscapes (U.K.)

Naturskolani Lund (Sweden)

Chlidren's Landscapes (Norway)

NGA Kids Gardening

Life Lab

OAEC

Jr. Master Gardeners

Cornell's GBL