Research findings and pathways
One preliminary research finding for my project is that website of the organization Grounded in Philly, and Facebook are two important channels that are used to share information on organizing and gardening practices. Another finding is that organizing information is shared in response to pressures from development interests in two gardens, the Wiota Street Garden and the Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden. These findings were produced from identifying garden sites, examining the content of the website used to find the gardens, and examining the posts on the Facebook sites that are operated by the gardens.
Gathering information individually
My research began by examining a map that was constructed through the Grounded in Philly project under the Garden Legal Justice Initiative.(1) Using the Wiota Street Garden as a starting point, I examined other gardens that were similarly situated near the border of West Philadelphia and University City, since the encroachment of University City’s development interests on historic West Philadelphia has rendered district lines less relevant and has caused much tension. The map showed several gardens in the vicinity, and I chose, for the time being, to narrow my focus on the Wiota Street Garden and the Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden due to the proximity of the three and the similar pressures that they face in the neighborhood of West Powelton.(2) I also decided to spend time in this initial phase examining Grounded in Philly and the individual garden Facebook pages as platforms for collaboration.
The Grounded in Philly map, in addition to providing the name and location of gardens, also allows one to click on the garden to view more information about the lot, including a google street view of the lot, the owner of the lot, its use, the council and planning district in which it resides, and the district councilmember.(3) In terms of collaboration, map users can add notes, files, and submit photos without having to create an account. There is also an “organize” button, which can be used to contact others who have also expressed interest in organizing for the space.(3) Holly Street Neighbor Community Garden is privately owned, and the Wiota Community Garden is publicly owned by the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (and this information was added in a note by a user) (4,5).
Curious about the other ways in which Grounded in Philly supported collaboration and information sharing, I looked through the resources on their website and found many resources divided into a few categories. They had a Vacant Land Toolkit, several legal toolkits, legal and policy information, gardening and farming resources (including links to other organizations as well as documents), garden supplies, small grant opportunities, and information on neighborhood organizing and citizen planning.(6)
Grounded in Philly also supports an advocacy group named “Soil Generation”.(7) This group, which self-identifies as “a black-led, grassroots coalition of radical community gardeners and urban farmers,” works on advocacy campaigns throughout Philadelphia to secure policies that are supportive of community land ownership and food justice, and hosts educational and train-the-trainer events.(7) A member testimonial notes, “SG [Soil Generation] is one of the few explicitly food sovereignty focused community groups in Philly that is attempting to address the race, class, and power issues that meet in our work as growers.”(7). To me, this indicates that the formation of this group and its explicit interest in addressing race, class, and power issues shows that other groups were not doing this type of work, and that there may still be a gap that Soil Generation is attempting to fill.
The Grounded in Philly blog is another way that information is distributed to community gardens. Events are posted there, as well as articles about recent retreats with personal narratives. Many of the articles are focused on diversity and social justice, with commentary about race and politics and intergenerational transfer of knowledge.(8)
As for the activism and information-sharing that occurs within the two individual gardens, Wiota Community Garden and Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden, Facebook appears to be the primary method of communication. The Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden page is very active.(9) As recently as May 14th, 2017, the garden experienced a threat of criminal charges and a $3,000 fine for individuals found gardening from a man claiming to own the property.(9) A post listing Councilwoman Janie Blackwell’s number and the name of the Director of Community Development was provided and followers were encouraged to show up to file an injunction.(9) Within just 24 hours, their advocacy had secured a public meeting with the two public figures as well as the assurance that the City of Philadelphia was working on a land swap with the real estate company involved.(9) It is not clear whether any other garden advocacy group, such as Soil Generation, was involved. Other posts on the page are mostly informational – with links to herbal remedies or articles that tout the benefits of gardening and land access for health.(9)
The Wiota Street Garden’s Facebook page mainly contains organizing posts, promotional posts for their farm stand, or community events.(10) The most recent organizing took place to oppose a housing development proposal on the property.(10) Numbers were provided to councilwoman Blackwell and the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (who owns the land).(10) Posts and comments show that many people called and showed up to the meeting and vote on the land’s future, but it is not clear whether Wiota reached out to other gardens for assistance in this matter, or whether Soil Generation was involved.(10)
In examining these gardens and various platforms as nodes and facilitators of collaboration, I recalled the reading on the National Science Foundation Six Cities project.(11) In the same way that the researchers ask how “scientific practices, infrastructure, and organizations shape environmental health governance in different locales” (p. 1), I am exploring the individual gardens’ collaborative practices.(11) Initially, because I wanted to focus on all of West Philly gardens, the task was overwhelming. I was searching on the map and finding that every garden had a unique set of circumstances and prioritized the sharing of different information. It helped to narrow the search, at least for now, to two gardens in the area. For the next dive into research, I hope to interview someone from either garden and someone from a collaboration organization, (likely Soil Generation), to tease out some of the details about how information-sharing practices, structure, and organizational relationships influence their specific organizing activities.
Building on the work of others
I plan to build on the work of two other classmates, and perhaps more, as we progress. As an initial dive, I took a look at some of Kendall Darfler’s artifacts. In the artifact “Development Without Displacement Report”, there are many mentions of securing access to land for communities, and marks the neighborhood of West Powelton as one area where the majority of homes built or rehabbed in the past five years.(2) These are the same development pressures that the Wiota Street Garden and the Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden have been facing. The report also calls attention to this issue of disappearing community gardens and the issues of race and class dynamics specifically.(2) Further, I found Kendall’s artifact, an article by Travaline and Hunold entitled “Urban agriculture and ecological citizenship in Philadelphia” valuable for reinforcing the notion of community gardens as centers for connection with the natural world and potential interest in climate change.(12) This article also helped me understand my role as a researcher on this topic, which, like the article states, is to “’understand’ rather than ‘explain’” the collaborative relationships and practices of community gardens (p. 582).(12)
Another classmate whose work I would like to build upon is Ann Campbell. I have looked at a few of her artifacts on cooperative extensions, because the Penn State Extension is one link that Grounded in Philly posted for finding information on farming and gardening.(6) The artifact, “Urban Extension: A National Agenda” was helpful in examining whether the program (at a national level) had expressed values or priorities for understanding and addressing how various cultural identities and power structures play into their work.(13) The first value listed in the report is Diversity.(13) Although the explanation/justification for this value is short, it shows that it is a part of the national agenda for this program. Further, Cooperation is listed as a value.(13) This is expected due to the name of the program and its history with cooperation, but reminded me to look for this expressed value when profiling other gardens and organizations that collaborate with one another.
Next steps
In my next research steps, I hope to examine more of the nuances of collaboration between organizations, and how cultural identity might influence those interactions. Considering the Soil Generation group’s expressed attention to these issues, I will begin with looking into the information that they post related to cultural competencies, and reach out to the group by email. Because the two gardens I have chosen are very close to my home, I also plan to take a walk and view them in person this weekend. Saturday appears to be a day that produce is sold at Wiota Street Community Garden, so I may also speak with gardeners at that time and ask to set up an informal conversation the following week.
2 - Development Without Displacement Report
3 - Grounded in Philly Interactive Webmap
4 - Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden Grounded in Philly Page
5 - Wiota Street Community Garden Grounded in Philly Page
6 - Grounded in Philly External Resources
7 - Soil Generation - Grounded in Philly
9 - Holly Street Neighbors Community Garden Facebook Page
10 - Wiota Street Community Garden Facebook Page
11 - NSF Short Project Statement - Environmental Health Governance in Six Cities: How Scientific Cultures, Practices and Infrastructure Shape Governance Styles (I added this to the Asthma Files, but please let me know if it is already there. I couldn’t find it through searching keywords)
12 - Travaline and Hunold 2010 Article
13 - Urban Extension: A National Agenda
