EE Certification Community Partnership Helps Community Gardens Bloom

Over the years, several enrollees in the N.C. Environmental Education Certification Program have installed schoolyard and community gardens as their required community partnership projects. Gardens like these have become an increasingly popular way to provide environmental education, promote physical activity and increase the availability of fresh, locally grown food. However, good garden management and maintenance is essential to the success of this type of garden. Cindy Lincoln, an educator at the Walnut Creek Wetlands Center in Raleigh, saw this as an opportunity to to help her community as well as communities across the Triangle and possibly the entire state.

For her Environmental Education Certification Community Partnership Project, Cindy created comprehensive and easy-to-use garden maintenance training materials for local community gardeners. Her project required extensive research which included visits to several community gardens in the area to assess their training needs. She also partnered with the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, which will be the first community garden to implement her training materials. Cindy plans to volunteer and assist other community gardens in the area with her resources.

The Environmental Education Community Partnership Project is one of five required criteria areas in the N.C. Environmental Education Certification Program, which is managed by the N.C. Office of Environmental Education and Public Affairs. The purpose of the project is to provide EE Certification candidates with the opportunity to lead a partnership that has a positive effect on the community and increases environmental awareness and understanding.

Photo from Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Raleigh: http://www.foodshuttle.org/