Help Bush Community Garden of Hope

$542.06

Raised

Donations

$2,000

Goal

The Bush Community Garden of Hope is located in Chicago's 10th ward. For years this garden has recruited and served neighborhood children. This space serves as a learning opportunity for families, to enrich their lives with learning to grow food.

Below is a summary of the 2022 season in the garden space :

I originally hired one teen for two hours a week, and from there it grew to eight others. Average age of the youth involved were between 9-15years old. We paid the youth 6$ an hour for their work, and we also paid 15$ an hour to two adult supervisor/gardeners.

We kept it short: two hour shifts are the most a kid can handle. Things the kids learned to do under supervision included: pulling weeds, trimming back shrubs, picking up garbage, and harvesting veggies.

In 2023, full funding would include a budget of $1,500-$2,500. This would allow the work stipend to cover more weeks in the season, and would cover additional costs (gloves, snacks, other tools).

The space had specific goals with the kids and the stipend was how we enforced these goals. If a kid did not work, they were sent home and they understood that their friends would get paid. The parents were in support of this ; we explicitly told them that if their kid did not work they would not get paid.

The garden looked a lot better this year with the extra help, but having the supervisors was very important. We've learned that it takes a small adult/youth ratio to really make it work.

Our donors Most Recent

Zach

Emily

Bradley Fisher

donated

$10