CITY BLOSSOMS INC

City Blossoms is an organization that establishes youth driven, sustainable, educational and engaging green spaces that enrich the lives of children and their communities. Our goals are to make fantastic and functional school gardens and Community Green Spaces ubiquitous to the DC region.

Because the core of City Blossoms' work revolves around building community, through school gardens and Community Green Spaces (CGS), we collected thoughts from the children, parents, teachers, neighbors and friends who work together with City Blossoms, and bring green spaces to life.

"On Thursdays we have cooking classes [in the garden] with Nico [a volunteer]...the grown-ups don't do anything, the kids do it and we can see how our cooking skills are ,so we don't have to feel the adults are the only ones cooking in our lives" - Khali, 13 year old gardener

Why do you like the garden? "Because I like making recipes, and we draw plants, and we go shopping by harvesting food and selling them outside [at the kid-run garden stand] - Daveyah, 7 year old gardener

"With an 18 month old daughter, we think visits to the garden are a wonderful way to show her that there is a very diverse and wonderful world out there. In the short time our daughter has been participating it has forced us to also realize that programs like City Blossoms are absolutely vital to the youth in DC. A safe, positive environment where kids can be kids and have the opportunity to interact with adults and other members of the community equals a positive step forward." - Brian, parent & neighbor

"City Blossoms' work and the Marion Street Garden in the Shaw community provide outstanding examples of what organizations can do to enrich the lives of local citizens, residents and children from all walks of life...Gardens and gardening strengthen communities by bringing people together, and fortify individuals in body, mind and spirit. The work City Blossoms does is priceless." - Martin, neighbor & community activist

"Specific Memory: For me it has to be the White House Farmer's Market trip we took last year. Our students sold items they had created [using herbs from the gardens] over the previous months. I had never seen them so focused, engaged, and excited. It was amazing to see the group work and levels of self-esteem raise as I never had before. It was one of my happiest memories with our students" - Mark, program director at a partnering community organization

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