Tatum Park

Community volunteers plant shrubs and tend a new garden at Tatum Park, with a freshly built raised bed in the foreground and a residential home visible in the background.

Tatum Park in Toledo, Ohio is a community green space spanning several lots with a native garden growing organic produce, a market that sells the produce, and a site for environmental eductaional engagement. Sonia Organics and Bench Farms worked in collaboration with the Lucas County Land Bank to demolish the abandoned home on the lot and prepare it for the new initiative.

Read More

Manhattan Marsh

A decorative laser-cut metal gateway arch with a wetland wildlife motif marks the entrance to Manhattan Marsh, with a wooden dock, interpretive signage, and a marshy waterway visible in the background.

The Manhattan Marsh Metropark is a park in the north of Toledo, Ohio that includes a boardwalk trail and over 90 acres of wetland for visitors to observe the natural wildlife. In collaboration with the City of Toledo and the Lucas County Land Bank, Metroparks Toledo was able to be transferred over 3 dozen parcels through the land bank’s tax foreclosure work.

Read More

Hematite Art Park

A small public art park with interpretive signage panels and wooden posts faces a large historic red brick building with a clock tower cupola.

The Hematite Art Park is a public green space in front of Ishpeming High School (IHS) featuring art from local students, benches, a gazebo and landscaping. For the project, the Marquette County Land Bank in partnership with the IHS and the Ishpeming Community Foundation Youth Advisory Committee.

Read More

Faith Farms & Orchard

An aerial view of Faith Farms Orchard in Gary, Indiana, showing white hoop greenhouses and a small building surrounded by vacant lots, scattered residential homes, and fall foliage in an urban neighborhood.

The Faith Farms & Orchard is a revitalization project through a USDA certified urban farm, pollinator park, and agricultural education center. In partnership with the City of Gary, Indiana, the FAITH organization was given a property with vacant homes that were demolished by the City to address issues of food justice.

Read More

Mack Park Food Farm

An overhead view of Mack Park Farm in Salem, Massachusetts, a lush community garden established in 2020 with vegetable plots, a greenhouse, and seating areas, with the farm's 'Food For All' logo overlaid in the corner.

The Mack Park Food Farm is a municipal farm and food forest in Salem, MA that was transformed from an unused baseball field into a site that produces thousands of pounds of produce every year. Made possible through the Bright Cities Program and the Mayor’s Innovation Project.

Read More

Terra Firma

Workers in safety vests build out the Terra Firma Emerald South community space in Chicago's Dorchester neighborhood, with colorful pennant banners spelling 'Dorchester' strung overhead and a brick apartment building in the background.

Terra Firma is a five-year initiative by Emerald South to beautify, maintain, and activate over 400 acres of vacant lots on Chicago’s mid-South Side. The project’s goals are to Clean, Green, Beautify, Activate, Own and Develop vacant lots, seeing them as valuable resources.

Read More

The Pearl Street Garden Microforest

An aerial view of the Pearl Street Garden Microforest, showing raised garden beds, plantings, and dense tree canopy on an urban lot adjacent to a residential building.

The Pearl Street Garden microforest is a native-tree-and-shrub garden in Providence that seeks to promote biodiversity in a residential landscape. In collaboration with the Avenue Concept, the Cooperative set to work powered by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture through Groundworks USA.

Read More

Keep Growing Detroit Farm

The Keep Growing Detroit Farm is the place where all of our work comes together. Our farm is where half of the Garden Resource Program transplants and the Motown Music garlic seed is grown. It’s where many of our workshops are hosted and where growers of all ages practice and hone their skills.

Read More

Urban Edge

Prior to beginning the project, the lots we worked with had a lot of landfill items that were hard to remove with standard equipment. The first step was the clear those lots out and determine what type of soil we would have work with on the lot

Read More

The American Riad

North End Woodward Community Organization is re-building a corner through art & culture, in a multi-year project of skill-shares and public art, to create a Moroccan-style Riad (a central, shared courtyard, filled with art and gardens).

Read More