KidsGardening reports national survey findings that funding for youth gardens is up — yet more is needed!
BURLINGTON, Vt., April 25, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Youth gardens are sprouting up across the country in a nationwide effort to support kids and help heal the fractures caused by the pandemic and other challenges of the last few years. Educators and youth leaders are embracing the many ways gardening benefits youth of all ages, bringing them joy and abundance as well as documented gains in learning, nutrition, social connection, and overall well-being.
Requests for resources and funds for gardening with kids skyrocketed during the pandemic, and they haven't let up. "Post-pandemic, we continue to see a 55% increase in applications for our garden grants," says Em Shipman, Executive Director of KidsGardening.org, a national nonprofit and leader in the youth gardening movement.
Dollar-wise, grants for youth gardens aren't huge: A recent nationwide survey* found that the median size of grants for youth gardens is just $4,425. Yet this amount of funding has an outsized impact. On average, one youth garden touches the lives of a hundred children. And for many youth gardens, the benefits extend beyond their borders as kids grow food to donate to those in need in their community. Seventy-three percent of the grantmakers surveyed reported their grants supported edible gardens for youth.
The survey, conducted in March 2023, revealed that more than $14M was awarded to youth gardens in 2022 in the form of about 3,000 grants. That might sound like a lot, yet with more than 70 million kids in the US, the demand far outpaces the funding. In fact, KidsGardening has found that finding funding is often the biggest challenge facing youth garden programs.
"We can't rely solely on federal and state programs to fund these important youth programs," says Leesa Carter-Jones, President and CEO of Captain Planet Foundation. "The work of many nonprofits depends heavily on the generosity of corporate, foundation, and individual donors who understand the value of gardening for kids, communities, and the planet."
*The nationwide youth garden funding survey was conducted by KidsGardening, Big Green, Captain Planet Foundation, DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education, Green Our Planet, Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation, and Whole Kids Foundation. While thirty-one organizations completed this survey, we know this data does not include all youth garden grant funding in the United States. It is our hope to continue to gather additional data in future surveys.
Find survey results here and learn more about the organizations involved.
To learn more about the benefits of youth gardens, including research citations on garden-based learning, visit this link.
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Katie Dubow, Garden Media Group, 6104443040, [email protected]
SOURCE KidsGardening
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