Bridge Urban Farm & Horticultural Program

Our clients maintain a blog of their experiences at MyUrbanFarm.blogspot.com where they outline their accomplishments on the Urban Farm project. Their enthusiasm and involvement about the project is evident when reading their blog entries. Clients describe the blog: “This is a blog about an urban farm in NYC. What began as an experiment is now a great success. In 1 year we have gone from growing 5 varieties of vegetables to almost 30 today. This is a record of our experiences on the farm.”

The goals of the Urban Farms are to teach clients about the benefits of eating vegetables and fruit, provide free and easy access to vegetables in order to increase their intake in order to improve their health; to reduce reliance on food banks and other food resources, and to teach them about good nutrition. The farms also provide our clients with work training opportunities in horticulture and paid jobs.

The Bridge Horticulture Program, in collaboration with The Horticultural Society of NY, began on the garden roof deck of the Manhattan headquarters of The Bridge, with support from Burpee Foundation, and has expanded to include 2 urban farms, one in the Bronx and one in East Harlem. The Urban Farm Program has grown dramatically as it impacts several neighborhoods throughout the city. The Bridge Horticulture Program was recently awarded a generous $25,000 grant from George Ball, Chairman of the Board of the Burpee Foundation.

Client Blog

Support

The Mission

For More Information Please Contact:

Ann R. Hyatt - Director of Development I t: 212.663.3000 x379 e: ahyatt@thebridgeny.org

248 West 108th Street, New York, NY 1002 www.thebridgeny.org

Success Stories

“After achieving success gardening in my first year in the Horticulture Program, this stipend job became a paid job with an hourly wage. So I became a Bridge employee. While gardening I was encouraged to take a class at The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) in the Bronx, NY, where I was certified as a Master Composter. I continue to volunteer at the NYBG from time to time and have accumulated approximately 60 hours of volunteer service... I continue to grow as a man and my time at The Bridge helped me to better my life. Thank God.” – Stacey Joel Van Rossum