Article by Emily Cassell of ScoutSomerville http://scoutsomerville.com/guerrilla-gardeners-of-somerville/ ..."The Concord Ave Community Space—now a more than fifty-person strong organization—also got its start as a guerrilla garden. Years ago, organizer Shana Berger noticed a vacant lot at the corner of Concord and Webster Avenues in Union Square. After doing a little digging, she learned that the land was privately held and reached out to the owner, who said it was fine if people wanted to plant there. Thus, a community space was born." “I just went and did a bunch of door knocking in the neighborhood and got people together,” Berger says. She and her neighbors built raised beds, and the group and garden have grown each year since 2013. All are welcome to attend Concord Ave’s movie screenings and other events; the front gate is adorned with a hand-painted sign reading “grow with us” that’s translated into several different languages. “I live on the street where it is, and I’ve gotten to know a ton of my neighbors because of it,” Berger says. “It’s a great community-building space.”... Season Opening!
Sunday, May 15th, 2016 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m. CACS: Concord Ave & Prospect St.Spring has sprung! Please join us in reconnecting with our garden and community through our first workday event of the season! Participants of all ages and experience levels are welcome, and bringing friends is encouraged. We look forward to catching up with our neighbors, swapping garden advice, and getting our hands dirty on the first of many events this season! To do: We will be recovering our tools from storage, layering woodchip for clear weed-free pathways, repairing damaged beds, weeding the flower beds along the fence, and planting flowers and gourds on the perimeter of the space. There will also be a demonstration and sign-up sheet for filling our blue water barrels during the growing season. If you have an individual bed, please bring $29 to the event to cover season water costs. Suggested: Bring a water bottle and work gloves Work days are a ton of fun, but they also help sustain the Concord Ave Community Space and the many environmental and social benefits the CACS brings to the neighborhood. Your participation makes a great difference in the future of CACS! Garden members Shana Berger and Yasmin Sitabkhan wrote an article that was published on WickedLocal! Take a quick look at the excerpt below or read the full article here.
Before moving to Somerville in 1981, Kim Pham was an avid gardener in Vietnam and relished any opportunity to be around plants. Now 76 and an ESL student at the Welcome Project, Kim was introduced to the Concord Ave Community Space (CACS) by her teacher, Lindsay Wilbur. Kim was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year, and before undergoing surgery, she took part in a CACS garden work day where she planted spinach. When she returned to the garden after surgery, she felt weak but was happy to see that the spinach was growing strong. She says, “I like to plant and help people plant, but I don’t have enough energy to take care of my own garden. I like to plant to enjoy them, to see the plants grow up.” Less than three years ago, the lot on the corner of Concord and Webster Avenues was vacant with the exception of one garden bed built by a neighbor. After getting permission from the landowner to transform the entire lot into a garden/community space, a small group of neighbors came together to buy soil and wood, connect with abutting businesses that could provide a water source, conduct outreach to neighbors, and build several more garden beds. Today, the Concord Ave Community Space has more than fifty members with even more individual beds, communal beds, and flowers. Read the full article here. Union United is a coalition of stakeholders in Somerville, MA including small business owners, residents, activists, immigrant groups, religious congregations, labor unions, and community-based organizations, working to ensure that the Union Square redevelopment process results in tangible benefits — not displacement -- for the Union Square community. We are working together to create a community benefits agreement – a contract we can sign with the master developer and the City that will create a diverse, sustainable, and equitable Union Square.
For more information about Union United, check out their web page. Concord Ave. Community Space was also featured on a Community Walk that highlighted the history of activism in Union Square. You can read more about that event here. |
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