Creating a community garden: Upward Bound and Horticulture join to fight food insecurity and teach agriculture skills

Stacy Denton the director of MCCC’s Upward Bound, a program that prepares Trenton high school students for college, says, “Our goal is to get our students into college, but we have to realize that sometimes they have things that affect them outside of the classroom, and food insecurity is one of them.”

Indeed, many students do not have reliable access to food. According to the Trenton Health Team, an organization that works to address public health concerns in our area, “gaps in food security are not experienced equally across the State, but are higher in places like Trenton where a 2023 food needs survey conducted by THT found that 74% percent of respondents screened as food insecure.”

While she was volunteering to provide food to patients at Trenton’s Capital Health Bellevue Hospital an idea came to Denton for how to tackle the food insecurity problem: a community garden that could supplement MCCC’s food pantry on campus.

Denton reached out to Amy Ricco, Professor and Program Coordinator of Horticulture, Plant Science, and Sustainability at Mercer to discuss her idea and Prof. Ricco saw the potential. The two came up with a plan they thought could work then looked for a way to fund it.

Professor Ricco says, “I kind of put a twist on it when I went to write the grant that we wanted to also introduce the students to careers and agriculture. I pushed it as an urban agriculture grant and said, ‘Let’s do all of what Stacey wants to do, but also let’s see what’s out there.’”

Prof. Ricco was able to secure $18,600 through the New Jersey Department of Agriculture and the project was able to move forward.

They selected Martin Luther King Day in January to begin working with Upward Bound students on the project. That morning they built the four raised garden beds that would be placed in the courtyard behind Mercer’s Trenton Hall. 

Participant Jonathon Pyle, a sophomore at STEMCivics High School in Ewing, NJ, said, “Gardening has always been a kind of passion for me and my mom so it was fun for me, helping out with the carpentry and the digging.” He continued, “I did end up taking a lot of this information that I learned giving some of this to my mom to help her when she does her gardening.”

In addition to building the garden beds, the Upward Bound students were introduced to urban agriculture with Professor Ricco as part of their weekend science classes. They learned about vegetable gardens, planted tomato seeds, and participated in preparing the raised beds for their spring garden. 

Hadjah Sylla and Giana Hernandez, both juniors at Trenton Central High and members of Upward Bound joined around 40 students on Saturday, April 13, to prepare the beds with landscaping fabric and soil and planted kale, arugula, peas, and spinach seeds.

Sylla and Hernandez said they were both inspired to take what they’ve learned and apply their new skills off campus.

Sylla says she would like to start planting vegetables at home. She adds, “I’ve recently been looking into compost bins and how people have compost bins in their homes. Like, I love the idea of that.”

Hernandez says, “Me and my grandma plant a lot of flowers and we’re trying to get some vegetables as well, but like, since we are starting to do gardening lectures here, I want to take that knowledge home as well so we can have fresh vegetables, too.”

Spreading awareness and teaching others what they learned through the agriculture lessons is one of the objectives of the urban agriculture program. 

Dr. Kimyata Valere, academic advisor for Upward Bound, says  “We’re hoping that we can also get the families of our students involved. We do have a parent association, so that’s one way to get the community together on a smaller scale, but as far as the large area of Trenton, I think that will be a big task.”

One organization helping the citizens of Trenton on a larger scale is Capital City Farm, located on North Clinton Avenue in Trenton. Serving as Trenton’s first urban farm, Capital City is managed by the Mercer County Park Commission.

Walter Roberts, head urban farmer, says they grow more than 14 tons of produce per year. The farm donates to local food pantries and has hours available for residents to pick free produce to take home.

With the rising cost of living, Roberts says there is an even greater need for community gardens. He says, “People don’t have to go to grocery stores where they can’t really afford produce that’s out there. It’s expensive, so they come here and can get it for free.”

In terms of the community garden’s impact on the city of Trenton, Roberts says, “I’ve seen a change not just with healthier eating, but people being able to have an outlet to come and get something for free. We have plenty of people that come here that have families to feed.”

In addition to helping with food insecurities, Roberts says that the garden highlights the positive sense of community in the town.

Roberts says, “You know, there’s like a small aspect of Trenton where everybody is like ‘oh, it’s bad,’ but it’s a small aspect compared to the big picture.”

Roberts continues, “When they feel like part of the community, people are a whole lot more friendly, a whole lot more happier.”

Building a sense of community is another objective for Upward Bound’s new garden. After the students harvest the produce, they will showcase the results of the urban agriculture program to the residents of Trenton and provide the fresh produce to Mercer’s food pantry.

Denton says, “We want to show that we are invested in the Trenton community. We didn’t know that we would be where we are today. The garden started as this big idea but look at it now. If we have enough people supporting the program, I guarantee you that it’s going to end up being something amazing.”