Garden Name: Garden of Life Community Garden
Organization: South 17TH & 18th Street Neighborhood Association
Location: Corner of Hopkins Place and South 18th Street
What to Know:
Garden of Life was established in 2019 by a few elders in the community who wanted to create a space for older neighbors and children to relax and enjoy the outdoors. They hoped to expand the space into a community garden but did not have the funds to do so.
South 17TH & 18th Street Neighborhood Association, founded by Patricia Latham, quickly came to the rescue. Christina Cherry, elected president of the Neighborhood Association, saw there was a gap between community members and the local government. She became a community connector by reaching out to residents who lacked proper representation, such as Hispanic residents who spoke exclusively Spanish and had no one to communicate with them. The Garden of Life soon had a dedicated community leader and organization behind it. Flower beds were built on the lot, more benches and chairs were placed for residents to relax on, and members came together to begin planting. Christina saw the garden as way to “engage [and] give back to the community.” While the garden flourished as much as it could, funding was needed to keep it running.
The Association applied for grants to help with funding. They’ve been successful in many applications, but funding and volunteers must remain consistent to make the Garden the best it could be. Lack of funding presents some “road bumps,” Christina says, but what’s there can only grow. As Christina says, right now the garden is “something very beautiful in the community, but we’re not all the way there yet.”
This space is dear to the community thanks to all the hands that have come together to improve it. Some of the goals in the near future are to expand the garden enough to allow for residents to adopt plots. The garden is open every Wednesday from 10am and 12pm for maintenance.
Events Hosted at this Location:
Jazz in the Garden
Gameday at the Garden
Newark Night Out
Free Haircuts for the Community
Garden Education (Farm to Table)
Want to get involved? Contact S. 17TH & S. 18TH Street Block Association at Info@ChristinaCherry.org. They also have monthly meetings every second Saturday at 10am at the community Garden.