Our history.
Since 1973 we have been cultivating partnerships between people who care about the earth and believe in the power of community gardening as a radical act in the fight for food and environmental justice.
In the early 1970’s, Liz Christy, Amos Taylor and Martin Gallent founded of the Green Guerillas. A band of guerrilla gardeners threw “seed green-aids” over the fences of vacant lots. They planted sun flower seeds in the center meridians of busy New York City streets. They put flower boxes on the window ledges of abandoned buildings.
Soon the Green Guerillas turned their attention to a large, debris-filled vacant lot on the corner of Bowery and Houston Streets. Where other people saw a vacant lot, they saw a community garden. They created the Bowery Houston Farm and Garden, and began rallying other people to use community gardening as tool to reclaim urban land, stabilize city blocks, and get people working together to solve problems.
“It was a form of civil disobedience,” recalls Amos Taylor. “We were basically saying to the government, if you won’t do it, we will.”
The Green Guerillas weren’t the only ones. They were part of a larger movement. All across the city, people were deciding to do something about the urban decay they saw all around them. Lower East Side residents Luis Torres and José Ayala started community gardening efforts in the early 1960s and 1970s, and environmentalist Hattie Carthan formed a youth greening corps to care for street trees in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1971.
Soon, dozens of community gardens bloomed throughout New York City, and neighbors formed vital grassroots groups.
Today, more than 600 community gardens serve as testaments to the skill, creativity, and determination of New York City’s community gardeners. They grow food for their families and neighbors. They connect city kids to the earth. They give seniors cool green spaces to pass summer days. They allow people to kneel down together and garden in the city.
Green Guerillas has grown and changed along with the movement. Today, we are a vital nonprofit resource center, advocate for food and environmental justice, and hub for youth leadership development. We are proud to help community gardeners cultivate community all year long.
Photo: Top- Amos Taylor, Center Liz Christy, Bottom- Martin Gallent
Design by Jabari Pothemont