The Catholic University of America
IN-7: Community Garden

In the 2020-2021 academic year, Catholic U’s Student Government Association created an Environmental Initiative. The initiative comprised of an initiative director and three associate directors to act as liaisons with the Facilities Management and Operations office to collaborate on sustainability and student engagement strategies. A top priority for the Environmental Initiative was introducing a community garden. We broke ground on the garden in March 2021 and it now allows members of the campus community to foster a raised bed plot for a growing season. The garden is managed by garden liaisons who help educate other students, faculty, and staff on how to manage their plots. The majority of the produce grown in the garden is donated to Catholic University's on-campus community food pantry, Cardinal Cupboard.
The garden is available to community volunteers that are not students, staff, or faculty, through the Shared Roots program run through the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education. The Shared Roots program encourages District residents to grow food by connecting them to new food-growing opportunities while caring for and building community in the garden. Through the program, community members sign up to volunteer to use and maintain the community garden during the summer semester and while a portion of the harvest grown during the summer is still donated to Cardinal Cupboard, volunteers are able to harvest some of the produce for their own personal consumption.