In low-income urban communities, residents often do not have easy access to fresh produce either at grocery stores or from farms and gardens, which can lead to unhealthy lifestyles, obesity and other health issues.

In the City of Rockford, Illinois, the City Human Services Department recognized this need and used Community Services Block Grant Recovery Act funds to expand their community garden project. Started in 2009 with just seven community gardens, the program has now expanded to 44 different gardens across Boone and Winnebago counties.

The gardens this past year were very creative, with the residents planting everything from World War II-style victory gardens to spaghetti gardens; where you grow all the ingredients for spaghetti. The gardens produced 11,600 pounds of fresh food, of which 2,200 pounds were donated to local food pantries through the “Plant-A-Row for the Hungry” program.

People tending the gardens range from skilled master gardeners to novices, from adults to youth and from the physically fit to those with mental or physical disability challenges. In addition to planting gardens, the Rockford Human Services Department worked with Neighborhood Networks to establish neighborhood associations that were responsible for the gardens. The agency also partnered with the University of Illinois Cooperative Extension to provide neighborhoods with classes about nutrition, gardening and canning.

*Source: Illinois Association of Community Action Agencies 2010 Report of Community Action ARRA Successes Nutrition

Data sources

• U.S. Census Bureau, “American FactFinder,” 2007 American Community Survey (accessed May 2011). Data came from the following tables: Statewide poverty percentages, GCT1701, Ratio of income to poverty level, C17002
• U.S. Census Bureau, “American FactFinder,” 2009 American Community Survey (accessed May 2011). Data came from the following tables: Statewide poverty percentages, GCT1701, Ratio of income to poverty level, C17002
• Half in Ten analysis of Table 1, 2007 State Expenditure Report, National Association of State Budget Officers.
• Half in Ten analysis of Table 1, 2009 State Expenditure Report, National Association of State Budget Officers.
• U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2007 through 2008.
• U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2009 through 2010.