Supporting Our Land Stewards: Building a Constituency to Change Policy and Preserve Philadelphia’s Gardens

No one knows exactly how many community gardens exist throughout Philadelphia’s diverse neighborhoods, but there are hundreds. Yet, the majority of gardens, including some of the oldest and most established, are land insecure and at risk of displacement. The Public Interest Law Center Garden Justice Legal Initiative (GJLI) works to ensure that residents have the resources and tools they need to create and preserve farms and gardens. Over the past four years, GJLI has used law and organizing in collaboration with a multitude of partners to build a political voice for Philadelphia’s gardeners and farmers. Together, we are changing policy, creating new opportunities, and preserving deeply rooted community spaces, while bolstering leadership and incubating Soil Generation, our gardener and farmer coalition. Despite our successes, we are not yet where we need to be. We continue efforts to give life to the concept that healthy and sustainable communities are built through a range of beneficial land uses, that residents should have tools to legally access land as effectively as any corporate or nonprofit purchaser, and that there is value to something called the commons