The Hub Launch Day will be a chance for new and experienced growers to join the Providence Community Growers Network (people can join year-round). Members of the network receive food-growing benefits like free compost, free admission into food-growing workshops, other food-growing resources, and all the benefits of regular SCLT membership – including 10% at Plant Sale at City Farm! April 14th will feature a compost and seed distribution for members of the network, and a free Beginning Growers Workshop for the public.
The PCGN is working with community leaders to establish 6 neighborhood Hubs throughout Providence. What exactly is a Hub? A Hub is a community garden or community center where people can pick up gardening materials, attend workshops, and community events. Each Hub will be easily accessible to people in each neighborhood, whether by foot, bike, bus, or car. This year, the PCGN will launch 3 hubs – one in South Providence, the West End, and Olneyville. By 2014, SCLT’s PCGN will open 3 more Hubs in North Providence, the Eastside, and Downtown.
SCLT envisions that these neighborhood Hubs will strengthen communities, forging collaborations between organizations, and bringing people together around growing food. “It’s really exciting – instead of having just one central location, each neighborhood will have a site that people are familiar with and can easily get to from where they live ,” says Liza Sutton, SCLT Community Growers Network Director, “We imagine neighbors will see other neighbors attending events or picking up compost and in turn, want to find out more about growing food themselves.”
From Seed to Fruit 