Blog  October 7, 2011

Toronto youth make their neighbourhoods a little greener

The new garden bed at Wellesley-Bleecker, designed and planted by Take BAC youth participants. (Photo: Evergreen)

By: Liz George, Youth Programming Coordinator

This summer, with the help of the City of Toronto and Toronto Community Housing, Evergreen helped over 70 youth from five underserved Toronto neighbourhoods to green up their own communities. Each group worked as a team to plan community garden projects, and then got their hands dirty doing the planting.

Evergreen’s Community Development staff took part in the training day on July 11 at Toronto Botanical Gardens to help the groups make “seed balls” for planting, and learn about sprouting! We emphasized sustainable greening through native and perennial plant use, as well as team visioning, planning and strategies to help their communities get involved.

Throughout the summer, Evergreen staff visited each project to provide ongoing guidance and help in planning, as well as demonstrations for planting, mulching and general tree care. It was especially satisfying to see how quickly the youth picked up these skills, and started their projects with so much enthusiasm!

As the summer wrapped up, we stopped by each site for a final check-up to help with any additional troubleshooting, and to advise on changes or final touches to help the green space. It was down to the wire for some but all wrapped up by the last week of August!

Each project showed a range of themes—from art and beautification to community and sustainability. Final celebrations were held, with the Dixon Road community having the biggest turnout—over 400 residents attended!

Although they faced challenges, participants stayed true and motivated. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking with the youth at each site and seeing their motivation to change their communities in a positive and earth-centered way. Congratulations folks, we look forward to seeing these green spaces last!