An Urban Grow Center

Capital District Community Gardens recognizes that a vibrant city is more than a collection of buildings and streets. It is the people who live there and their web of relationships that give a city its strength, its meaning. It is not enough to transform a vacant lot if the community around it remains untended. Capital District Community Gardens has expanded outward from a handful of gardens in Troy to serve the entire Capital Region, developing a network of programs and relationships that revitalize neighborhoods, encourage self-reliance and strengthen the local food supply. Access to healthy, fresh and local foods improves the vitality of our citizens and our landscape. Capital District Community Gardens is developing a hands-on education center to serve the entire region. It will use the production and distribution of local food to connect people and communities, strengthen the rural and urban economies, and fully utilize our area’s bountiful human and natural resources.

Capital District Community Gardens’ Urban Grow Center consists of three parts acting in synergy:  The building and grounds, the programs based there, and the social venture that will help underwrite the Center’s long-term expenses.
 
The Programs

 The Center will make new programs possible, helping us to better fulfill our mission, especially in terms of education:

  • One wing of the building will contain classrooms housing a unique organic horticulture program that partners BOCES with local farmers and experts.
  • The grounds, greenhouses and commercial kitchen will be used for entrepreneurial job training programs and to further micro-enterprise creation by local youth and adults.
  • An organic horticulture information center and library will be available to community gardeners and the public.
  • Food preservation and cooking classes will be taught in the commercial kitchen, allowing gardeners to get the most out of their harvests.

 

The Center will also provide space to maintain and improve our already successful programs:

  • It will provide sufficient storage space for the tools and equipment necessary to tend our growing number of community gardens (46, with more in development).
  • It will include demonstration gardens, where we can teach new techniques to our community gardeners, allowing them to increase their harvests.
  • Classrooms and a commercial kitchen will provide room to bring parents and children together for our childhood nutrition programs, improving program effectiveness.
  • Increased office space will enable our staff to make full use of the many volunteers who want to help us fulfill our mission.
  • An adequate food storage area for the Veggie Mobile will improve the program’s efficiency and make another Veggie Mobile possible.

Recognizing a larger building and more programs will demand more resources Capital District Community Gardens will use the facility to run a social venture:

  • Money earned through produce sales of the venture will offset operating expenses for the building.
  • Running a specialized horticulture business will strengthen partnerships we already have in the green industry and foster the creation of others, especially in the restaurant industry.
  • By providing fresh, local food year-round we will make a direct contribution to the regional food system. A partnership with SUNY Cobleskill will insure the techniques we use will reach the next generation of farmers.
     

The Building

Nestled into a hillside above Troy, the striking building with its greenhouses and living roof will make visible our commitment to the Region’s environment and food supply:

  • The building is designed to fit the growing demand for our services, allowing us to better achieve our mission.
  • Using the latest techniques in environmental design the building will achieve a Gold or Platinum LEED certification – currently the highest in the Region.
  • Green buildings, although slightly more expensive to build, have a longer operating life and repay upfront costs through energy savings.
  • The building will rely not only on good design to conserve resources; it will also be equipped with innovative green technologies, including wind, solar, and hydroponics.
  • Creating a building like this allows us to support Tech Valley suppliers and contractors.
  • The building itself will serve as a teaching tool, exposing the public to a wide variety of new products and design ideas for use in residential and commercial construction.
  • By being practical, sustainable, and innovative, the Center reflects the values of Capital District Community Gardens.

The Grounds
The land is well suited for our needs and will contribute to the Center’s success:

  • The property is centrally located, with easy access to the major roadways of the Region and is visible to tens of thousands of daily commuters.
  • Most of the land is flat and well suited for growing crops.
  • The Center’s buildings use the hillier section of the property that is not easily cultivated.

By developing a regional center for hands-on horticulture learning Capital District Community Gardens:

  • Connects rural, urban and suburban populations through educational, business and social networks.
  • Provides general skills training and specific horticultural training, contributing to the quality of the region’s workforce.
  • Increases the availability and quality of local food.
  • Promotes and supports the industry of Tech Valley.
  • Fosters entrepreneurial activity.
  • Strengthens rural and urban communities.