LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Greener, healthier neighborhoods, that's the goal of community gardens. Louisville Grows, a non-profit founded in 2009, looks to educate communities on the importance of these gardens by offering grants.
The organization serves 21 neighborhoods in west and south Louisville, but the program also expands across the Ohio River. Louisville Grows says the neighborhoods are their main focus because the loss of tree canopies due to the Urban Heat Island Effect and the experience of food insecurities.
According to Feeding America, Kentucky has one of the highest projected food insecurity rates in the country and those number only got worse at the height of the pandemic.
Louisville Grows Program Director Lisa Dettlinger says the creation of community gardens are more important than ever. She also stressed the importance of the ability to grow food.
"The ability or people to grow their own food and be self-sufficient as well as help their neighbors by providing food goes way back," Dettlinger said.
Last year, 50 people attended the workshops and a dozen applied for a community garden grant. Louisville Grows says both of those statistics were higher than years past.
Since 2017, the organization has awarded around 30 grants for community gardens.
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