PRESS RELEASE 

FOR IMMEDIATE ADVISORY: Tuesday, July 17, 2012 

PRESS CONTACT: 415-554-6926, Gloria.chan@sfdpw.org

NATIONAL COMMUNITY GARDENING CONFERENCE COMING TO SAN FRANCISCO 

Public Works Partnering with American Community Gardening Association; Emphasizing City’s Cutting Edge Urban Agriculture Policies

San Francisco, Ca. – The Department of Public Works (DPW) today is putting a call out to all community gardening enthusiasts that registration is open for the 2012 American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) Conference and San Francisco and Bay Area residents are invited to be a part of the exciting, anticipated gathering starting in just four weeks on August 9th, with hundreds of passionate individuals engaged in all aspects of contemporary gardening, urban agriculture and greening.

The 33rd annual conference, which is held is a different city each year and for the first time in San Francisco, will include state-of-the-art, hands-on workshops, cooking classes, and guided tours to San Francisco’s distinctive urban community gardens around the City in parks, schools and green spaces.

“San Francisco is honored to be selected to host this year’s ACGA Conference not only because we have so much to offer on the subject of cutting edge community gardening, but because San Francisco and the Bay Area can inspire folks with our ground-breaking and much emulated environmental practices, and with our approach to engaging the community and utilizing green space,” said Mohammed Nuru, Director of the Department of Public Works.

The conference comes at a juncture as the San Francisco Board of Supervisors work to approve legislation that would create a new urban agriculture program in San Francisco that coordinates city and community efforts to help make better use of existing resources to support city gardeners and farmers. 

Each year, about 300 of the country’s most dedicated community gardening devotees make the trek to the ACGA Conference to network, exchange ideas and learn about best practices and the importance of transforming public spaces into functional, shared gardens.

This year the conference will be held on Thursday, August 9th through Sunday, August 12th, and registration, workshops and activities will be hosted at the Hilton Financial District at 750 Kearny Street.

“Like each community garden is unique and attracts pioneering and innovative participants, these yearly conferences pull together from all over the nation’s best and brightest in terms of leadership in the field,” said Beth Urban, Executive Director of the American Community Gardening Association. “Whether you are interested in beekeeping or water conservation or community organizing for your neighborhood community garden, this conference is the opportunity for you to come learn more and also to contribute.”

The conference features a full-day pre-conference workshop titled “think Outside the Plot”, co-sponsored by San Francisco Parks Alliance, and SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association). On this day, Bay Area experts are set to speak about the food system – from production through waste – with the seasonal cycle of a community garden providing a launching point for a discussion of broader issues. Sessions throughout the conference will focus on many different topics such as soil management, bugs and pesticide reform, farmer’s markets, transforming land issues, seed libraries, vertical gardening, aquaponics, and gardening in underserved communities.

A community garden can be defined as any piece of land gardened by a group of people, and can be urban, suburban, or rural, and can even be dedicated to "urban agriculture" where the produce is grown for a market, according to the ACGA. Their benefits include improving the quality of life for people in the garden; they provide a catalyst for neighborhood and community development; gardens beautify neighborhoods; produce nutritious food; can create opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education; can reduce crime; and can create income opportunities and economic development.

For more information and to learn how to register to attend the conference, a link to the 2012 American Community Gardening Association Conference website can be found at sfdpw.org.

The ACGA is a bi-national nonprofit membership organization of professionals, volunteers and supporters of community greening in urban and rural communities whose is to build community by increasing and enhancing community gardening and greening across the United States and Canada. ACGA and its member organizations work to promote and support all aspects of community food and ornamental gardening, urban forestry, preservation and management of open space, and integrated planning and management of developing urban and rural lands.

DPW is responsible for the care and maintenance of San Francisco’s streets and much of its infrastructure. The department cleans and resurfaces streets; plants and maintains City street trees; designs, constructs and maintains city-owned facilities; inspects streets and sidewalks; constructs curb ramps; removes graffiti from public property; and partners with the diverse neighborhoods in San Francisco to provide stellar cleaning and greening services.

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