[Communications] Group Volunteer Gardening Opportunities

Thu Jun 17 11:49:12 CDT 2021

Hi Sarah,

We’re actually working on an updated list of community gardens and a new map, but it’s not in a state to share yet.
There are community gardens in nearly all 50 wards and it would be representative to use a list of all neighborhoods for your quick survey.

CCGA is a network of community gardens that includes sites that are part of the Park District and also gardens on City and privately owned land. 

In the Loop area, you’ll find more Park District gardens and parks. As you get further away from the Loop, there are many more community gardens. 

Another option for sites closer to downtown is the Park District’s volunteer program. Here’s a link:
https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/get-involved/volunteer <https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/get-involved/volunteer>

Once you have your list of neighborhoods, we can match it to community gardens in our network!

Thanks!
Amy

> On Jun 17, 2021, at 11:31 AM, Sarah Nowicki (RAPP) <sarah.nowicki at rapp.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Amy,
>  
> That sounds amazing, thanks so much!
>  
> I like the idea of narrowing it down to a few neighborhoods. Do you happen to have a comprehensive list of the neighborhoods in which you have gardens? If that’s just a list of all Chicago neighborhoods, I can grab that myself. 😊
>  
> Planning to send a quick survey to my team to narrow down to our top neighborhoods!
>  
> Thanks,
>  
> Sarah Nowicki (She/Her)
> Administrative Coordinator
> Office Manager
> 
> <image002.png>
> 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
> M: +1.312.890.5032 <tel:+13128905032>
> sarah.nowicki at rapp.com <mailto:sarah.nowicki at rapp.com>   |   rapp.com <http://www.rapp.com/>
>  
> From: Amy Olson <akeo at me.com> 
> Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2021 3:37 PM
> To: Sarah Nowicki (RAPP) <sarah.nowicki at rapp.com>
> Cc: communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org
> Subject: Re: [Communications] Group Volunteer Gardening Opportunities
>  
> Hi Sarah,
>  
> Thanks for providing this additional info! We will draft an interest form this week and send it on to you for some feedback. 
>  
> As far as reaching community gardeners, we can share this form widely via our newsletter going out around July 4 and also post it on Facebook, possibly in advance of the newsletter’s release. Keep in mind there are gardens in every corner of Chicago, so the responses could be spread far and wide. If you really want/need to focus on gardens in the Loop and neighborhoods on the near north and south sides, perhaps it would be better if we emailed the form directly to the garden leaders within a specific area.
>  
> Let me know what you think and we can get things set up.
>  
> Thanks!
> Amy
>  
> 
> 
> On Jun 15, 2021, at 1:45 PM, Sarah Nowicki (RAPP) <sarah.nowicki at rapp.com <mailto:sarah.nowicki at rapp.com>> wrote:
>  
> Hi Amy,
>  
> I’d love to be connected with the garden managers—we definitely want to get our hands in the dirt!
>  
> As far as the interest form parameters, here are some general ideas:
> Location: central areas of the city preferred (loop, Lincoln Park, Bridgeport), but also open to North, West, and South neighborhoods (Uptown/Edgewater, Wicker Park/Logan Square, Hyde Park)
> Dates: Open!
> Days of the week: Mon-Sat
> Time spent: 2-4 hours per session
> I’m thinking the two favorite options would be drop-in sessions where folks could stop by if they can, and scheduled group sessions where more RAPPers would get together with a specific goal.
>  
> Please let me know what else you may need from me.
>  
> Thank you so much for your help here! 😊 🌱
>  
> Sarah Nowicki (She/Her)
> Administrative Coordinator
> Office Manager
> 
> <image001.png>
> 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
> M: +1.312.890.5032 <tel:+13128905032>
> sarah.nowicki at rapp.com <mailto:sarah.nowicki at rapp.com>   |   rapp.com <http://www.rapp.com/>
>  
> From: Amy Olson <akeo at me.com <mailto:akeo at me.com>> 
> Sent: Tuesday, June 8, 2021 12:31 PM
> To: Sarah Nowicki (RAPP) <sarah.nowicki at rapp.com <mailto:sarah.nowicki at rapp.com>>
> Cc: communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org <mailto:communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org>
> Subject: Re: [Communications] Group Volunteer Gardening Opportunities
>  
> Hi Sarah,
>  
> Thanks for reaching out to CCGA about volunteering in community gardens!
>  
> We don’t normally organize specific community garden volunteer days, but we can definitely connect you to gardens that need volunteers. I am sure there are quite a few that would appreciate the help! Then, you could coordinate directly with the garden managers about the specifics. We do have a need for volunteers from time to time when we hold plant distributions, and can pass your info along to that team if you’d like, but to get in the dirt and play, you’ll want to be in the gardens!
>  
> We have been talking about making a tool that allows volunteer groups to connect to gardens via our website or an app, it seems it would be very useful.
>  
> I’m thinking for now, we could send an email to our subscribers (1,775), and also post this on social media (2,800 followers) to get the word out. Then we could create a brief interest form and share the responses with you. You can think about any parameters we should include, like location, dates, days of the week, time spent, etc.
>  
> To answer your questions, I envision that some gardens would be able to accommodate drop-in volunteers, and many would schedule visits, especially if there are groups. I think each garden is a little different as far as the group size right now. Larger gardens can accommodate larger groups safely. As far as time spent or monthly hours, each garden is a little different! 
>  
> I’m happy to talk more about this idea with you, and thanks again for reaching out to us!
>  
> Kind regards,
> Amy 
>  
> CCGA Communications team
> chicagocommunitygardens.org <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http:/chicagocommunitygardens.org__;!!HhhKMSGjjQV-!sOGNPjuCj46VjGyJR4CyYakRj399WNBbVny1DuDKfcT1JsD-X1-iDFL-QzYXeygc2w$>
>  
> …
>  
> amy olson (she/her)
> designer + grower
> akeo at me.com <mailto:akeo at me.com>
> 312.925.2148
>  
>  
> 
> 
> 
> On Jun 8, 2021, at 11:14 AM, Sarah Nowicki (RAPP) via Communications <communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org <mailto:communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org>> wrote:
>  
> Hi there,
>  
> My name is Sarah Nowicki, and I’m the Administrative Coordinator / Office Manager for RAPP Chicago—so nice to virtually meet you!
>  
> Now that things are starting to get a bit back to normal, our team is looking into community gardens where we could volunteer as a group. Are you currently accepting volunteer groups, and are there any restrictions or procedures in place for that? 
>  
> A few additional questions:
> Can you drop-in any time or do you need to schedule visits?
> Is there a group minimum or maximum number of participants?
> Is there a required length of time per visit, or a required number of monthly hours?
> Any other important info?
>  
> Thanks so much!
> Sarah
>  
> Sarah Nowicki (She/Her)
> Administrative Coordinator
> Office Manager
> 
> <image002.png>
> 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60601
> M: +1.312.890.5032 <tel:+13128905032>
> sarah.nowicki at rapp.com <mailto:sarah.nowicki at rapp.com>   |   rapp.com <http://www.rapp.com/>
>  
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