Community Gardens and Workshops - Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association

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Community Gardens and Workshops

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Congratulations to all 2015 grantees! We can't wait to grow with you!

2015-2016 TRPA Community Garden Grants and Workshops

Next Seasons Workshops Tentative Dates/Locations (6 workshops!):

December- #1 Lexington, TN (Henderson County)

#2 Tazewell, TN (Claiborne County)

January- #3 Lawrenceburg, TN (Lawrence County)

#4 Athens, TN (McMinn County)

February- #5 Chattanooga, TN (Hamilton County)

March- #6 Clarksville, TN (Montgomery County)

All non-profits, schools, churches, parks and recreation departments, etc welcome at any workshop in any county from any county!

Eligible Applicants For Grant:

*State of Tennessee ONLY*

Nonprofit K-12 schools (public, private or charter - elementary, middle, or secondary)
IRS 501(c) (3) Organizations
City or Town Municipal Governments
County Governments

Grant funds will only be disbursed on a reimbursement basis after copies of receipts have been received by TRPA Staff. Grants will be awarded by a random selection process by Tennessee Recreation and Parks Association. Completion of a grant project report will be required for all recipients.

Click on the links below for grant documents:

Grant Application

Grant Eligibility

Project Overview

As of August 1, 2013 TRPA received the Project Diabetes grant for three years to provide community garden workshops, funding, online mapping. This program is funded by the Tennessee Department of Health and the ProjectDiabetes grant program.

Workshops:

There will be five FREE workshops per year for three years beginning in July 2013.

Workshops will consist of sessions on:

- Creating partnerships

- Project Learning Tree/ additional resources

- Creating sustainable community gardens

- Environmental Education- ECO-TN

- Information about Tennessee Farm Bureau Federations Ag in the Classroom

- UT Extension materials and resources

- Nutrition Education

- The Let’s Move Initiative

- Training on the provided OrganWise Guys Kits

- Grant writing and available grants through the TN Lottery for Education: Afterschool Program and other funding sources.

Funding:

There will be a total of 20 - $2,000 mini-grants available each year for three years through Project Diabetes. To receive funds attendees have to meet all the requirements and attend one of the TRPA community garden workshops.

Map:

An interactive online map will be created of all the community gardens in TN. Map will be hosted on the TRPA website for the public to access. The map will continuously be available even after the project diabetes funding is completed at the end of the third year of 2016, similar to the TN Park Finde r and TN Recreational Joint Facility Use Finder.

TRPA Community Garden Project Mission

The TRPA Community Garden Grant is a collaboration between TRPA and the State of Tennessee, Department of Health (TDOH). A community garden is a vital educational tool. Every seed planted sprouts a new opportunity for kids to cultivate healthy eating habits and provides an uncommon way to receive physical activity for today’s youth!

Teaching kids to garden helps them learn about complex topics like productivity, sustainability and conservation, food systems, community awareness, and with a little creativity can be used with everyday educational curriculum like math, science, reading, and more.

Each applicant is eligible for the $2,000 to start a new edible community garden or for a new expansion to a pre-existing garden. Each project is required to have at least two partners from different organizations working together for the common goal of growing and sustaining a garden. These and you must attend a TRPA Community Garden Workshop.We will only consider applications for locations within the state of Tennessee. Grants are awarded on a reimbursement basis, the grantee must spend the funds, then submit a reimbursement request. The funds will only be awarded to grant proposals for an edible garden which focuses on teaching nutrition education and physical activity.