Help us build 4 new gardens!

Across DC, funding for environmental and youth-focused education programs is being cut. Amid this uncertainty, City Blossoms chooses to remain committed to our mission and values. This year we're answering the call of the youth and educators across our DC communities: we’re building four new kid-driven gardens in Wards 7 and 8 and on Kennedy Street. This brings us to 16 new gardens since 2024, putting our goal of 20 new gardens by 2028 in reach.

To make it happen, we’re raising $50,000 by the end of this year. When you give, you help youth build gardens they own and lead for years to come. Join us

This has been a hard year for the people and programs that serve DC’s youth. Grants have been paused. Budgets have been cut. Many organizations are being asked to do less.

City Blossoms is choosing to do more.

This fall, we are committing to two new school garden partnerships with Title I elementary schools: Lorraine Whitlock Elementary in Ward 7 and Leckie Elementary in Ward 8. Together, they’ll reach 615 students, along with their families and the educators who support them. Working alongside teachers, families, and students, we’ll help each school design and build a garden that students lead. Then we’ll give faculty and staff the training and tools to sustain it on their own.

That’s what makes our model sustainable. We don’t parachute in and leave, and we don’t create dependency on an outside organization. We help schools own their green spaces for the long haul, at no cost to the school.

What grows in the garden goes far beyond vegetables. A fourth grader who harvests the kale she planted from seed, then tastes it in a salad she makes herself, is learning more than science and nutrition. She’s discovering that she can grow something mighty from something as small as a seed. On a hard day, the garden gives her a calm place to breathe, relax, and reset, and she learns early on healthy ways to manage stress and anxiety. These gardens will give Ward 7 and 8 students experiences like these every day, right outside their classroom door.

Every new partnership is a promise to the students, families, and educators who make each school a community. This year, we’re raising $50,000 to keep that promise, at Lorraine Whitlock and Leckie and every garden we support. Your gift turns soil and seeds into kid-driven gardens, healthy food, and green spaces that DC’s youth can call their own.

We’ve broken ground. Now help us grow.