Factors Influencing Participation in a Campus Community Garden: The Example of UMBC’s The Garden

Abstract

The Garden is a collaborative endeavor seeking to build both social cohesion and environmental engagement through an organic community garden on the University of Maryland, Baltimore County campus. For several years there has been fluctuating interest in having a community garden on campus. The Garden began in 2013 and took advantage of growing concern with sustainability and food equity to garner support from the student body, faculty, and administration. The organization behind The Garden proved adept at navigating the university’s complex institutional structure to ultimately garner the support of the administration. It did so by securing land permissions, adequate funding, and the support of multiple academic and administrative departments. Grants, student government allocations, and the ProveIt! campus change program provided sufficient funding to meet initial construction and firstseason needs. The support of faculty who tied The Garden into their courses and gave students academic credit for their work provided academic legitimacy to the project. As an interdisciplinary project, it sought to bring together experts and amateurs from across the campus to work together to design and build raised beds and a permaculture space.