The Miracle Garden is a youth market garden, created in 1994 to offer youth in the Phoenix area a constructive alternative to gangs and crime so prevalent in inner-city neighborhoods. Since the Garden's inception, six young people have operated and managed the Garden, providing an environment where other youth and community members of all ages and background come to share in all the Garden has to offer. Both adult and youth volunteers spend most of their time in the Garden itself, together tackling everything from deciding what crops to plant, to soil preparation and composting to planting and weeding, to thinning and tending, to harvesting, and then starting all over again. Together we build, landscape, till and plow. The work is hard, but the satisfaction is tremendous.

BR>Photo by Samantha Ewing

Youth volunteers also prepare for market what they produce, and sell to restaurants like Eddie's Grill, or food outlets like AJ's Fine Foods. Garden volunteers have specific roles as a team, to ensure every need is assessed. Youth volunteers are learning how to apply for grants and scholarships, having their first experiences in public relations, and are meeting people who will have a positive influence on their future.

Impacts/Success Stories

The demographics of the surrounding neighborhoods and statistics relating to its youth are alarming. The Garden borders three different gang territories, one-third of all the area high school aged youth are dropouts, and the resulting low level of job skills is staggering. Studies show that young people with no hope for success in traditional avenues turn to gangs and crime for a future. The youth that are involved with the Garden are in special need of job training, leadership and interpersonal skill development, individual adult/youth interaction, and experiences that foster self-esteem. In addition, the Garden, located on an abandoned parcel of land, is now an urban oasis between two struggling neighborhoods and has become a point of pride. In spite of the seemingly overwhelming odds that our youth face, the opportunities that they themselves have helped to create are helping them change the directions of many lives. The Miracle Garden provides a unique environment in the City of Phoenix.

Photo by Samantha Ewing

The Miracle Garden's youth leaders have a tremendous commitment to the Garden. Each youth leader is either an officer of the organization or is in charge of a specific project; for example, Tool Shed Manager; Public Relations & Recruiting; Market Manager; and Site Planner. All of them have been dedicated in a manner that has far exceeded anyone's expectations. While all of the youth learned about the Garden from their association with the neighborhoods, most of them have since moved and go to great lengths , and travel far distances, to continue their work. The Miracle Garden's youth leaders exemplify the spirit of giving back to one's community.

While the Garden does grow some of the best vegetables in town, we believe that it is the "intangibles" that are the real achievement of the Garden. The Miracle Garden's youth leaders have brought success to the Garden in many ways. They have had personal successes, have helped other youth, as well as many adult volunteers, to achieve growth in knowledge, attitude and behavior. Garden participants have gained knowledge in horticulture, entrepreneur-ship, and job readiness, as well as organizational, communication, employment, leadership and community building skills. The youth have developed, and help others to develop, attitudes that foster self confidence, camaraderie, and interest in learning and pride in what they have accomplished. Their successes have manifested into behaviors that have improved grades and attendance, won them jobs in the "green" industry and in a local law firm, and have helped one participant become the first person in her family to ever graduate from high school, and the first to go on to college.

Last fall, our Miracle Garden youth volunteers made a presentation about their project to the attendees of the National Conference of the American Community Gardening Association in Indianapolis, Indiana. The auditorium was filled and our youth received rave reviews.

Challenges:

Photo by Samantha Ewing

The Miracle Garden has succeeded despite innumerable challenges. As any Arizona Gardener knows, gardening in Phoenix is tough. Farmable land is difficult to find. Soils are rock-hard and riddled with caliche. The summer sun and dry heat are unforgiving on plants. Yet, as tough as farming may be, our youth volunteers have proven themselves stronger. All of the youth leaders come from difficult home situations; single parent households, alcoholism, domestic violence and language barriers dominate. All live well below the poverty level and most rely on public assistance. Some youth leaders ride the bus for as long as 45 minutes to reach the Garden each week. If these challenges weren't enough, last summer we lost the land we had farmed since 1994. In the hear of mid-August, three and one half acres of underground irrigation was removed. The Garden missed an entire season, and worst of all, our steadily increasing youth following.

In 1997, the Miracle Garden was adopted as a project of Maricopa County 4-H Youth Development*. Now relocated to a smaller, but permanent site, the Miracle Garden grows again. Our youth leaders are taking on new responsibilities. A toolshed has been donated but we will need more tools, a greenhouse, a meeting pavilion and landscape materials. We will be developing workshops and a nursery certification program. They are starting over again, step by step, seed by seed. With branches broken, but roots intact, they have weathered their challenges beautifully.

Awards:

JC Penny Golden Rule Award Finalist - 1998
Phoenix Kid's Pride Award - Winner in group category, grades 7-12, 1998
Phoenix Youth and Education Commission Education and Partnership Honor Roll
Community and School Gardening Conference - 1998

The Miracle Garden is located on the Northeast corner of 12th Street and Willetta, behind the Samaritan Health Systems Building. Come watch us grow Saturday mornings from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

What's so special about the Miracle Garden?

• We provide job training and career development for at-risk adolescents.
  
• We foster personal growth in leadership, self-esteem, communication and teamwork.
  
• We build community in innercity neighborhoods.
  
• We learn a sense of respect for the processes of nature.
  
• We make organic produce available to innercity families.
  
• We take pride in the fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs of our labors.

We extend special thanks to our contributing supporters and team members:

• Samaritan Health Care Systems
  
• Arizona Association of Landscape Architects
  
• Arizona Department of Transportation
  
• Arizona Nursery Association
  
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Phoenix.
  
• City of Phoenix Solid Waste Management
  
• Coronado Neighborhood Association
  
• Eddies Grill
  
• Gardens for Humanity
  
• Garfield Neighborhood Association
  
• Gentle Strength Coop
  
• Harvest for Humanity
  
• Maricopa County Master Gardeners
  
• Mountain States Nursery
  
• Phoenix Newspapers, Inc.
  
• Shepherd's Garden Seeds
  
• University of Arizona Cooperative Extension
  
• Western Organics
  
• Larry Tibbs, Extension Agent, 4-H
  
• Lucy Bradley, Extension Agent, Urban Horticulture
  
• Terry Mikel, Extension Agent, Commercial Horticulture
  
• Kai Umeda, Extension Agent, Vegetable Crops

For more information on the history of the Miracle Garden visit our archive page

* This is a program of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension for Maricopa County.

For more information on the Miracle Garden contact Kristen Battafarano, Instructional Specialist, 4-H Youth Development, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, 4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, AZ 85040-8807, (602) 470-8086 ext. 356, kbattafa@ag.arizona.edu

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The Miracle Garden
visitors since August 2, 1997

Last Updated October 7, 1998
Author: Lucy K. Bradley, Extension Agent Urban Horticulture, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County
Web Site Manager: Cathy Rymer, Instructional Specialist, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, Maricopa County
© 1997 The University of Arizona, College of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension, Urban Horticulture in Maricopa County
Comments to Cathy Rymer,crymer@ag.arizona.edu 4341 E. Broadway Rd., Phoenix, AZ 85040
(602) 470-8086 ext. 308

http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/youth/miracle.htm