Benefit: Community engagement - CWWhitney/nifam_codas_school_garden GitHub Wiki

The student, teacher and community perception of the garden influence the extent to which the community engages with the garden. Community, in this case, includes people surrounding the school, but not directly involved with the school (i.e. neighbors, parents from other schools).

Support of teachers and especially the school principal will influence the community's perceptions and, subsequently, engagement with the garden. Forming organized ways for the community to get involved (i.e. garden committees made of community members and school staff) is a way to aid this engagement (15). Parental support and community outreach are vital to improve community engagement (15).

Additionally, factors that may be seen as barriers, like theft and vandalism to gardens, has actually been found to result in comminities coming together to rally around the garden, improving community engagement (4).

Barriers exist for attracting volunteers and funding, which can affect the level of engagement possible, but the value of connecting the community with the school will have a substantial impact on the success of the garden.

Community engagement can also improve mental health. Community members get to enjoy the garden as green space and it also increases connections between students and community members (4). The community engagement creates a combined sense of pride, sense of belonging and self-worth, provides learning opportunities and even allows kids to gather new skills (entrepreneurship, agricultural skills) from participating community members (1,4,19,23).

The garden can also help improve community among schools, bringing together schools with gardens and also through the sharing of gardens with schools that do not have them (4). This is a way in which community engagement contributes to the long-term benefits of school gardens (4).