GARDOPIA GARDENS
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Mission Statement
To grow healthy communities through garden-based learning.
About This Cause
Gardopia Gardens is a 501(c)3 nonprofit agency based in the Near East of San Antonio. Founded in May 2015, the mission of Gardopia Gardens is to grow healthy communities through garden-based learning. Gardopia’s vision is a sustainable society, empowered and educated to lead healthy lifestyles through gardening. Effective interventions are needed to address the growing epidemic of non-communicable/preventative diseases and environmental issues. Over the next 5 years, Gardopia Gardens aims to reduce obesity and malnutrition by increasing accessibility to fresh produce and implementing strategic intervention programming in schools, businesses, and community organizations. Gardopia Gardens provides programs and services to educational, commercial, and residential communities, providing tools, materials, and best practices to ensure their sustainability. Gardopia Gardens provides 5 programs: Garden-Based Learning Program, Build-A-Garden & Optimization Program, Garden Volunteer Program, the Farmers’ Market Program, and Garden Media Program. These programs align with 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. Goal 2: Zero Hunger Goal 2: Good Health and Well-being Goal 4: Quality Education Goal 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure Goal 10: Reduced Inequality Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities Goal 12: Responsible Consumption and Production Goal 13: Climate Action Goal 15: Life on Land Goal 17: Partnerships to Achieve the Goal The agency provides education and establishes organic gardens with a focus on the Greater Bexar County Area. During its early years, many of the organization's partner gardens were located within the Eastside Promise Neighborhood footprint including Bowden Elementary, Sam Houston High School, Washington Elementary, Pershing Elementary, and the Ella Austin Community Center. From 2015 - 2022, the agency expanded its programming to Alamo Heights Junior School, Cambridge Elementary, Young Men’s Leadership Academy, Young Women’s Leadership Academy Primary, and the Circle School. Individuals engage in a wide variety of horticultural topics from soil science, entomology, composting, sustainability, botany, tool safety, climate change, waste reduction, plant identification, and ecology. By growing food, and learning the science behind horticulture, students become aware and invested in their overall health. Self-awareness coupled with basic tools for wellness empowers program participants to make their own healthy choices. For the past eight years, Gardopia Gardens has been a proud and passionate advocate for community health and environmental stewardship. We believe that by starting garden-based learning at an early age, we can create lasting behavioral change and help address issues like malnourishment, sedentary lifestyles, and nature-deficit disorder. Gardopia Garden’s academic-based gardens use a variety of pedagogical methods to engage and inspire youth, making learning fun and meaningful. We are proud to serve as an educational model for what is possible when community members come together with careful planning and rigorous effort. Visitors from across the nation come to see our work firsthand and learn how they can replicate our success in their own communities. Gardopia Garden’s impact has not gone unnoticed. We have received numerous acknowledgments from prestigious institutions, including the University Professors, the City of San Antonio's Mayor's Office, the Superintendent of San Antonio Independent School District, and the Commissioner's Office. In FY 2022, Gardopia Gardens provided in-person classes to 8,050 children at local schools and reached an additional 31,037 through our online programming. We coordinated 1,294 individual volunteers, hosted nine farmers' markets, and reached over 168,439 individuals with our online magazine, Cultivate San Antonio. We are particularly proud of our success in securing San Antonio Independent School District's first Farm-To-School Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, one of only four awards given in Texas in 2022, which allows us to continue working with Young Women's Leadership Academy Primary. For more information on the impact of Gardopia Gardens, please review the links below for the 2020 - 2021 Annual Report and the 2021 - 2022 Annual Report. 2021 - 2022 Annual Report https://issuu.com/gardopia/docs/_final_2021_-_2022_annual_impact_report 2020 - 2021 Annual Report https://issuu.com/gardopia/docs/2020_-_2021_annual_report_-_final YWLA Primary Master Plan https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FH2DNRBnURFwZKEw-zoek1FddVV9JvKv/view?usp=sharing