BOTANICAL COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES
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Mission Statement
Improving lives by connecting plants, people, and community.
About This Cause
Botanical Community Development Initiatives (BCDI) is a 501(c)3 organization founded in March 2018. Our mission is to improve lives by connecting plants, people, and community. We seek to help people of all backgrounds nurture their relationships to plants in a variety ways, thereby strengthening them as individuals, which in turn strengthens communities. Through years of experience we have seen the transformative power that these connections can make, as well as the fundamental role that plants play in all communities. Our initiatives focus on community development through and with plants. The Farm to Family program was started at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 to address the needs of hunger in the communities where our office is located in Oceanside, CA and to support small farmers who suffered economic losses during this time. We believe that everyone should have access to local, nutrient dense, pesticide-free food. From March 2020 through December 2021 we aggregated local produce and grew produce on our own farm and distributed it to historically marginalized communities in Oceanside where we are based weekly through distributions at community centers and Free Farm Stands at local parks. We distributed over 15,500 boxes that provided a week's worth of produce to families during this time. We have since shifted our program to help reduce barriers to equitable food access through community outreach in neighborhoods to get more people enrolled in EBT and providing half off produce boxes to food insecure communities. The Greening Spaces program seeks to create community-relevant green spaces that improve the lives of the people in generally underserved areas. Our urban farm, Community Roots Farm, grows food ethically and sustainably for Oceanside neighborhoods and state-funded preschools and provides a safe, green space for our community. Through food distributions, youth programming, and a commitment to the community where we are based, we seek to help nurture, heal, and improve the quality of life of those around us. As a community-run farm, we invite people of all ages, skills, abilities, and backgrounds to be involved and provide opportunities for individuals to gain practical skills in small farm management. We have built and assisted with several other gardens in our region as well. Future green spaces we may facilitate in developing in communities may also include natural play spaces, native plant gardens, and botanical gardens. Through our Plants for Justice program, we provide free seedling starts for school gardens and food justice projects throughout the Greater San Diego region, helping to green spaces, provide more culturally appropriate food for communities, and support the sustainability of gardens everywhere. Participants apply through an easy process once a year, can re-apply every year, and can pick up seedlings as often as they need once a week. The Seed to Preschool Program addresses the issues of childhood obesity and food insecurity early in a child’s life. We provide nutritional information for families, support preschool staff in incorporating nutrition education into the curriculum, and help build and maintain school gardens and healthy outdoor play areas for the youngest members of our communities. We deliver produce from Community Roots Farm weekly to 5 low-income, state-funded preschools which are used in meals prepared for the children as well as provided to their families. The Plant Lab provides botanical training for youth and adults. Through classes, workshops, internships, and experiences, we are helping to make botany more accessible for everyone. We have mobile workshops and conduct outreach at community events to bring relevant STEM activities to our communities. For teenagers, we have partnered with Vista Community Clinic's youth development program to help give at-risk teenagers opportunities through STEM education based around farming, horticulture and botany. Annually, we facilitate the California portion of the Border Bioblitz, which is a two-day, bi-national community science event, documenting the biodiversity along the entire U.S.-Mexico border. BCDI collaborates with the San Diego Natural History Museum, the California Native Plant Society, and over 150 volunteers to collect data on the flora and fauna of the region from the Pacific Ocean to the Imperial County deserts. Through our Community Composting program we are working to educate our Oceanside community in reducing waste and incorporating composting into their households through community-relevant workshops, outreach, and social media engagement. We have built a larger capacity aerated compost system at Community Roots Farm so that we can take in compost from local residents on a weekly basis.