Botanical Community Development Initiatives

Botanical Community Development Initiatives (BCDI) is a 501(c)3 organization founded in March 2018. Our mission isto nurture our relationships with plants so that we may cultivate a more peaceful, equitable, and regenerative planet.

Our initiatives:

Our Greening Spaces initiative is dedicated to supporting and creating community-relevant green spaces. We recognize the vital role of these spaces in enhancing community health, fostering cultural sharing, addressing environmental justice, and promoting equitable food access. By collaboratively working with local residents, organizations, local government, and other stakeholders, we ensure that each space is tailored to meet the unique needs and aspirations of the community. These vibrant and inclusive green spaces become hubs for physical activity, recreation, and meaningful connections with nature, nurturing the well-being and resilience of all community members.  Community Roots Farm is a 1-acre community-run neighborhood farm in Oceanside, CA that  seeks to help nurture, heal, and improve the quality of life of those around us.  With our Community Plant Share, we provide free plant seedlings for school gardens, food justice projects, and community greening efforts throughout San Diego County.

The Milpa Initiative is dedicated to cultivating seed sovereignty. Our vision is rooted in climate resilience, ensuring access to culturally relevant seeds, and building an equitable and just food system. We strive to nurture a future where our communities have control over their seeds, fostering sustainable agricultural practices, and promoting local resilience.  A current goal of the Milpa Initiative is to form the Seed Stewards of San Diego to cultivate regional seed sovereignty that is essential for ensuring food security, ecological sustainability, and cultural preservation.  We are building out a seed library at Community Roots Farm in Oceanside, CA.  This will serve as a regional seed bank that will support seed saving and sovereignty for our region.   We are also running a Seed Farmer Training in 2024 designed to empower farmers from BIPOC communities in the San Diego bioregion with the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to become successful seed farmers and seed stewards. 

Making local, pesticide-free produce accessible to all people in our community is the core mission of EquiTable Food program. Through food distributions, free farm stands, and strategic programs that reduce hurdles to access this food, we aim to bridge the gap between locally-grown produce and underserved communities. Additionally, we take pride in growing food on our own urban farm and providing Farm Shares to the community, promoting a deeper connection to the source of their sustenance. Our collaborative approach involves working closely with community-based organizations, local governments, stakeholders, and community members to create equitable and sustainable food systems. 

The Plant Lab is an initiative to empower our communities to teach each other, learn together, and remember our collective knowledge of plants and our reciprocal relationships. Through this work we aim to better understand, preserve and protect our natural communities. Our programs are committed to community science, environmental justice, and fostering engagement in and collaboration with historically marginalized and POC communities.  The Border BioBlitz is a bi-national community science effort to record as many species as possible along the U.S.-Mexico border.  Annually, we lead the California portion of the Border Bioblitz. The Youth Border BioBlitz Project is a community science cohort for  youth and their families in the greater San Diego region to join us in embarking on a collective journey to explore, understand, and document the biodiversity of our coastal and borderland ecosystem communities.  We also offer youth education programming through workshops, experiences,  and camps. 

Through our Community Composting program we are working to educate our Oceaside 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. 

Please ensure this important work can continue for days and years to come by donating today. 

Thank you for your generosity and support!