Green Guerillas Inc

History of Green Guerillas: In the early 1970’s, Liz Christy and the original band of Green Guerillas asked people to look into vacant lots, close their eyes, and dream. They rolled up their sleeves to help people make these dreams come true. Community gardens bloomed throughout New York City, and neighbors formed vital grassroots groups. 

Our mission: Today, Green Guerillas uses a unique mix of education, organizing, and advocacy to help people cultivate community gardens, grow food, sustain grassroots groups, organize coalitions, engage youth, and address issues critical to the future of their gardens. 

Our approach and values: The fiscal crisis of the early 70’s saw the original band of Green Guerillas rally people to use community gardening as tool to reclaim urban land, stabilize city blocks, and get people working together to solve problems. The current economic crisis presents a new set of challenges, and community gardeners will respond as they did in the early days — using ordinary pieces of urban land to do extraordinary things. Green Guerillas will work hard to help community gardeners sustain their gardens and strengthen their collective action. 

Our goals: All the work we do is designed to foster and support the work of community gardeners as community developers. As community garden leaders look for ways to engage their communities, to grow food for their families and their neighbors, and to use their gardens as catalysts for community development activities, they are faced with organizing and organizational challenges that can be daunting. They turn to Green Guerillas for help. 

Or work: In the coming year, GGs will provide plants, materials, advice, organizing assistance, membership development help, and fiscal sponsor services to 150 community garden groups to help them cultivate community all gorwing season long. 

Please join Green Guerillas as we help remarkable community gardeners do important, neighborhood-changing work.