Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners

The Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners (RRCCG) is an organization of individuals who value good nutrition and health. We work together to share and celebrate the power of community to create a better world. We believe that community gardens are focal points of neighborhoods where the seeds for healthy families and communities can be planted and nourished.

The RRCCG is part of the We Grow Together! Initiative that is working with the LSU AgCenter and the City of Shreveport to develop Community Health Hubs which address the four major barriers to nutritious food access:

• Lack of physical access - no grocery stores in the area - "food desert"

• Lack of financial access - the cost of nutritious food can be prohibitive

• Lack of knowledge about how to make healthful food choices

• Lack of knowledge about how to prepare food in a nutritious way

The We Grow Together! Campus is an education center and Community Health Hub. The Campus includes a renovated house (provided by the City of Shreveport) and a demonstration vegetable garden and orchard. The Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners (RRCCG) manages the Campus.

The We Grow Together! Coalition (including the City of Shreveport, RRCCG, Slow Food North Louisiana, LSU AgCenter, LSU Health, Northwestern School of Nursing and the Food Bank of Northwest Louisiana) uses the CHH model to address the four major barriers to nutritious food access.

The We Grow Together! Campus serves as a model site for a Community Health Hub (CHH) which is a neighborhood location where an array of health-focused programs, services, activities and celebrations take place. The Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners (RRCCG) offers garden-based nutrition education to the residents of the neighborhood and surrounding community. Services such as health education, health screenings and opportunities for physical activity will be provided by collaborators supporting the project. The CHH will also serve as a training site for neighborhood volunteers to learn the skills necessary to be health mentors and offer health education programs in their communities.

The RRCCG sponsors two festivals each year, the Greens on the Red festival held on the third Sunday in March adjacent to the Highland community garden, and the Reaping the Harvest festival held on the second Saturday in September at the We Grow Together! Campus. Both festivals celebrate the diverse crops that can be grown in our region and highlight ways to prepare them. The celebrations are held outdoors and follow COVID-19 safety guidelines.

Testimonials

I learned how to garden and eat healthy. I can tell the differences of plants and also plant them myself. I know how to harvest, grow, and sell healthy foods. I think if we keep this program it could change our community and it could expand throughout the city then state and maybe our whole country. D. H.

I learned how to grow and cook healthy food. I know that the FIT for Kids Program has impacted the Stoner Hill community because when people see what we do to make their community stronger they thank us for what we do. So for them thanking us we give them a healthy food environment. When new people come join our garden they learn more than they think in just one hour. M. M.