Located in a neighborhood whose residents suffer from asthma rates more than double the citywide average, the Schenectady Avenue Community Garden is a vital green oasis in an area starved for open, outdoor space.

The history of the Schenectady Avenue Community Garden is rooted in the adjacent Our Lady of Charity Church, whose committee of devoted environmental stewards began tending the site in 1982. Although the garden had suffered from insufficient use in recent years, there is now a renewed interest in and activity at the site, where community members hold neighborhood gatherings, grow vegetables and even raise animals, such as chickens and rabbits.

In 2008 a group of local residents and permaculturists partnered with New York Restoration Project (NYRP) to more fully restore the site. In the first year since its resurrection as a permaculture demonstration project, 10 raised planting beds were installed to nurture a wide variety of heirloom fruits and vegetables. In addition, students from nearby P.S. 140 volunteer their time to help maintain the space, while they learn gardening and landscaping techniques that range from weeding to bulb planting.

Surrounded by one-and two-family residences and apartment buildings, this large, 2,000-square-foot garden encompasses three city lots and is located in the Bedford-Stuyvesant  section of Brooklyn in a neighborhood whose residents are primarily of African American and Hispanic descent. With two public schools and the St. Johns Recreation Center nearby, the Schenectady Avenue Community Garden provides students and Recreation Center members with abundant opportunity to engage with and learn about the outdoors.