Revisiting Our Most Ambitious Garden Builds

Since it began over a decade ago, New York Restoration Project’s (NYRP) Gardens for the City (GFTC) program has completely renovated or built over 300 green spaces throughout New York City.

The goal of the NYRP program is to build or renovate gardens and other functional green spaces throughout some of the city’s most underserved neighborhoods. With the help of generous supporters, GFTC provides the skill, time, materials, labor, and a year of horticultural and agricultural consultation for these projects, all at no cost to the partner.

The Viking Global Foundation has worked with NYRP for eight consecutive years, partnering with us to undertake some of our most ambitious greening projects.

Throughout this September, with more than 170 Viking volunteers, NYRP was proud to return to three recent renovation projects that Viking originally supported: New Roots Community Farm in the South Bronx (2021), Union Settlement in East Harlem (2022), and Bissel Gardens in the North Bronx (2023). This ambitious project allowed Viking and NYRP to build on work from prior years, demonstrating their long-term commitment to support for these community gardens.

“All of these projects represent significant milestones for our Gardens for the City program,” reflects NYRP’s Director of Garden Horticulture & Citywide Greening Projects Jason Sheets. “New Roots is a half-acre on The Bronx’s Grand Concourse; Union Settlement is the largest service-providing non-profit in East Harlem; and Bissel is the largest community garden in the city.”

Returning to these existing partners gave Viking and NYRP the opportunity to both refurbish existing garden components and build new ones. Throughout each space, crews removed bags of litter; reinforced pathways; planted dozens of new perennials and shrubs; and spread new compost, soil, and mulch. They also built several new benches, shade structures, picnic tables, planting stations, retaining walls, and more than 20 garden beds.

The partners eagerly welcomed Viking and NYRP back to their spaces to do this work.

“With Viking and NYRP here, all the extra pairs of hands do so much more work in a short amount of time compared to what we would have to otherwise do on our own,” says Sunny Vazquez, Food and Agriculture Assistant at The Bronx’s New Roots Community Farm. “This work shows just how helpful partnerships are; successfully running our urban farm takes a village. It gives me so much inspiration to see so many people willing to help a space like ours.”

“The garden’s expansion and the growth has been tremendous,” adds Luz Carty, Executive Director of Aging, Health, and Wellness Services at Union Settlement in East Harlem. “Our older adults are especially motivated to take care of the garden, which is helping reduce social isolation and expands to the overall well-being of our aging population. The work that Viking and NYRP have provided has been priceless.”

“I thank NYRP and Viking for being community advocates and supporters who put their money where their mouth is,” says Charles Vasser, a Bissel gardener who has been involved with the North Bronx space for over a decade. “The teams turned Bissel Gardens into something spectacular,” he adds. “They deserve a 10+ in all categories.”

Looking ahead, partners are excited to dig even deeper with the new garden upgrades.

“We’re so excited to use the renovated space to help provide access and year-round programming for those who have some of the least amount of access to green space,” says Stephen Ritz, Founder of Green Bronx Machine, a non-profit partner active at Bissel. “The fact that our wheelchair students and seniors will be able to access this farm and put their hands in clean soil, sit outside, and enjoy fresh fruit is going to be mind-boggling and eye-opening for all involved.”

“I’m enormously proud and grateful to have partnered with Viking to help make the major infrastructure improvements these communities need in their green spaces,” reflects Jason. “These large projects take a lot of people, and there’s no way we would have been able to complete this work year after year without Viking volunteers; their support is essential for these large-scale renovations.”

Learn more about and apply for NYRP’s Gardens for the City program here.