We call on New York City Mayor Eric Adams to create a task force to study how New York City schools can prioritize school gardens for all.

School gardens provide critical benefits for students and our city for those students who have access to these critical classrooms for hands-on learning.  Schools rely on volunteers, grants, PTA funding to establish and sustain school gardens.  

Let's address this inequity because all 1.1 million New York City DOE students deserve an opportunity to plant, grow, harvest and eat food they have grown, and to have access to safe, healthy outdoor spaces that facilitate a deep understanding of our interdependence with the natural world. 

We urge Mayor Adams to establish a Task Force to elevate school gardens in New York City public schools within the context of COVID recovery, equity, healthy food, environmental stewardship, academic achievement, and sustainability in his administration. We anticipate that the recommendations of a School Gardens Task Force will articulate the concrete steps that will support school communities in the implementation of this important work.