LEAP Garden

The Garden Club of New Haven, in partnership with LEAP (Leadership, Education and Athletics in Partnership), will use the Common Ground Collaborative grant funds to upgrade and maintain the LEAP Children's Garden. This 14,000-square-foot space is half vegetable and flower beds, half turfed playing field. It provides an inviting, and free, oasis for city children to relax and learn in nature.

LEAP was founded in 1992 by educators, students, and community activists to address the historic disinvestment in young people of color in New Haven. The organization provides academic support, social enrichment, and leadership development to more than 1,000 youth each year. The Children's Garden was begun in 2015 as a Signature Project of the Connecticut Master Gardener Program, several of whom are Garden Club of New Haven members, and Master Gardeners have taught environmental education there for over 11 years.

Garden Club of New Haven members will work alongside master gardeners to provide landscape maintenance, garden classroom support, and input on organic lawncare education. As LEAP works to restore the heavily used playing field, the will fund regrading, soil amendment, invasive weed removal, and installation of shade along the fence, plus new plantings for the garden beds.