ABSTRACT 
 
Title of Thesis: FOOD INSECURITY IN THE DISTRICT OF 
COLUMBIA: DO COMMUNITY GARDENS 
HELP? 
 
Cassandra Sodergren, Master of Public Health, 2021 
 
Thesis Directed By: Associate Professor, Dylan H. Roby, Department of 
Health Policy and Management 
Associate Professor, Sacoby Wilson, Department of 
Applied Environmental Health 
 
 
More than 10% of the District of Columbia?s residents have difficulty accessing 
affordable and healthy food, a number that is now projected to be over 16% because of 
COVID-19 (Sustainable DC, 2019; Food Security Report, 2020). Wards 7 and 8 
experience the highest levels of food insecurity, with one grocery store per 60,000 
residents versus other wards with one grocery store per 10,000 residents (Sustainable DC, 
2019). Community gardens are sometimes referred to as part of the solution to food 
insecurity. This study explored if there was an intersection between community gardens 
and food security in Washington, DC. Through qualitative interviews and an inductive 
thematic analysis this study concludes that community gardens have a role in food 
security for those who experience food insecurity. The three core themes that emerged 
from studying community gardens were food security, relationships, and quality of life.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FOOD INSECURITY IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: DO COMMUNITY 
GARDENS HELP? 
 
By 
 
Cassandra Sodergren 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the  
University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment  
of the requirements for the degree of  
Master of Public Health 
2021 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Advisory Committee: 
 Associate Professor, Dylan Roby, Co-Chair 
 Associate Professor, Sacoby Wilson, Co-Chair 
Special Member of the Graduate Faculty, and National Outreach Program 
Manager, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Robert 
Costello 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
? Copyright by  
Cassandra Sodergren 
2021 
 
 
 
Acknowledgements 
 
 The author would like to thank her co-chairs, Dr. Dylan Roby and Dr. Sacoby 
Wilson, as well as committee member Robert Costello for their time and valuable 
insights. The author would also like to thank Kate Christen for her mentorship in the 
thesis process, the community members who participated in this study for providing their 
time and sharing about their experiences, and family and friends who supported her 
throughout the master?s program. 
  
ii 
 
 
Table of Contents 
 
Acknowledgements???????????????????????????. ii 
Table of Contents????????????????????????????iii 
List of Figures?????????????????????????????.iv 
Chapter 1: Introduction??????????????????????????1  
Chapter 2: Literature Review???????????????????????...3 
 2.1 Food Security?????.????????????????????3 
 2.2 Disparities in Food Security.....??????????.?????...??..3 
 2.3 Food Justice?????????????????????????...5 
 2.4 Food Insecurity and Health????????????????????6 
 2.5 Food Environments???????????????????????6 
 2.6 Disparities in Food Environments and health Outcomes????????..7 
 2.7 Supermarket Redlining?????????????????????..9 
 2.8 Historical Impacts Seen Today in Washington, DC???????..??..11 
 2.9 Getting Grocery Stores to Open East of the River??????????...20 
 2.10 Affordability of Nutritious Food?????????????????21 
 2.11 Implementing Community Gardens???????????????...23 
 2.12 Community Garden and Urban Agriculture Policies in DC?..????....24 
Chapter 3: Research Question and Aims??????????????????...26 
Chapter 4: Research Design and Methods??????????????????.29 
 4.1 Study Design?????????????????????????29 
 4.2 Participants?????????????????????????...29 
 4.3 Data Collection????????????????????????31 
 4.4 Dependent Variable??????????????????????.35 
 4.5 Description of Variables????????????????????..35 
 4.6 Data Analysis????????????????????????...36  
Chapter 5: Results and Discussion????????????????....????.37 
 5.1 Food Security: Fences: A Barricade or a Bridge?????????.........37 
 5.2 Food Security: Quality of Grocery Stores and Access to Nutrition????.39 
 5.3 Food Security: The limits of Community Gardens??????????..41 
 5.4 Relationships: Interpersonal Dynamics??????????????...44 
 5.5 Relationships: Organizations and Community Dynamics???????...45 
 5.6 Relationships: Race Dynamics??????????????????49 
 5.7 Quality of Life????????????????????????.50 
 5.8 Quality of Life: Benefits for Youth????????????????.51 
 5.9 Quality of Life: Therapeutic???????????????????51 
 5.10 Quality of Life: Ancestral Connection????...?????????...52 
 5.11 Quality of Life: Sense of Ownership???????????????.54 
 5.12 Social-Ecological Model Lens?????????????????...55 
Chapter 6: Conclusion?????????????????????????....58 
6.1 Recommendations???????????????????????58 
6.2 Study Strengths and Limitations??????????????.??.....62 
6.3 Public Health Significance????????????????.???..63 
References???????????????????????????.???.64 
  
iii 
 
 
List of Figures 
 
Figure 1. Levels of Opportunity Across DC?????????????????.12 
Figure 2. Percentage of Total Population In Poverty and Life Expectancy?????..13 
Figure 3. Distribution of Race Across DC?????????????...????.14 
Figure 4. Population Health Status by Neighborhood Group- Heart Disease????...15 
Figure 5. Population Health Status by Neighborhood Group- Diabetes???...???16 
Figure 6. Life Expectancy at Birth in Years, 2010-2014??????????...?...17
  
iv 
 
 
Chapter 1: Introduction 
 
More than 10% of the District of Columbia?s residents have difficulty accessing 
affordable and healthy food, a number that is now projected to be over 16% because of 
COVID-19 (Sustainable DC, 2019; Food Security Report, 2020). Wards 7 and 8 
experience the highest levels of food insecurity, with one grocery store per 60,000 
residents versus other wards with one grocery store per 10,000 residents (Sustainable DC, 
2019). Because of this, the DC Food Policy Council and Food Policy Director have made 
fresh food access for wards 7 and 8 a top priority (Sustainable DC, 2019). Within the 
city?s sustainability plan, Sustainable DC 2.0., there is a section on food with a focus on 
food security and a goal to expand community gardens as one way to improve 
accessibility of healthy foods. While the District has already expanded both urban farms 
and community gardens, it is not sufficient as the plan notes that food access and chronic 
disease disparities persist (Sustainable DC, 2019). 
The first goal in the plan is to ?Expand agricultural uses and production within the 
District?, which emphasizes urban farming but also includes expanding the number of 
community gardens in the District through the Department of Parks and Recreation 
(DPR) (Sustainable DC, 2019). Upon looking at a DPR community garden map, it is 
clear that there are a number community gardens in Wards 7 and 8, much like the rest of 
the city, though they tend to have significantly fewer plots. Even if there were a similar 
number of plots, wards 7 and 8 have a more significant need. That said, food insecurity is 
a Wicked Problem, a problem that is difficult to solve because of incomplete or 
contradictory knowledge, the number of opinions involved, the economic burden, and the 
interconnectedness of food insecurity with other social and cultural problems. To be 
1 
 
 
clear, the report does not present community gardens as the main answer to addressing 
food insecurity, it simply notes how community gardens create spaces where neighbors 
can gather and leave with healthy food. Nevertheless, the question of whether community 
gardens can serve as an appropriate response to food insecurity remains one worth 
exploring. How can community gardens, associated with DPR and in general, contribute 
to food security efforts? How are community gardens addressing food insecurity right 
now? Will an increase in community gardens directly impact an increase in food security 
or are there other factors that disrupt this causal chain? If community gardens have the 
ability to feed individuals in their community, how can we ensure these are accessible 
and equitable spaces?  
  
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Chapter 2: Literature Review 
2.1 Food Security 
The most widely accepted definition for Food Security is ?A condition in which all 
community residents obtain a safe, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet 
through a sustainable food system that maximizes community self-reliance, social justice, 
and democratic decision- making? (Chen, Clayton, & Palmer, 2015). This is an extremely 
broad definition that leaves room for much interpretation and arguably creates space to 
deem the current United States (U.S.) food system as insecure. For the purposes of this 
project, the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s (USDA) definition of ?food insecurity? will 
be used: ?the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or 
limited or uncertain ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways? 
(USDA, 2020). The words ?nutritionally adequate? are important to note in this definition 
because while food may be accessible, it is often nutrition that we are talking about. 
Oftentimes, a more fitting phrase than food security is the phrase nutrition security.  
2.2 Disparities in Food Security 
 In 2018, food insecurity impacted 11.1 percent of Americans (USDA, 2019). The 
people most impacted by food insecurity are those with incomes below the federal 
poverty line; and Black, Hispanic, and single parent households experience food 
insecurity at higher rates than the national average (USDA, 2019). The relationship that 
food security has to race/ethnicity is multifaceted as it is connected to other social 
determinants of health, such as incarceration, poverty, and unemployment (Odoms-
Young, 2019). One driver of the disparities seen in food security is the persistent social
3 
 
 
and economic disadvantages that people of color have experienced since the founding of 
the United States (Odoms-Young, 2019). A 2019 Survey of Consumer Finances showed 
that today, White* families typically have eight times the wealth of typical Black families 
and five times the wealth of typical Hispanic families (Bhutta, Chang, Dettling, & Hsu, 
2020). Discrimination and institutionalized racism are at the heart of income inequality 
and thus disparities in food security and health outcomes. Discrimination, in this context, 
is understood as the unjust treatment of people based on their race. Institutionalized 
racism is defined as, ?differential access to the goods, services, and opportunities of 
society by race. Institutionalized racism is normative, sometimes legalized, and often 
manifests as inherited disadvantage. It is structural, having been codified in our 
institutions of custom, practice, and law? (Jones, 2000). For example, studies show that 
racial discrimination impacts people of color?s access to education and employment, 
resulting in social and economic consequences that can lead to food insecurity (Odoms-
Young, 2019). Furthermore, practices like racist policing result in a disproportionate 
amount of Black people who become incarcerated, which later leads to employment 
discrimination and thus economic disadvantages and food insecurity (Odoms-Young, 
2019). These few examples highlight how both interpersonal discrimination and 
institutionalized discrimination result in inequitable wealth outcomes and thus inequitable 
food security outcomes and consequently inequitable health outcomes for Black, 
Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC). Interpersonal discrimination differs from 
 
*The author denounces those who capitalize the ?W? in White to assert White 
Supremacy and has made the intentional choice to capitalize White to bring attention to 
how Whiteness functions in our society. The author believes that to disregard ?White? as 
a proper noun is to allow White people to sit out of conversations about race and their 
complicity in racism. Additionally, it frames Whiteness as the standard. Black, and all 
races, will also be capitalized because in our society, race is tied to identity, it is not just a 
color. 
 
institutionalized racism in that it is ?personally mediated? (Jones, 2000). Personally 
mediated racism can be intentional or unintentional and it is typically what people think 
of when they think of racism (i.e. suspicion, devaluation, scapegoating, and 
dehumanization based on race) (Jones, 2000). Personally mediated racism is where 
prejudice (assumptions about abilities, motives, etc.) and discrimination (action) occur 
towards another based on their race (Jones, 2000).    
2.3 Food Justice  
 When talking about food security, it is important that it is addressed through the 
lens of food justice because of the disproportionate share of food insecurity among 
BIPOC individuals. Food justice is a holistic and structural view of the food system that 
addresses barriers and views healthy food as a human right (?Food Justice?, n.d.). ?A 
food justice lens examines questions of access to healthy, nutritious, culturally 
appropriate food, as well as: ownership and control of land, credit, knowledge, 
technology and other resources; the constituent labor of food production; what kind of 
food traditions are valued; how colonialism has affected the food system?s development
and more.? (?Food Justice?, n.d.). To neglect the food justice lens would be to neglect the 
difference between equity and equality. By applying the lens of food justice, one 
recognizes that barriers to food and nutrition access exist for some and not others, namely 
BIPOC individuals. Equality is when all groups are given the same resources and it 
results in unequal outcomes. Equity recognizes that different groups have different 
circumstances and needs and therefore groups require different resources in order to 
achieve equal outcomes. Food justice centers equity. 
5 
 
 
 
 
2.4 Food Insecurity and Health 
Numerous health problems are associated with food insecurity from birth defects to 
developmental problems to behavioral problems and chronic disease (Theuri, 2015). 
There is significant evidence that illustrates a link between food security and overall 
health, increased comorbidities, additional psychological distress, and inadequate health 
behaviors (Walker, Chawla, Garacci, Williams, Mendez, Ozieh, & Egede, 2019). Often 
times when an individual is food insecure, they rely on ?energy-dense? foods such as 
refined grains and foods with added sugar (Seligman, Laraia, & Kushel, 2010). These 
foods are of poor nutritional quality but are often consumed because they are less 
expensive calorie-for-calorie (Seligman et al., 2010). These diets often lead to lower 
levels of micronutrients and are linked to chronic diseases such as diabetes and 
hypertension (Seligman et al., 2010).  
2.5 Food Environments 
 Complicating the challenges that come with food insecurity are ?obesogenic 
environments? or ?food swamps?, environments that are structured to promote unhealthy 
food options which contribute to unhealthy outcomes. These environments have 
increased unhealthy food marketing (Lake, 2006) and an abundance of fast food options 
and convenience stores. ?Food swamps? differ from ?food deserts?, and controversy 
exists around the use of each term. ?Food deserts? are areas with limited access to healthy 
food and ?food swamps? are areas with adequate access to healthy food but an 
overabundance of exposure to unhealthy food and beverages (Chen, 2017). In ?food 
swamps?, food insecurity can still exist because of food mirages. Food mirages exist for 
6 
 
 
 
 
low-wealth individuals as they may have a grocery store nearby but it is not accessible to 
them because of cost (Chen, 2017).  
Many people point out that the terms ?food desert? and ?food swamp? are inaccurate 
portrayals of the issues experienced in these food environments. Because deserts are 
naturally occurring and ?food deserts? are not, social justice advocates prefer the term 
food apartheid. Food apartheid is a way of naming the systematic and racist construction 
of the food landscapes seen today. Additionally, as pointed out by Ashant? Reese in her 
book, Black Food Geographies, the term ?food desert? focuses on lack. It presupposes 
that residents are trapped in their environment and act as passive consumers when in 
reality residents make ?ways out of no way? thus reflecting their hopes and desires for 
their communities (Reese, 2019, p.9, 67). Similarly, some individuals reject the phrase 
?food swamp? because swamps naturally support the health of our ecosystem, whereas 
?food swamps? harm health. Lastly, while the term ?obesogenic environment? is widely 
accepted, it is important to note that obesity is only one factor that can impact an 
individual?s health. Often obesity is treated as an individualistic root cause of health 
issues but the term ?obesogenic environment? emphasizes that there are larger systemic 
issues at play. Unfortunately, because obesity is a visible factor, it is stigmatized in 
society, including our health systems. ?Obesogenic environments? contribute to health 
issues in people of any size.  
2.6 Disparities in Food Environments and Health Outcomes 
The environments in which we live are a social determinant of our health and they 
can either be salutogenic (health-promoting) or pathogenic (health-restricting) (Kavi, 
7 
 
 
 
 
Sinisterra, Bodenreider, Bellay, Ayub, Ravichandran, Archer, & Wilson, 2019). Studies 
have shown that low-wealth communities are disproportionately food swamp 
environments, having less access to supermarkets, more expensive fruits and vegetables, 
and more access to fast food restaurants (Hendrickson, Smith, & Eikenberry, 2004; 
Block, Scribner, & DeSalvo, 2004; Powell, Slater, Mirtcheva, Bao, & Chaloupka, 2007). 
One Baltimore study found that 43% of predominantly Black and 46% of low-wealth 
neighborhoods had the lowest healthy food availability score compared to the 4% and 
13% in predominantly White and higher-wealth neighborhoods, respectively (Franco, 
Roux, Glass, Caballero, & Brancati, 2008). The structure of these environments and their 
inequitable distribution result in inequitable health outcomes.  
 Consistent evidence links cardiovascular disease (CVD) to neighborhood 
environment. Reasons for this are related to zoning and planning as well as features of the 
social environment (Wilson, Hutson, & Mujahid, 2008). Zoning and planning contribute 
to built environment, which impacts a neighborhoods walkability, space for physical 
activity, and access to grocery stores (Wilson et al, 2008). A neighborhoods social 
environment is impacted by socioeconomic characteristics which proxy features like 
crime and social cohesion (Wilson et al, 2008). These social features are linked to health 
outcomes like insulin resistance, physical activity, and diet (Wilson et al., 2008).  
Because of persistent segregation in U.S. neighborhoods across racial and socioeconomic 
lines, low-wealth and BIPOC communities live in different areas than their White 
counterparts and bear the brunt of negative health outcomes (Wilson et al., 2008). One 
diet related disease experienced by people of color at higher rates than their White 
8 
 
 
 
 
counterpart is diabetes. This is largely due to BIPOC populations having lower incomes 
than White individuals (?The Devastating Consequences?, 2016), a result of 
discriminatory behavior in education, hiring practices, etc.  When left unmanaged, 
diabetes can cause further health complications like blindness, kidney damage, and poor 
circulation which can lead to amputations and cardiovascular diseases and/or events 
(?The Devastating Consequences?, 2016). Adverse blood pressure is also more prevalent 
in African Americans and has been linked to diet as well as physical activity, tobacco 
use, education, and socioeconomic status (SES) (Chan, Stamler, & Elliot, 2015). Perhaps 
most relevant is its link to discrimination (Hedgepeth, 2020), as discrimination can be 
linked to all aforementioned determinants. For example, we know that low-wealth 
neighborhoods and neighborhoods with more Black residents have more tobacco 
marketing (Lee, Henriksen, Rose, Moreland-Russel, and Ribisl, 2015). Overall, it is clear 
that race based discrimination lies at the root of inequitable outcomes that we see. Often 
we identify social determinants of health as the root cause of health outcomes but this is 
not sufficient. Behind each social determinant of health like SES, physical environment, 
and education, lies discrimination.  
2.7 Supermarket Redlining 
Addressing food insecurity requires us to understand the functioning of poverty, one 
of the strongest social determinants of health (Walker et al., 2019), and therefore 
capitalism and racism. To illustrate this we can look at ?supermarket redlining? which 
encapsulates the intersection of zoning, racism, poverty, capitalism, and thus food 
insecurity. Each of these issues highlights how food insecurity has come to be 
9 
 
 
 
 
constructed and how the United States values capital over health and equity. 
?Supermarket redlining? is ?a phenomenon [where] major chain supermarkets are 
disinclined to locate their stores in inner cities or low-income neighborhoods and usually 
pull their existing stores out and relocate them to suburbs? (Zhang & Debarchana, 2016). 
The drive for supermarket redlining is rooted in structural racism as it is a reaction to the 
racist zoning practice known as redlining. 
 Redlining was the act of outlining areas on a map in red ink where there was a large 
Black population (Perry & Harshbarger, 2019). These red outlined areas served as a 
warning to mortgage lenders, which resulted in the isolation of Black people in areas that 
would receive less investment than their White counterparts (Perry & Harshbarger, 
2019). The practice of redlining was implemented by the Federal Housing Administration 
(FHA), a government agency that was established in 1934 to provide mortgage insurance 
for economic stimulation through home and community development (Federal Housing 
Administration, n.d.; Jackson, 1980).  
In the 1940?s, as low interest home loans were offered to White middle-class families 
in the suburbs (where Black families were unable to obtain the same loan due to 
redlining) supermarkets began to move out of cities and into the suburbs (Unshared 
Bounty, 2012). Supermarket redlining continues to shape the food landscape today, 
creating food apartheid environments. A 2019 Brookings report stated, ?that in cities with 
a history of redlining, the redlined areas today generally remain more segregated and 
more economically disadvantaged, with higher Black and minority shares of the 
population than the remainder of the city? (Perry & Harshbarger, 2019).  
10 
 
 
 
 
2.8 Historical Impacts Seen Today in Washington, DC 
Washington, DC is a strong example of how historical racial and economic divides 
have impacted the food insecurity seen today. In the 1940s, the FHA provided federal 
assistance mostly in the northwest neighborhoods of Washington, DC, both White and 
prosperous areas, while very few mortgages were granted in Black central and 
southeastern parts of the city (Jackson, 1980). In addition to the discriminatory practices 
of the FHA in Washington, DC, there were also racially restrictive housing covenants 
that reflect some of the neighborhood demographics we see today. Racially restrictive 
housing covenants were imposed through deeds and by petitions, effectively keeping 
Black people from moving into certain neighborhoods, most notably in the northwest 
quadrant (Story Map Journal, 2017). Because of these covenants, and other zoning laws, 
Black residents were unable to build wealth through homeownership the same way White 
individuals could and thus were unable to transfer wealth to later generations (Zickuhr, 
2018). Additionally, segregationist housing policies, like zoning practices that 
concentrated multifamily units in ward 8 (southwest/southeast) and single family units in 
ward 3 (northwest), have led to disinvestment in low-wealth neighborhoods, which places 
an additional burden on families of color (Zickuhr, 2018). Below are a few maps that 
highlight the stark disparities seen in DC, present day.  
 
 
 
  
11 
 
 
 
 
Figure 1. Levels of Opportunity Across DC 
Anacostia 
River 
 
Note. From Uneven Opportunities Report by Woolf, Chapman, Hill, Schoomaker, Wheeler, Snellings, & 
Lee, 2018 (https://www.mwcog.org/documents/2020/10/26/uneven-opportunities-how-conditions-for-
wellness-vary-across-the-metropolitan-washington-region-health-health-data/). 
 
This map illustrates the different levels of opportunity across the city as well as healthy 
places. Opportunity is defined by education level, income, employment, poverty rate, 
public assistance, housing cost burden, and uninsured adults. You can see that the lowest 
level of opportunity (white dots) are mostly east of the Anacostia river in wards 7 and 8 
and the highest levels of opportunity (black dots) are in northwest DC. Additionally, 
places with higher levels of opportunities have a higher healthy places index score 
(yellow). In contrast, places with lower levels of opportunity have a lower healthy places 
index score (dark blue).  
12 
 
 
 
 
Figure 2. Percentage of Total Population In Poverty and Life Expectancy 
 
Note. From Health Equity Report: District of Columbia 2018, 2019 
(https://app.box.com/s/yspij8v81cxqyebl7gj3uifjumb7ufsw)  
 
Above is the percentage of the population in poverty, the darker the brown, the higher the 
poverty. The parts of the city experiencing the most poverty are wards 7 and 8. 
Additionally, the red dots denote life expectancy. The smaller the dot, the shorter the life 
expectancy. This map illustrates that as poverty increases, life expectancy decreases. 
 
 
 
 
 
13 
 
 
 
 
Figure 3. Distribution of Race Across DC 
 
Note. From Uneven Opportunities Report by Woolf, Chapman, Hill, Schoomaker, Wheeler, Snellings, & 
Lee, 2018 (https://www.mwcog.org/documents/2020/10/26/uneven-opportunities-how-conditions-for-
wellness-vary-across-the-metropolitan-washington-region-health-health-data/). 
 
This map shows the breakdown of race among Non-Hispanic White, Hispanic- Any 
Race, and Non-Hispanic Black. Wards 7 and 8 have the highest concentration of Non-
Hispanic Black individuals while ward 3 has the highest concentration of Non-Hispanic 
White individuals. This map illustrates segregation by race in Washington, DC.  
 
 
 
 
 
14 
 
 
 
 
Figure 4. Population Health Status by Neighborhood Group- Heart Disease 
 
Note. From Health Equity Report: District of Columbia 2018, 2019 
(https://app.box.com/s/yspij8v81cxqyebl7gj3uifjumb7ufsw)  
 
This map shows the health status of neighborhoods as they relate to heart disease. The 
darker the color, the more incidences of heart disease, a diet related disease. There are 
more incidences of heart disease in wards 7 and 8 than the rest of the city. 
 
15 
 
 
 
 
Figure 5. Population Health Status by Neighborhood Group- Diabetes 
 
Note. From Health Equity Report: District of Columbia 2018, 2019 
(https://app.box.com/s/yspij8v81cxqyebl7gj3uifjumb7ufsw)  
 
Above illustrates the health status of neighborhoods as they relate to diabetes. The darker 
the color, the more incidences of diabetes, a diet related disease. There are more 
incidences of heart disease in wards 7 and 8 than the rest of the city. 
 
 
16 
 
 
 
 
Figure 6. Life Expectancy at Birth in Years, 2010-2014 
 
 
Note. From Health Equity Report: District of Columbia 2018, 2019 
(https://app.box.com/s/yspij8v81cxqyebl7gj3uifjumb7ufsw)  
 
The map above shows life expectancy by ward. The more north and west one lives, the 
longer their life expectancy. In contrast, the more southwest and southeast one lives 
(wards 7 and 8), the shorter their life expectancy.   
17 
 
 
 
 
In the maps above, it is clear that wards 7 and 8 repeatedly experience less 
opportunities and worse health outcomes than the rest of Washington, DC. Today, we see 
that 31% of all ?food deserts? in DC are located in ward 7 (southeast/northeast) and 51% 
are located in ward 8 (southeast/southwest) (Smith, 2017). Wards 7 and 8 are made up of 
over 90% Black/African American individuals with median household incomes around 
$36,000- $40,000 a year (DC health Matters, 2020). According to 2017 data, there were a 
total of 49 full-service grocery stores in DC with just two in ward 7 and only one in ward 
8 (DC Hunger Solutions, 2017). In 2019 and 2020, wards 7 and 8 planned to add three 
additional ?healthy food stores? (one in ward 7 and two in ward 8) which is an 
improvement but not sufficient (New Healthy Food Stores, 2020). One of those stores, 
Good Food Market, has yet to open. The latest data shows four full service grocery stores 
east of the Anacostia River (Grocery Store Locations, 2020). In contrast, ward 3 
(northwest) consists of 82.2% non-Hispanic White residents with a median household 
income around $100,000 a year and has nine full-service grocery stores (DC Hunger 
Solutions, 2017).  
Research on food ?deserts? often links inequitable access to poverty but one study 
in DC shows that White, low-wealth individuals have more access to grocery stores than 
their Black counterpart (Apt, 2020). Similarly, Hispanic individuals also have better 
access to grocery stores despite their economic standing (Apt, 2020). While it is well 
documented that grocery stores choose their locations based on where they think they 
will make the most profit, these findings challenge that explanation. One evidence review 
18 
 
 
 
 
determined that in order to combat health inequities, we need to focus on eliminating 
racial residential segregation (Williams and Collins, 2001).  
The inequitable access to grocery stores in wards 7 and 8 today stems from the 
structural differences between local grocers and supermarkets that had occurred by the 
60?s (i.e. supermarkets were larger than local grocers and open for longer hours). These 
changes contributed to the monopolization and consolidation of supermarkets thus 
eliminating many grocery stores in low-wealth Black communities (Reese, 2019, 
p.34,38). Then, after supermarkets monopolized the market, they moved out of the cities 
and into the suburbs, following White flight (Reese, 2019, figure 3, p.37). Because of 
redlining and mortgage loans provided to White people by the FHA and White residents' 
resistance to public school integration, nearly 60 percent of DC?s White population left 
the city between 1950 and 1970 (Zickhur, 2018). Narrative accounts also suggest that 
many businesses chose to relocate after the 1968 DC riots over the assassination of 
Martin Luther King Jr. (Reese, 2019, p. 34). Reese states that the riots, ?provide an 
example of how narratives of violence intertwined with Blackness become integral to 
justifying the systematic demise of access? (2019, p.34).  
By 1982, there were only thirty-three grocery stores in DC compared to ninety-
one in 1968 (Reese, 2019, p. 35). In the 1980?s, Black entrepreneurs opened grocery 
stores in Black communities across the U.S., recognizing that they could not wait on 
outside forces to help their communities (Reese, 2019, p.38-39). However, small 
independent grocers, like Super Pride in Baltimore and DC, could not compete with the 
large supermarket corporations and went out of business by 2000 (Reese, 2019, p. 40). 
19 
 
 
 
 
Continuing the trend, between 2010 and 2017 wards 7 and 8 each lost two grocery stores 
resulting in the limited grocery stores we see east of the Anacostia River today (DC 
Hunger Solutions, 2017; Grocery Store Locations, 2020).  
2.9 Getting Grocery Stores to Open East of the River 
To try and increase grocery stores in wards 7 and 8, Mayor Bowser introduced a 
bill in January 2021, the ?Reopen Washington DC Alcoholic Beverage Amendment Act 
of 2021?. The bill is broadly about changing alcohol restrictions, so people can drink 
outdoors in designated commercial areas, as a way to boost DC?s economy and make up 
for losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. This in itself has raised questions about equity 
as the commercial spaces are likely to be in White and wealthy areas (Hayes, 2021). In 
regards to grocery stores, embedded in the bill is an incentive for grocers to open up east 
of the river, in wards 7 and 8. The incentive is a class A retailer?s license which allows 
grocery stores to sell liquor (ABRA Act, 2021). Currently, most grocery stores in DC can 
only sell wine and beer (Hayes, 2021). After a grocery store opens up in ward 7 and/or 8 
and has been open for six months, they can then open one other grocery store in any other 
part of the city and get a class A license (ABRA Act, 2021). Only stores that open after 
January 1, 2021 can be eligible for a class A liquor license, and only after they first open 
in ward 7 and/or 8 and remain for six months (ABRA Act, 2021).  
There are a couple of noteworthy stipulations with this incentive. For example, a 
grocery store with a class A license can only have 25% of its annual profits come from 
alcohol sales and the store must devote at least 8,000 square feet to selling produce, meat, 
dairy, canned goods, frozen foods, and non-alcoholic beverages (Hayes, 2021). 
20 
 
 
 
 
Incentivizing grocery stores in this way raises many questions such as: has this incentive 
worked elsewhere? Will adding liquor to the already sold beer and wine actually motivate 
grocers? What does it say when a grocery store is incentivized to move to a low-wealth 
community because of their ability to sell liquor, not just food? How will adding liquor to 
a grocery store impact other small businesses that sell liquor? Given that many low-
wealth communities are already oversaturated with liquor stores, is this incentive harmful 
to the community? What incentive will the grocery stores have to stay open after the six 
months in wards 7 and/or 8, is this sustainable? Undoubtedly, wards 7 and 8 require more 
grocery stores and they deserve a plan that has been evaluated as not to result in added 
burden. Being new, the bill will likely be revised before being brought to a vote by the 
city council. 
2.10 Affordability of Nutritious Food 
While access to grocery stores is one challenge, affordability of nutritious food is 
another. In DC, the living wage for a household of 4 is $79,539 a year and the poverty 
line is $25,250 (Hunger Report, 2020). A living wage is almost three times that of the 
poverty level, meaning that individuals who are above the poverty level will also likely 
experience food insecurity due to limited resources (Hunger Report, 2020). During 2016-
2017, the food hardship rate in DC for overall households with and without children was 
14.8% (Food Hardships, 2018). In households with children, that number jumped to 
21.2% and for seniors it was 20.1%, the highest rate of seniors facing hunger in the 
nation (Hunger in DC, n.d.). College students are another group facing difficulties 
affording food. 34% of students report knowing someone who has dropped out because 
21 
 
 
 
 
of challenges affording food and over half of all college students report sometimes 
utilizing an off-campus food bank (Swipe Out Hunger, 2020). In Washington DC, there 
are multiple universities including the University of the District of Columbia (UDC), 
Georgetown, Howard University, and Catholic University, just to name a few.  
Exacerbating the issue of limited resources and thus food insecurity, in DC and 
nationally, is COVID-19. Before the pandemic, an Urban Institute national report showed 
that hourly and self-employed workers struggled to pay for their basic needs at over two 
times the rate of salaried workers (Hunger Report, 2020). In the Washington metro area, 
75% of low wage workers spent over 30% on their income on rent and had small 
financial reserves (Hunger Report, 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic is indicative of a 
widening wealth gap, partially due to the impact the pandemic has had on jobs (Hunger 
Report, 2020). Jobs impacted by COVID-19 were disproportionately performed by 
Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women, immigrants, and young people (Hunger 
Report, 2020).   
In DC, the Capital Area Food Bank reports that their network of nonprofit 
partners has reported increases from 30% to 400% in the number of people they serve 
during the COVID-19 pandemic (Hunger Report, 2020). Additionally, a recent report put 
out by Mayor Bowser states that before the onset of COVID-19, the food insecurity rate 
in DC was 10.6% (Food Security Report, 2020). Now, because of the pandemic, the 
projected food insecurity rate in the district will be at least 16% (Food Security Report, 
2020).  
 
22 
 
 
 
 
2.11 Implementing Community Gardens 
To assist in addressing food insecurity, some individuals believe in developing 
community gardens. The idea of implementing more community gardens in a food 
insecure area seems logical but contains a lot of nuance. As noted in a Baltimore study on 
community gardens, successful gardens require dedicated community members, people 
knowledgeable about growing food, and support from the city and other organizations in 
the community, among other things (Corrigan, 2011). These various factors result in 
community gardens looking a variety of ways, from meager to robust.  
While community gardens have the potential to increase food security (and there 
are case studies that show their positive impacts), the characteristics of each one are 
pertinent to their success. To ensure a healthier, more equitable, and sustainable food 
system through the use of community gardens, as proposed in the Sustainable DC 2.0 
plan, it would be valuable to know more about the cultural norms associated, or not 
associated, with community gardens as well as the social and structural constructs of 
community gardens in specific communities.  
Understanding how and why a community garden operates allows those interested 
in urban agriculture broadly to understand the role community gardens currently play and 
have the potential to play. Defining the role of community gardens could enable garden 
managers to implement a more detailed framework to maximize food security. Social 
constructs include, but are not limited to, race, socioeconomic status, and attitudes, 
behaviors, and beliefs about community gardens. Structural constructs include, but are 
not limited to, garden rules and regulations, garden events, and garden partnerships with 
23 
 
 
 
 
community organizations. The Baltimore community garden study also emphasized that 
it is important for gardens to be implemented from the ground up, meaning for the 
community, by the community (Corrigan, 2011). If people are unfamiliar with or have 
little interest in or time for growing food, it could be difficult to implement a successful 
community garden. Getting to know the community and understanding their wants and 
needs, their food landscape, their thoughts and feelings on the advantages and 
disadvantages of community gardens, etc. can help shape interventions for food 
insecurity.  
2.12 Community Garden and Urban Agriculture Policies in DC 
 
While DPR is not the only entity with community gardens, they are a focal point 
due to their inclusion in Sustainable DC 2.0. and because they have over 30 gardens 
across the city. In reviewing DPR?s website regarding community gardens, there are 
already a few frameworks in place outlining: how a partner organization should interact 
with a community garden, a code of conduct for gardeners, and guidance for creating 
garden bylaws. While there are some regulations related to equity, there is no explicit 
framework found that addresses food access and equity through DPR and their 
community gardens. Community gardens seem to operate with a lot of autonomy while 
DPR provides some resources, community gardening educational programming, and 
general oversight.  
Understanding how these frameworks translate to the DPR community gardens 
may speak to the relationship gardens have with DPR and showcase how the frameworks 
play out. If the success of a community garden is reliant upon committed gardeners, 
24 
 
 
 
 
knowledgeable gardeners, and support from community partners and the city, it is 
important to look at the relationship DPR has with its community gardens. With this 
knowledge, we can better determine how to make community gardens in Washington, 
DC more accessible and more effective at addressing food insecurity. 
In addition to the organizational level policies for community gardens through 
DPR, there is also city-wide policy to encourage urban agriculture, the DC Urban 
Farming and Food Security Act of 2014. This act established an initiative to identify 
vacant lots in the district that could be leased to independent farmers and farm 
cooperatives and it provides tax incentives to DC landowners who let their land be used 
for agricultural purposes, be it an urban farm or community garden (Grosso, 2014).  
While this legislation is positive for urban agriculture, it still faces challenges when it 
comes to leasing land as many land owners have other opportunities for, or want to 
remain open to, development. An example of this occurred with DC Green?s K Street 
Farm back in 2019 when the land became a new substation for Pepco (Hayes, 2018).  
  
25 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 3: Research Questions, Aims, and Framework 
This research was conducted to identify if and how community gardens in DC 
intersect with food security. The research had three aims: 1) To understand why and how 
residents choose to participate in their local community garden; 2) To understand how 
social and structural norms impact the functioning of a community garden; and 3) To 
understand how community gardens fit into the broader urban agriculture landscape in 
DC.  
These aims were explored by looking at the impacts of already existing community 
gardens in wards 1, 7, and 8. Interviewees consisted of gardeners, garden managers, and 
people who identified as urban agriculture advocates and/or policymakers. Gardeners 
were asked various questions about their relationship to the community garden in their 
neighborhood and garden managers were asked questions to understand community 
gardens from an organizational level. Speaking with urban agriculture 
advocates/policymakers provided more context on how community gardens fit into the 
local urban agriculture system of DC. Questions were broad to allow for a variety of 
answers.  
 Understanding the role community gardens play within the communities of DC is 
important for understanding best practices in addressing the issue of food insecurity. It is 
important to note that community gardens have shown to improve food security and 
dietary intake (Kan-Rice, 2016; Carney, Hamada, Rdesinski, Sprager, Nichols, Liu, 
Pelayo, Sanchez, & Shannon, 2012). However, gardens are not uniform in terms of foods, 
access, implementation, and location. Simply implementing more gardens is not 
26 
 
 
 
 
sufficient. Exploring the social, cultural, and structural components of DC community 
gardens can allow residents and decision makers who are concerned about food security 
to address it more effectively. 
27 
 
 
 
 
Social-Ecological Model Framework
 
28 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 4: Research Design and Methods 
4.1 Study Design 
The overall research design for this project was an analytical observational cross-
sectional study. Through interviewing community gardeners, community garden 
managers, and urban agriculture advocates and/or policymakers it became clear how one 
interacts with and understands community gardens from various levels in the Social 
Ecological Model. The Social Ecological Model was used for this research, providing a 
framework for understanding themes through the individual, interpersonal, 
organizational, community, and political levels. In looking at these different levels and 
their interactions, one can better understand community gardens and thus how they 
intersect with and impact food security. 
4.2 Participants 
The participants of this study were community gardeners, community garden 
managers, and people working on an advocacy and/or policy making level that could 
provide context to how community gardens fit into the urban agriculture landscape. 
Community gardeners and garden managers were selected based on their location. This 
project focused on gardens in wards 1, 7, and 8. Wards 7 and 8, covering parts of 
northeast, southeast, and southwest DC, have high rates of food insecurity as defined by 
walkable access to a grocery store. Additionally, the median household income for Ward 
7 and 8 is $40,963 and $36,697, respectively. Ward 1 falls within the northwest quadrant 
of the city which, as a whole, has lower rates of food insecurity but nonetheless, has food 
insecure communities. For example, according to DC Public School (DCPS) Emergency 
29 
 
 
 
 
School Meal Data from June 2020, ward 1 was the ward with the second highest total 
meals distributed through DCPS, after ward 8 (Food Access and Food Security, 2020). 
The median household income for ward 1 is $108,852 (DC Health Matters, 2020). Ward 
1 was chosen because it was the one quadrant of the city not represented in Wards 7 and 
8 and the DCPS data about school meals in ward 1 was compelling. Additionally, given 
the wealth difference between ward 1 and wards 7 and 8, there was reason to believe the 
contrast could be informative. Gathering information from a variety of community 
gardens allowed for an analysis of varying social and structural components and their 
impacts on food security. 
Interviews with gardeners and garden managers were done with individuals 
associated with any kind of community garden, such as one through DPR or a local 
nonprofit, as long as it was in wards 1, 7, or 8. In total, 17 interviews were completed. 
Some interviews consisted of an individual who fit into multiple categories. The 
following is the breakdown of categories and number of individuals interviewed: 
Gardener: 3 
Gardener/Advocate: 2 
Garden Manager: 5 
Garden Manager/Advocate: 1 
Advocate/Policymaker: 6 
 
 The garden manager/advocate individual was not a garden manager for a garden 
in wards 1,7, or 8. Their role as a garden manager informs their advocacy in DC and their 
ability to speak on both roles contributed to the main themes found in other interviews. 
The two gardeners/advocates that were interviewed were not active gardeners during the 
last gardening season because of COVID-19 restrictions. In non-COVID-19 times, they 
30 
 
 
 
 
were active gardeners at either a local nonprofit or public institution and were able to still 
provide valuable insight from a gardener?s perspective. The obstruction of COVID-19 on 
their gardening activities added informative context to the different roles gardens can 
play. Of the 17 participants, 5 did not self-identify their race, 1 identified as multi-racial, 
8 identified as Black, and 3 identified as White. There were two gardens from ward 1, 1 
garden from ward 7, and 2 gardens from ward 8 included in this study. Gardens 
mentioned by the gardeners/advocates were not included in the garden count.  
To reach gardeners and garden managers, garden managers from each garden in 
wards 1, 7, and 8 that are associated with DPR (except for Mother?s Peace garden as it is 
in a period of transition) were contacted first. The contact information (email) for each 
manager is listed on DPR?s Community Garden page. Some garden managers responded 
and then coordinated contact with their gardeners. Advocates/policymakers were also 
contacted personally via email after researching various people involved in urban 
agriculture in DC. Oftentimes, these conversations would lead to suggestions of other 
advocates and gardeners to reach out to. Lastly, a broad recruitment message was sent out 
to the DC Food Policy Council?s Food Access and Equity working group and the DC 
Urban Gardeners Newsletter, which prompted individuals to reach out to their networks 
with the recruitment message. Multiple reminders were sent in order to recruit the final 
17 interviewees. 
4.3 Data Collection 
Data was collected through semi-structured virtual interviews during the months of 
February and March 2021. Zoom was utilized for recording and transcribing the 
31 
 
 
 
 
interviews. All interviews had questions that were broad so there was room for different 
information to come through that could be relevant in understanding the role of 
community gardens. The interview questionnaires were used as a guide to conversation 
but were not rigidly followed to allow for information to emerge that the interviewee felt 
was relevant. Interviews lasted anywhere from a half hour to an hour and fifteen minutes, 
depending on how much a person had to share and how engaged they were in the 
interview. All participants received an informational sheet and consent form prior to the 
interview and before all interviews began, the interviewer read the consent form out loud 
and recorded the participants verbal consent. The interview questionnaires were as 
follows (note: those with dual roles received a hybrid questionnaire): 
For Gardeners 
1. What are the benefits for you, personally, to participating in the community 
garden? 
a. Are you growing anything that is not available in the grocery store where 
you shop for food, and if the produce is available, is cost a consideration? 
2. Do you have the opportunity to garden at your residence? If so, why do you 
participate in a community garden? 
3. How long does it take you to get to the community garden? What is your mode of 
transportation? 
4. How and where did you learn to grow food? 
5. How do you incorporate food from the garden into your diet? Follow up questions 
include: Do you freeze or can your produce to eat during the non-gardening 
season? Do you plant successively to maximize your harvest (i.e. when one crop 
finishes do you remove it and plant another in its place)? How do you decide on 
what you will grow? When do you start and stop your garden and why?  
6. Are there any challenges you experience with being part of a community garden? 
7. How do you maintain the garden space with other gardeners? How is communal 
work decided and distributed? Are there challenges? How do you deal with them? 
Are there benefits? Do you pay membership fees to participate in the garden? 
8. What role do you think the garden serves in your community? 
9. Do you feel welcome in the community garden? Do you think the community 
garden represents and welcomes the people that make up your community? How? 
10. Do you grow produce that you do not consume? Where does extra produce go? 
32 
 
 
 
 
 
For Garden Managers 
1. Can you please describe your role and responsibilities as the community garden 
manager? Follow up questions: How are communal tasks assigned? Do you have 
a responsibility to teach any gardening skills? What are the benefits and 
challenges in your role? 
2. What role do you think the garden serves in your community? 
3. Does the garden yield excess produce? Do you donate excess produce? Where 
does it go? Does the surrounding community know when and where it is 
available? 
4. Is there space for anyone to harvest from or can you only harvest if you have a 
plot? 
5. What types of foods are grown at the garden? Are there rules around what can or 
cannot be grown? How is that decided? 
6. How often do you interact with the members of the community garden? What 
does that interaction look like? 
7. Does the community garden have a relationship with a community partner? What 
does that look like? What are the benefits of having this relationship? 
8. Does your garden have a waitlist? How many people are on the waitlist? How 
does the waitlist work? 
9. Do you think the community garden is welcoming to people of varying races, 
ethnicities, and socio-economic statuses? How? Are there any measures in place 
giving priority to any group of people (i.e. residents of low-income housing)? 
10. Does the garden host other community events?  
 
For Advocates/Policymakers 
 
1. Could you please describe to me your perspective on the relative importance of 
urban agriculture in DC? Do community gardens have a significant role in urban 
agriculture in DC? 
2. Have you been involved in a community garden? Why or why not? 
3. Could you please describe your knowledge about how a location is chosen for a 
community garden in DC, specifically within the Department of Parks and Rec? 
What does that process look like? What are some challenges? 
4. Do you have knowledge of the budget for community gardens in DC? If so, what 
does that look like? 
5. How do you/your organization address food security issues through urban 
agriculture? Do community gardens play a role in this? If no, can they play a role 
in this? 
6. Are community members involved in policy making and advocacy related to 
urban agriculture? What is the process for their input? 
7. How does policy influence the functioning of a community garden? Can you 
speak to a specific policy? 
33 
 
 
 
 
8. Do you have any policy ideas for improving food security through community 
gardens? Is equity built into policy making decisions for community gardens? 
Please explain. 
  
For Garden Managers/Advocates 
 
1. Could you please describe your role in advocacy for community gardens in DC? 
What is your perspective on the relative importance of urban agriculture in DC? 
Do community gardens have a significant role in urban agriculture in DC? 
2. Can you describe your role as garden manager? How does it inform your 
advocacy work? 
3. Are you familiar with how garden spaces are determined in DC? If so, please 
explain. 
4. Are you familiar with any budgetary information regarding community gardens in 
DC? If so, please explain. 
5. How do you address food security issues through your work as a garden manager? 
6. Are you aware of if, or how, community members are involved in policy making 
and advocacy related to urban agriculture? If so, what is the process for their 
input? 
7. In your experience, how does policy influence the functioning of a community 
garden? Can you speak to a specific policy? 
8. Do you have any policy ideas for improving food security through community 
gardens? Have you encountered policy making decisions for community gardens? 
If so, please describe that process.  
 
For Gardeners/Advocates 
 
1. Could you please describe your role as an advocate for community gardens and 
food access/security in Washington, DC? 
2. Could you please describe to me your perspective on the relative importance of 
urban agriculture in DC? Do community gardens have a significant role in urban 
agriculture in DC? 
3. What are the benefits to you personally with being involved in a community 
garden?  
4. What role do you think the community garden serves in your community?  
5. How do you incorporate food from the garden into your diet? Follow up questions 
include: Do you freeze or can your produce to eat during the non-gardening 
season? Do you plant successively to maximize your harvest (i.e. when one crop 
finishes do you remove it and plant another in its place)? How do you decide on 
what you will grow? When do you start and stop your garden and why?  
6. Are there any challenges you experience with being part of a community garden? 
7. Do you feel welcome in the community garden? Do you think the community 
garden represents and welcomes the people that make up your community? How? 
34 
 
 
 
 
8. Could you please describe your knowledge about how a location is chosen for a 
community garden in DC? What does that process look like? What are some 
challenges? 
9. Are community members involved in policy making and advocacy related to 
urban agriculture? What is the process for their input? 
10. How does policy influence the functioning of a community garden? Can you 
speak to a specific policy? 
 
4.4 Dependent Variable 
The dependent variable for this project is food security. Food security is defined 
by the USDA as ?The ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods [and the] 
assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without 
resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies)? 
(2020).  Food security is also understood through the USDA?s definition of low food 
security: ?Households reduced the quality, variety, and desirability of their diets, but the 
quantity of food intake and normal eating patterns were not substantially disrupted? 
(USDA, 2020). 
4.5 Description of Variables 
Community Garden: A single piece of land (public or private) gardened by a group of 
people through either individual or collective plots. To be considered a community 
garden for this project, the harvest must consist of edible items. 
Garden Manager: Individual in charge of overseeing the operations of a community 
garden. 
Gardener: Individual with a plot at a community garden or individual who actively 
contributes labor to a communal/individual plot at a community garden. An active 
35 
 
 
 
 
participator will be defined as someone who is involved with the community garden at 
least once a month during the growing season. 
Advocate/Policymaker: Individual who develops, shapes, and/or encourages policies 
around urban agriculture in Washington DC.  
4.6 Data Analysis 
 
Data was analyzed through an inductive thematic analysis where the researcher 
familiarized themselves with the data, transcribed the interviews, generated initial 
themes, reviewed the themes, defined the themes, and wrote up the analysis (Braun & 
Clarke, n.d.). The themes that were chosen were the themes most frequently discussed in 
interviews. Themes selected are umbrella terms that encapsulate various experiences of 
the majority of participants. Due to the small sample sizes for each group, a saturation 
point for new themes was not calculated. 
  
36 
 
 
 
 
Chapter 5: Results and Discussion 
After analyzing the data, three core themes related to community gardening 
emerged: food security, relationships, and quality of life.  
5.1 Food Security: Fences: A Barricade or a Bridge 
When it came to food security, participants spoke about community gardens either 
from the perspective that they were imperative or that they had no relevance. All 
gardeners and garden managers from wards 7 and 8 that were interviewed discussed 
community gardens for food security purposes and focused on giving excess produce to 
people in their community. All gardeners and garden managers living in ward 1 utilized 
the garden for other valuable reasons outside of food security. The following illustrates a 
contrast in speaking with a garden manager in ward 8 versus a garden manager in ward 1 
when it came to the community?s relationship with the garden for food security purposes.  
With Covid coming up, the theme this past growing season was: grow everything 
on the fence. So folks can just walk up and grab the food that they need. You need 
a tomato? Come to the fence. You need a cucumber? Come to the fence. You 
need a pepper? Come to the fence. You need some beans? Come to the fence. 
Everything was on the fence. Need some melons? Come to the fence. And then 
we also got chickens. Need some eggs? Come some fence.  -Ward 8 Garden 
Manager 
 
In contrast, the following response occurred after a ward 1 garden manager was 
asked why they raised their fence this past year. 
Some of our homeless neighbors? occasionally one of those people will jump 
over the fence and maybe grab a tomato or something. In that case, I've sort of 
said to the gardeners like, well, if that person was hungry and got one of our fresh 
vegetables, that's not a terrible thing. You know, it's just what's hard, is like 
someone's tomatoes are missing and you think like, did somebody in the garden 
take them? Did somebody hop the fence? So we just sort of felt like, well, okay, 
why don't we just make it a little you know-- also, we have a water supply. So 
some of the guys could take showers or could use the water to get clean. And 
37 
 
 
 
 
again, it was like I said, we can't be against homelessness and then not deal with 
homeless neighbors right in our midst. So I kept challenging people saying, well, 
okay, what do we do? You know, but it's not just- so the fence went up just to sort 
of deter, you know, casual jumping over the fence to steal people's food.  -Ward 1 
Garden Manager 
 
The garden manager in ward 8 utilized the fence around their garden as a way to 
invite the community into the garden space, emphasizing that this was important to them. 
It bridged the gap between the garden and neighbors living in a community with limited 
access to a grocery store, which interviewees stated lacked fresh, quality produce. The 
ward 8 garden manager also discussed how community members outside of the garden 
would warn them that their produce was going to be stolen. The garden team had to break 
this barrier with the community by continuously telling them that the produce on the 
fence was for them to take and that it was not stealing to do so. On the other hand, the 
garden manager in ward 1 utilized the fence around their garden as a barricade, 
specifically to people experiencing homelessness. While they would welcome a passerby 
into the gardens front gate while they were there, the fence was used as a way to deter 
people from stealing a gardener member?s produce. Notably, this garden has a compost 
bin inside its fence, which over 100 non-garden members have access to via a lock in a 
lock box. Therefore, it is possible that an individual from those 100 plus people could be 
responsible for taking produce that is not theirs, making the raising of the fence 
irrelevant. Producing and/or distributing excess produce was a theme for all interviews 
with gardeners and garden managers in wards 7 and 8, low-wealth, primarily Black 
communities, but it was not a theme for gardeners and garden managers in ward 1, a 
higher wealth, majority White community. 
38 
 
 
 
 
5.2 Food Security: Quality of Grocery Stores and Access to Nutrition 
The focus on producing and distributing excess produce in wards 7 and 8 
highlights the issue of supermarket redlining in these wards. Food security is less of an 
issue in ward 1 than it is in communities east of the Anacostia River. Multiple 
interviewees from wards 7 and 8 preferred the term ?food apartheid? over ?food desert?, 
with one ward 8 gardener stating, ?It?s just a given that you cross the state line to go get 
food? you have more access to illegal drugs in this community than you do fresh food 
and when you think about that, it?s not by accident.? Lack of access to grocery stores in 
wards 7 and 8 is well documented and individuals therefore find that gardening can be an 
important way to increase their food security. Illustrating this, as well as the lack of 
quality of produce ward 7 and 8 residents have access to, a garden manager in ward 7 
stated: 
I live in an area that is considered a food desert? food is very scarce and quality, 
healthy food oh- that's even more scarce. So the need for community gardens is 
great in these areas: ward 7, ward 8? and that's why I am trying to do as much as 
I can to maximize my experience and exposure to it, because I know just as much 
as it has helped my son and I- just me bringing home some potatoes and some 
onions and some carrots- for a family that can mean a lot. You know, that can 
mean a difference between them starving or eating. 
 
Because our food system is failing people, food insecure residents often take 
matters into their own hands by either gardening and/or exerting significant energy to 
map out and get to places where they can access nutritionally adequate food. One 
gardener/advocate in ward 8 explained how they navigate getting food: 
I go to Martha?s Table on Mondays, but you can go seven days a week, and on 
Tuesdays I go to the church down at the bottom of the hill where I live... they give 
out produce and they give out canned goods, which I don't- I just put the canned 
goods downstairs, I have enough. But there's a lot of tuna fish. I have a life supply 
39 
 
 
 
 
of tuna fish. So I put all that downstairs. And on Wednesdays it?s TheARC on 
Mississippi Avenue, and they give out fresh produce. But actually, Martha's Table 
supplies them? And then on Thursdays it?s a community center up on 5th and 
Alabama. I can't think of the name of it. It's a block from Ballou High School. 
And they give out- like last time I went, they gave out shrimp. They gave out 
vegetable oil, canned goods, they had string beans. And on Fridays it used to be 
down the street, but they moved. So I'm still trying to find them.  
 
This individual also detailed their efforts in helping out their community: 
And what I do is I get a box or whatever, and I break it down for everyone in my 
building and my seniors? I just stock up and then I divide- I put them in bags 
and I just put it on their doors- like the girl next door, she just had a newborn and 
I make sure she gets fruits and then a girl across the street, she's very particular. 
She just really wants potatoes and onions. And then a little lady, diagonal across 
to me, she has a big family, so I make sure like Bread for the City gives me a bag 
every week. They gave me like 20 chicken wings. So I broke that down, gave her 
half. And then the girl downstairs, she has three girls. So I try to make sure they 
get a lot of fruit. So I know everybody in the building's diet. 
 
This participants significant energy expenditure begs the question, what would 
our society look like if people did not have to be hyper focused on meeting their basic 
needs?  They also discussed how they were in the process of trying to start a garden at a 
school by their building, which would make healthy foods more accessible than going 
around the city to a different food distribution site every day, but they were unsure if that 
was going to work out. Their uncertainty in gaining access to more land was a theme 
among other participants. This information is provided through DPR but is not accessible 
without asking for it. It would be useful for DPR to make this information more 
accessible to the public.  
In regards to finding space for gardens, some participants discussed the value of 
rooftop gardening and farming. One participant expressed that we need to be thinking 
about urban agriculture differently than rural agriculture, noting that cities have a lot of 
40 
 
 
 
 
unused space on rooftops. This participant also spoke to the benefits of aquaponic and 
hydroponic farming in an urban setting, stating that through these controlled 
environments, one can grow twelve months a year, utilizing 95% less water. They 
expressed the need for innovation in order to advance urban agriculture, ?If you're 
looking for traditional plots of lands and you're trying to outcompete a condominium or 
you try to outcompete Bozzuto that has a proven record of return on investment, you're 
not going to win. You're just not going to win in my mind. Right? So you have to be a lot 
more creative about how you utilize space.?  
5.3 Food Security: The Limits of Community Gardens 
?Community gardens are sort of the grassroots of the food system.? - Urban Agriculture 
Advocate East of the Anacostia River 
 
One theme throughout interviews with advocates and policymakers was that there 
are limits to what a community garden can do; and advocates, garden managers, and 
gardeners alike often discussed the importance of dedication when it comes to the success 
of a community garden. Dedication is not guaranteed and without it a community garden 
can fail to provide food security. Individuals from each category of interviews mentioned 
that oftentimes, people in food insecure communities do not garden because, as one ward 
8 gardener put it, it is not a ?priority for the people who need it most, they?re busy 
surviving and I can?t fault them for that.? When asked if they could reconcile the 
discrepancy between their call for more community gardens and their recognition that 
many people in food insecure communities do not prioritize gardening, the participant 
responded very matter of fact stating that you don?t need everyone to garden. They went 
on to talk about their garden's plans to operate as more of a farm, seeing the land they 
41 
 
 
 
 
have as a whole, instead of as individual plots. Doing so would allow for more food to be 
grown and distributed within their community.  
To further showcase the lack of people attempting to utilize community gardens 
in wards 7 and 8 are the garden waitlists. One garden in ward 1 has upwards of 850 
people on their waiting list while gardens in wards 7 and 8 ranged from no wait list to 
around 9 people. As one ward 8 garden manager put it, ?Do I have a yearlong waitlist? 
Hell no. Hell no.? While gardening is an enjoyable activity with a multitude of benefits 
for all participants regardless of ward, with the people interviewed, there was an added 
value of food security in wards 7 and 8. More research would need to be done to 
determine why food insecure communities have smaller waitlists, though according to 
multiple participants in this sample, it appears to be less of a priority because people in 
food insecure communities have other pressing issues to manage. That said, it was noted 
that it does not take an excessive amount of gardeners to create more food security within 
a community. In ward 1, it does not appear that long wait lists relate to one?s desire to 
garden for food security purposes; it appears to be more of a leisure activity. 
Though the critique of community gardens being insufficient for addressing food 
security is valid because ultimately our inequitable food system needs rebuilding, it does 
not mean that community gardens are not making a difference. Community gardens are 
like nonprofits (and often actually are): they can address a critical need but often are not 
able to get to the upstream cause of the problem. Furthermore, their robustness and 
functionality are quite dependent on those with resources and power. Highlighting the 
direct service a community garden provides, a couple participants were able to quantify 
42 
 
 
 
 
how much gardening saves them on their trips to the grocery store. One participant said 
that during the growing season, they save about $30 on each grocery bill, ?to me, ten 
dollars, five dollar is a saving. So thirty dollars, that?s a no brainer.? While this might not 
seem like much for some people, it can really make a difference for others. Participants 
noted that with the money they saved they were able to buy items like deodorant for their 
kids or extra cleaning products that were needed during COVID-19. 
One ward 8 gardener talked about the impact of food insecurity on their cousin 
saying, ?Lack of food security killed my cousin? due to complications of diabetes. 
Because when you're living in an expensive city like DC you have to make decisions on 
the rising costs to live? people don't see how it does matter and it does affect your 
everyday life more than you think. So she died.? Interviews with people from each 
category discussed the ways in which lack of access to nutritionally adequate food has 
impacted their own health or the health of people that they know. For one ward 7 garden 
manager, their child becoming ill was the catalyst to them joining a garden, without any 
experience. They went on to tell the story about how shortly after joining the garden, they 
became a co-garden manager.  Their decision to become a co-garden manager speaks to 
the need for access to healthy food and the susceptibility of community gardens ceasing 
to exist. At this participant?s first garden meeting, the garden manager at that time 
announced that they were stepping down and if someone did not replace them, the garden 
would close. They describe their decision to step up saying: 
We were standing there in the garden manager meeting and we looked at each 
other and I said, ?[name redacted] we can?t let this garden go to waste. It would be 
foolish of us to let this whole garden go to waste.? Because that's essentially what 
43 
 
 
 
 
would have been happening? so we both stood right there and we both raised our 
hands and we held each other's hands and we said we?ll be the garden managers. 
 
The relationship two gardeners had built speaks to the power relationships have in 
sustaining community gardens. This relationship was especially important as this garden 
exists in a food insecure community. 
5.4 Relationships: Interpersonal Dynamics 
 When it came to interpersonal relationships within gardens, gardeners and garden 
managers reported being part of gardens that ranged from communal to individualistic. In 
ward 1, one garden reported being a space with a lot of peer support while a gardener 
from a different ward 1 garden felt disappointed by the lack of community at their garden 
stating, ?I mean, there were people that would come and not say hello or goodbye.? In 
speaking with two people from the latter garden, it appears that this individualistic 
dynamic contributed to a lack of communal maintenance in the garden space, even when 
a ?zone? system was implemented to encourage people to take care of parts of the garden 
outside their individual plot. A culture of community was always discussed when it came 
to effectively completing maintenance tasks at each garden. From eager or supportive 
members to community partners that helped with recruiting volunteers, having 
relationships came up as an important factor in the success of maintaining a garden.  
In regards to individualism, one advocate/policymaker spoke to the idea of private 
property seeping into community garden spaces and the importance of relationship 
building as a means to dismantle that construct, both within the garden and between 
gardens. They discussed that when relationships are built, people can then speak more 
about what is going on in their community and the DC community at large, making room 
44 
 
 
 
 
for meaningful discussions around topics such as food security. They talked specifically 
about garden managers, stating that they are ?very autonomous units and they're not 
necessarily thinking about, ?why is it that my garden did totally fine but I?m hearing my 
friend across the river is really having a difficult time?... they?re not seeing themselves as 
kind of in it together.? Relationships between gardens, especially of different 
demographics, may prove to be an important factor in addressing food insecurity.  
5.5 Relationships: Organizations and Community Dynamics 
 
Relationship dynamics were also discussed when talking about organizations that 
are part of communities. Participants often spoke about their relationship with DPR, 
UDC, and local organizations like nonprofits. Participants discussed classes they enjoyed 
through DPR and relationships with faculty at UDC that allowed them to learn. In 
learning more about DPR, their role overseeing their affiliated community gardens is 
fairly hands-off and garden managers were largely okay with this. One ward 8 garden 
manager expressed frustration with their relationship to DPR and described feeling like 
DPR?s ?stepchild? stating, ?So the first year in our garden, DPR never even cut on my 
water. I was gardening out of rain barrels? The second year took them about a month or 
two to turn on the water? So just kind of trying to go through little isms like that can be 
really annoying.? They went on to discuss their experience seeing a garden in northwest 
DC for the first time: 
I remember going to this one garden in northwest. And I'm gonna be mindful 
about what I say... but I was pissed off. Like that garden- oh, my God. It was so 
beautiful, like you can get married there, it was the sort of space like I saw a 
squirrel do a backflip off a tomato- it was just beaming. And I mean, here I am 
roughing it in the slums- like for real. My compost bins don't have covers, they 
won't re-do anything? I mean, they had shovels, they had a tool shed the size of 
45 
 
 
 
 
my garage- like oh wow- I was so pissed! So that's kind of how that relationship 
with DPR is. 
 
 The description of a northwest garden as a place where squirrels do backflips and 
one could get married compared to their ?slum?-like southwest garden painted a vivid 
image. By contrasting their garden, in a low-wealth Black community, to a garden in 
northwest, a higher-wealth White community, this participant highlighted the unjust 
discrepancies they?ve experienced from DPR based on the community they are from.  
It is important to note that DPR does not have complete control over how a 
garden looks and operates, but they should operate equitably across the gardens they 
oversee. The individual expressing concern noted the difficulties that they had with 
accessing basic tools like water, compost bin covers, and shovels. How a garden 
functions depends largely on the involvement of community members, a basic supply of 
materials from DPR, optional annual membership fees, and optional community 
partnerships.  
Based on the garden managers interviewed, it is understood that DPR encourages 
relationships with community partners for support but it is not a requirement. When a 
garden has a partnership with a community partner, they (the garden) sign an extensive 
agreement with the partner about what everyone?s roles and responsibilities are. The 
optional nature of a garden partnership and membership fees can have a dramatic impact 
on how a garden looks. These options can be dependent on the connections garden 
members have and the socio-economic make up of gardeners, which likely exacerbates 
garden inequities. In addition to the partnership agreement, DPR has a code of conduct 
that all gardens must follow and they provide guidance on how each garden can create 
46 
 
 
 
 
their own bylaws. While these guidelines outline some equitable practices like keeping 
one plot free in any garden with more than ten plots, there does not seem to be a DPR 
framework that centers equity. To ensure equitable practices and initiatives through DPR, 
it would be beneficial for them to collect data, such as race and income, about each 
garden and perform needs assessments. Without measuring demographics and needs, 
discrepancies like the previous garden manager mentioned are more difficult to address. 
It would also be beneficial if DPR facilitated community partner relationships, for those 
who wanted them, as a way to enhance community connections for gardens that might 
not have any.   
Another relationship dynamic discussed was about nonprofits that enter food 
insecure communities and start gardens. An advocate talked about how they see 
nonprofits coming into the community (referencing communities in wards 7 and 8) and 
that community members ?know the game.?  
They know that, okay this organization is going to come out here, they're going to 
use our community name to receive a grant, they're going to use our children's 
names and children's photos to show that ?hey I'm out here, these are my metrics, 
these are my statistics, I'm doing these programs? but the folks who need to be 
served aren?t really being served.  
 
They went on to say that: 
 
In my opinion, I've always believed that if you are a nonprofit or an organization 
coming in to help, there should be a point in time where you're leaving that 
community because you've done such a good job to help to empower folks? But 
that's not always what happens. There'll be a nonprofit out there 20, 30 years to 
where they've seen the community turnover. So that relationship building piece, I 
would say that is ultimately the biggest issue.  
 
Similarly, a ward 8 gardener spoke about gardens popping up in their community 
without any relationship to the community; and nonprofits having plans for the 
47 
 
 
 
 
community without any follow through stating, ?There's no community input. And when 
I say that, it's almost as if these things are being done for a community that's gonna be 
here, not the community that is here.? The idea of a nonprofit entering a community with 
the intention to serve but an outcome of community disconnect and/or harm speaks to the 
Nonprofit Industrial Complex. The Nonprofit Industrial Complex is a term used to 
describe the way nonprofits rely on government and other businesses for funding which 
in turn shifts their priorities from community needs and desires to the stipulations of the 
funder(s). This dynamic shifts power from knowledgeable communities to larger, 
disconnected entities. Ultimately, it perpetuates the existence of a nonprofit and 
disconnects the nonprofit from truly serving the community. 
Other participants spoke to the benefits of some local nonprofits that are providing 
food, education, and gardening space. One person, who discussed how gardening with a 
nonprofit saved them around $75 a month, explicitly stated that the brief interactions they 
had with the receptionist where they gardened before COVID-19 was what made them 
feel so welcome in the space. ?There was this one lady who, I don't know what her name 
is, but, you know, gorgeous woman. She just emanates Mother Earth. When you see her, 
you're just like, yes- just ask her about the garden and she'll send you right up. She's like, 
?What, you want to go up to the garden? Go on up. You know how to get there. Don?t get 
locked out- call me if you do?.? The participant talked about feeling welcome in the space 
because they did not have someone looking over their shoulder.  
In contrast, another participant discussed their experience as a new farm manager 
at a local nonprofit, ?People would come and share with me- they're like ?oh, well you 
48 
 
 
 
 
cool, but the last farm manager, they didn't let us come in?, or ?you cool but your co-
workers, they not that friendly? or ?they not inviting?.? While this participant was talking 
about a community farm, it still speaks to the way an organization?s relationship with 
community members impacts a community from benefiting from a space like a 
community garden. This advocate specifically mentioned ward 7 and the lack of 
relationship building they see there between nonprofits and the community. These 
examples express the importance of organizations and community gardens building 
relationships with people in the community where the organization and/or garden is in 
order for there to be a positive impact. 
5.6 Relationships: Race Dynamics 
Race was another topic that was discussed by a few people regarding the 
functioning of interpersonal and community level relationships. Notably, race came up in 
interviews between Black interviewees and myself (a White interviewer). This in and of 
itself was an example of how race is an important part of the conversation when it comes 
to food security. Interviewees would preface something they were about to say with 
things like, ?I don?t want to offend you but?? followed by something about White 
people. One gardener explicitly stated that in food security, talking about race matters. 
They (a Black person) told a story about a Black child coming to them at their former 
place of employment and asking for some food because she was not getting enough at 
home. After providing the child with a bag of food, the participant went to the Food 
Corps person (a White person) at the organization to discuss what had happened and they 
49 
 
 
 
 
(the Food Corps person) replied by saying, ??Yeah, some kid came to me last year, she 
was a second grader, said she was hungry?.? The participant continued: 
And I was like ?what did you do??-- ?I gave her a granola bar?. Hold the hell 
up? that baby had enough sense to come to the food lady about a food issue and 
the best you could do was give her a granola bar? Come on y?all! No- not with all 
the food that?s going in this trash can every day? A granola bar? If you saw a 
hungry dog you would try to assess that dog's needs in a better way than that 
young lady thought she was able to in the school with which she is the food 
resource person. This is not okay. And I don't want to take it here, but part of me 
wants to know if that little girl came to her with pale blonde hair with pigtails- 
would she have assessed it and said ?here's a granola bar little Rebecca, have a 
good one?. I don't think so, you can?t tell me. It was because she couldn't see 
herself in that child.  
 
They followed up this story by saying, ?this is why I?m in a community garden 
now going hard.? By calling attention to race and its role in addressing the child?s needs, 
this participant highlighted the importance of shared experience (in this case, race), 
empathy, and knowledge in addressing food insecurity. This participant made clear that 
when working towards food security, race must be part of the conversation. The drive the 
participant has to growing food in their community garden is partially derived from their 
experience with food insecure children and speaks to the failure of the food system in 
Black, low-wealth communities. 
5.7 Quality of Life 
 One of the interview questions that was asked to gardeners and garden managers 
was about the benefits that members and people from the community get from their 
community garden. Every participant talked about the fresh quality produce that gardens 
gave them access to but there were also a variety of other repetitive answers that spoke to 
50 
 
 
 
 
the core theme of ?quality of life?. The theme of ?quality of life? encapsulates information 
that was received from every group of interviewees. 
5.8 Quality of Life: Benefits for Youth 
 One of the biggest themes within this category was the benefits of community 
gardens on the youth. Participants discussed how instilling garden education into people 
while they are young can lead to healthier outcomes as they become adults. The 
importance of showing youth how food grows and where it comes from was discussed by 
a few people, with one garden manager who recalled kids' reactions when working with 
them in the garden. The kids would say, ??Oh man! This is how a cucumber grows! 
Wow! Why aren?t they the same size? We have fifty cucumbers right here from this one 
seed! How does this one little seed produce so many?? So it opens up their minds to 
explore and actually connect it.? Specifically, participants mentioned how this education 
and exposure is needed in wards 7 and 8. Youth can be exposed to gardening through 
summer camps, school programming, and exploration at their local garden. Gardening 
can be a tool for teaching young people about the environment, climate change, 
mathematics, nutrition, cooking, the food system, skills for job training, and more. It is an 
opportunity for youth, and all people, to connect with nature and experience green space, 
which can be hard to come by in a city.  
5.9 Quality of Life: Therapeutic 
 The therapeutic quality of gardens was also a theme related to quality of life, for 
both members of the garden and people in the community. One garden manager 
discussed how they regularly see some of the same community members going for walks 
51 
 
 
 
 
around the garden, like a little boy who would wake his mom up every morning so they 
could walk to the garden and see the chickens and a gentleman in his 80?s who does his 
walks by the garden. This description also highlights the benefits some spoke to about 
intergenerational and general community connection that happens at gardens. In regards 
to their therapeutic qualities, community gardens were often referred to as places where 
one can become ?grounded? and ?connect with the soil?. This was spoken about as a 
value because it allowed folks to relieve stress and it also connected them to nature- 
seeing themselves as part of the environment instead of separate from it.  
5.10 Quality of Life: Ancestral Connection 
Beyond connecting with the soil, some people talked about the spiritual 
connection they felt by being in a garden, including feeling a connection to their 
ancestors. The discussions of ancestors ranged from ?I speak to kids all the time who are 
like, dude, why would I want to be a farmer? My granddad worked his butt off so that I 
wouldn't have to be a farmer. Why would I want to go back to that??, referring to the 
enslavement of Black people and their forced labor in agriculture in the U.S., to another 
participant discussing how they access ancestral wisdom through working with the earth. 
One Black participant even discussed how their garden sends messages. They explained: 
Someone told me African-Americans have a weird relationship with the land, and 
it's true, it's true. I remember last year I was like, okay, I'm going to grow some 
cotton. Mm-mmm no I wasn't. My garden was- no. The energies in that garden- I 
was not growing cotton. It wouldn't allow it. It germinated and stuff but the 
garden m-mm. Bugs, everything attacked it. It was like, hell no we don?t want it 
here.  
 
52 
 
 
 
 
As participants noted, Black people have ancestral trauma when it comes to 
connecting with the land. While some individuals choose not to work with the land for 
these reasons, others find connection there.  
In Leah Penniman?s book, Farming While Black, she begins with a dedication that 
states, ?This book is dedicated to our ancestral grandmothers, who braided seeds in their 
hair before being forced to board transatlantic slave ships, believing against the odds in a 
future of sovereignty on land? (2018). Shortly after, the book details a discussion with a 
veteran civil rights activist, Baba Curtis Hayes Muhammad, regarding the role farmers 
play in the movement for racial justice. Muhammad explained that while ?land and food 
have been used as a weapon to keep Black people oppressed? one must also recognize 
that ?land and food are essential to the liberation for Black people? (Penniman, 2018, 
p.5). He explained that Black farmers played a central role in the civil rights movement 
by ?coordinating campaigns for desegregation and voting rights as well as providing 
food, housing, bail money, and safe haven for other organizers? (Penniman, 2018, p.5). 
Penniman states how this discussion prompted her and her farm team to do more when it 
came to contributing to the racial justice movement (Penniman, 2018). In working 
towards racial equity, gardening is a tool. As this study revealed, it is already being used 
to fight food insecurity (though, again, this is a reaction to a flawed system that needs to 
be fixed); and it has the potential to do more in working towards racial equity and food 
security by providing a space where this country?s historical and present day racism can 
be discussed through the lens of the food system and thus catalyze action.  
 
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5.11 Quality of life: Sense of Ownership 
Another benefit of community gardens that was discussed was how they add 
beauty to a neighborhood and therefore a sense of ownership. One gardener stated that in 
ward 8, ?We don't have anything that really foster's pride in residents. So it's easy to tear 
up a neighborhood that you're not proud to live in.? They later said that the garden is one 
of the few things that has not been demonized about the community stating, ?to hear 
some urban guys proud because ?there?s chickens back there man! That's alright!.? It?s 
alright, it?s a good thing.? Green spaces, like community gardens, give people a sense of 
pride and a feeling of ownership in their neighborhood. In organizational psychology, 
people tend to be more engaged when they feel a sense of ownership (Buriro, Jantan, 
Brohi, Ng, & Ho, 2018). Therefore, community gardens may be a useful tool in creating 
engaged communities.  
Along the lines of sense of ownership is cultural wellness. Some participants also 
discussed how gardens can be a space for people to grow foods that are culturally 
relevant and may be more difficult to find in a grocery store. Gardens allow people to 
control parts of their diet. Food is an important part of cultural identity and garden spaces 
provide an opportunity for some individuals to practice and feel connected to elements of 
their culture, therefore increasing their quality of life.  
 Recognizing the value of gardens beyond the food that they can grow is a 
powerful way to structure arguments against development projects that eliminate green 
spaces. In addition to the benefits of food security, community gardens also provide 
educational opportunities for people of all ages, a connection to the environment, a 
54 
 
 
 
 
connection to ancestors, a place for neighbors to engage with one another, a sense of 
ownership, green space, and so much more.   
5.12 Social-Ecological Model Lens 
In doing this research, it became more clear how ?urban agriculture? was an 
umbrella term for different efforts that appear disjointed. Urban agriculture has to do with 
the growing, processing, and distribution of food through urban farming, community 
gardening, school gardening, beekeeping, and more. Speaking to this disjointedness, 
advocates and policy makers tended to focus on urban farming versus community 
gardening in their interviews. The distinction between gardening and farming is 
necessary and important as they produce on different scales and have different goals. 
Urban farming is primarily focused on large scale food production with farmers who 
have extensive knowledge and an advanced skill set while community gardening is 
smaller scale, done in an individual?s spare time. While the distinction between urban 
farming and urban gardening is valid, there is an argument to be made that more can be 
done to enhance their connection. One advocate spoke about the potential community 
gardens have to operate as food hubs where other food can be brought in for distribution 
purposes. Speaking to why this connection can be difficult, another advocate stated that 
different types of urban agriculture in DC are under different jurisdictions, so while 
individuals in the urban agriculture community know one another, it is difficult to work 
together because each facet of urban agriculture reports to and operates under a different 
agency.  
55 
 
 
 
 
A couple of examples from one garden east of the Anacostia River spoke to the 
disconnect between the policy level and the organizational level of a community garden. 
A participant shared that sometimes things happen at the garden without any member of 
the garden being notified. For example, one day when they showed up to the garden, a 
few trees had been planted. While they appreciated the trees, they were planted in an area 
that resulted in the blockage of some light from the garden, which now impacts their 
ability to grow. They also talked about arriving to the garden another time and a bamboo 
thicket that they harvested from for trellising in the garden had been removed. 
Additionally, two participants from this same garden talked about a tree that fell by their 
garden that they wanted to use for wood chips, but to do so, there would have to have 
been a memorandum of understanding between the DC Government and the U.S. Army 
because of the land the tree fell on. It is easy to see how these actions all add up and 
impact the functioning of this garden that utilizes their space for individual and 
community level food security purposes. 
One DC policy that impacts both urban farming and urban gardening is the Urban 
Farming and Food Security Act of 2014. While it is for both farming and gardening, 
individuals at the advocacy and policy level spoke about it only in terms of urban 
farming. It was reported that this policy has not been extremely successful over the past 
couple of years, though there are a few spaces across the city that utilize it. Moving 
forward, advocates and policymakers are focusing on pursuing a community land trust 
model that will ensure long term land tenure for urban farmers, eliminating the threat of 
land being bought by a developer.   
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Talking with gardeners, garden managers, and advocates/policymakers allowed 
community gardens to be viewed through an individual, interpersonal, community, 
organizational, and policy level lens. While advocates/policymakers were in support of 
an increase in gardens, policy level activity with community gardens was not prevalent. 
Additionally, at the advocate/policymaker level there was sometimes a disconnect where 
advocates did not participate much when it came to policy, one stating that their 
involvement in policy was too draining. While policy is not for everyone, disconnect 
between the policy level and community level can lead to ineffective solutions to 
problems and is something those working at the policy level should be mindful of when 
addressing issues like food insecurity.  
  
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Chapter 6: Conclusion 
6.1 Recommendations 
 After analyzing every interview and organizing each theme, there are multiple 
recommendations to be made related to community gardens and how they can improve 
food security. Before beginning this research, it was unclear if gardens actually had a role 
in food security in Washington, DC. This study revealed that community gardens are 
important for food security purposes when an individual or community is food insecure. 
That said, there is room for improvement in order to increase food security. First, gardens 
have the potential to act as food hubs for food insecure communities. A food hub is ?a 
business or organization that actively manages the aggregation, distribution, and 
marketing of source-identified food products primarily from local and regional producers 
to strengthen their ability to satisfy wholesale, retail, and institutional demand? (USDA, 
2015). Gardens do not need to be the producers of the food that is being distributed, but 
they can be a place where distribution occurs. Since gardens already address food 
security, it makes sense to loop them into the portion of the food system that is working 
on solving this issue. There is also more room for those working on food security to be 
exploring innovative solutions such as rooftop gardening, aquaponics, and hydroponics. 
As one advocate mentioned, we cannot think of urban agriculture in the same way we 
think of rural agriculture, as we have different landscapes and we need to maximize the 
spaces that we occupy. While gardens in the traditional sense remain important for 
reasons like green space, and there is value in maintaining them as part of our natural 
world (versus separate from it), there is a lot of unused rooftop space in cities. If we think 
58 
 
 
 
 
of rooftops like land, we have an incredible amount of space that can be used for growing 
food in order to address food security. This option comes with structural considerations 
but is a model that is being implemented across the country, including here in DC. 
Furthermore, and perhaps farther outside the scope of community gardens, indoor 
practices like aquaponics and hydroponics allow us to grow food every month of the year 
in climates that otherwise would not allow us to do so. Aquaponics and hydroponics 
allow for food to grow without soil, utilizing nutrients from water that gets repeatedly 
cycled through the plants root systems. In hydroponics, the water gets a formulated 
nutrient solution; and in aquaponics, the water gets nutrients from organic matter that is 
usually produced by fish. These growing practices use less water than traditional farming 
and also create opportunity for vertical growing spaces, maximizing what can be grown. 
Lastly, urban farms may also benefit community gardens for food security purposes by 
sharing some of their knowledge about growing food on a larger scale. One garden in this 
study discussed possible plans to get rid of their individual plots in order to create more 
room for growing. Guidance from a farm could help gardeners grow more efficiently thus 
enhancing food security.   
 Collaboration amongst urban farms and gardens speaks to the second theme of 
relationship building. Relationships are important between every level of the Social-
Ecological Model. Relationships between gardeners, and gardeners and garden managers, 
improve a sense of community and allow for better management of a garden. 
Relationships between garden managers and community partners enhance the resources 
to a garden and thus a gardens functionality; and relationships between community 
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organizations and those at the policy level impact the ways in which a community 
organization can provide support. This research revealed some key areas for 
improvement when it comes to community gardens and their ability to enhance food 
security.  
 While there was a general theme of the importance of community organizations 
creating relationships with community members, one key organization stood out that 
could implement improvements. That organization is DPR, a government run 
organization that oversees parks, gardens, and recreational activities in DC. As such, 
these recommendations are pointed at DPR as a government entity. Interviews revealed 
that DPR does not have a strong relationship with gardens and furthermore did not 
always treat gardens equitably. To enhance garden outcomes, it is recommended that 
DPR perform needs assessments for each of its gardens to determine who needs what 
resources. A needs assessment will allow DPR to see differences amongst gardens and 
their access to resources and thus provide resources in an equitable way that can achieve 
more equal outcomes. Additionally, it is recommended that DPR have more regular 
communication with garden managers to avoid issues such as the removal of one gardens 
bamboo thicket that they were utilizing for trellising. In regards to equitable outcomes, it 
would also be beneficial if DPR facilitated community partner relationships for gardens 
that desired one. The lack of a framework in facilitating these relationships leaves room 
for bias in who ends up benefitting from community support, this can lead to inequitable 
outcomes. Lastly, it would also be valuable if DPR facilitated relationships between 
gardens, perhaps by hosting monthly garden manager meetings. Facilitating relationships 
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between gardens allows for relationship building and awareness around how gardens 
operate in different parts of the city. These relationships could lead to more 
understanding around inequitable opportunities and food security outcomes. Furthermore, 
this space could be an opportunity for gardeners, advocates, and/or policymakers to 
occasionally come and speak and therefore increase collaboration among the different 
levels in the Social-Ecological model. With this enhanced knowledge and collaboration, 
it is possible that more people who already have an interest in food would be motivated to 
work together and act in addressing food insecurity.  
 It is unclear to the researcher what types of resources DPR has to begin with but 
it should be noted that these suggestions do not all have to involve high financial cost. 
That said, since DPR is a government entity, they therefore are influenced and restrained 
by what happens at the policy level of the Social-Ecological Model. In order to enhance 
food security in the District, it would be beneficial to provide DPR with the resources 
needed to adequately serve community gardens and enhance their ability to address food 
insecurity.  
 When it comes to Sustainable DC 2.0?s plan to increase community gardens 
through DPR, the suggestions above should be considered. It is not sufficient to just add 
more gardens as a means to enhance food security. Knowledge of, input from, and 
support from the community and community organizations are needed for a successful 
garden. This also means that organizations require the proper support and structures from 
the policy level. Additionally, as previously mentioned, resources such as how to 
navigate the process of finding land to create a community garden should be widely 
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accessible to the public so those interested in creating more gardens can be more 
knowledgeable. This knowledge would also allow more gardeners to take advantage of 
the Urban Farming and Food Security Act of 2014, which was reportedly underutilized.  
 The final theme in this research was quality of life. The recommendation to come 
out of this theme is to center all of the benefits of community gardens when making 
decisions about the built environment of Washington, DC. If we are only valuing gardens 
for the small amount of food they put out (though it?s helpful for food insecure people), 
then we are missing the variety of other values that they bring to a community. Gardens 
enhance community engagement, cultural wellness, sense of belonging, beauty, and 
education around the environment, nutrition, injustices, and more. Focusing on gardens 
many attributes creates a better argument for their value when up against a developer. 
Strengthening the argument for community gardens by highlighting their many values 
ultimately creates more opportunity for food security.  
6.2  Study Strengths and Limitations 
This study?s strength was its deeper context to the cultural, social, and structural 
composition of the community gardens of Washington, DC and how they relate to food 
security. This study is limited in its small sample size with limited demographics.  It was 
not feasible to do an in depth analysis on every single garden in the District and therefore 
it is possible that this data is skewed and cannot apply to Washington, DC gardens as a 
whole, but only to the specific gardens the information came from. That said, data from 
individual gardens is still relevant and speaks to how some gardens are functioning in 
DC. A possible limitation to this study is that it was performed in the non-peak gardening 
62 
 
 
 
 
seasons. This possibly limited interaction with gardeners and garden managers as they 
could not be reached through stopping by a garden. Additionally, advocates/policymakers 
were extremely busy working on food security issues amongst the COVID-19 pandemic, 
which may have reduced their capacity for an interview. Perhaps the biggest limitation of 
this study was the lack of representation of people who live near community gardens but 
do not use them. The original intent of this study was to focus on those perspectives but 
because of COVID-19, reaching those residents was looking like an unreasonable 
challenge. The Coronavirus pandemic also limited my ability to recruit and interact with 
people in person. Performing interviews over Zoom was not ideal as it made it more 
difficult to understand body language. Zoom also required participants to have access to, 
and knowledge about, operating a computer. Lastly, my identity as a researcher and a 
White woman could have influenced the interaction with and participation of 
interviewees. One participant noted that they chose to wait and get word about me first 
before they decided to participate because they were cautious about people who come 
and ?look at? them.  
6.3 Public Health Significance 
This project is a small step to gaining a deeper understanding of the community 
gardens of Washington, DC and their effectiveness at addressing food insecurity, a 
growing public health issue. Understanding that gardens can play a role in food security 
allows for better planning to address it and therefore improve public health. 
 
 
 
63 
 
 
 
 
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