Partnering to Beautify NYCHA
On July 24, Marlboro Houses’ resident gardeners received a major boost when more than 200 volunteers gathered at the Brooklyn development to revitalize its 50-year-old community garden. Volunteers replaced makeshift planter walls, replenished soil, and improved pathways to ensure the garden can continue to serve residents for years to come.
The event was part of a community revitalization program from the non-profit Rebuilding Together NYC (RTNYC), whose “She Builds Committee,” composed of women in real estate, hosts an annual She Builds build day.
Through this year’s She Builds project, RTNYC is helping Marlboro residents strengthen and preserve the development’s important third space, a place for community members to gather outside of home and work or school. The Marlboro Houses community garden began in the 1960s and has long been nurtured by the development’s older adult residents. Over the years, residents doubled the garden’s original size, using recycled materials and creativity to expand it. The garden currently has more than 20 resident gardeners who help maintain it.
“This garden is especially for the elderly,” Marlboro Houses resident Li Huang said. “After they retire and they have nothing to do, they can work here, do some planting and exercise, and they can pick the food for themselves.”
RTNYC volunteers and NYCHA residents and staff returned to Marlboro Houses on September 19 to do even more work on the garden.
Over the past four years, RTNYC has worked with NYCHA to organize volunteer activities across the city, including refurbishing benches and playgrounds at Claremont Consolidated in 2022, creating 16 garden beds in Morrisania in the South Bronx in 2023, and repairing existing and building new garden beds at Millbrook Houses in 2024. This August, volunteers came together at Butler Houses in the Bronx to build four garden beds in an unused space at the development. And an upcoming project is scheduled for Grant Houses in Harlem.
RTNYC Executive Director Valerie Payne said that build days are an important way to connect corporate groups that want to “give back” with neighborhoods that can benefit from volunteer power: “These projects are about more than planting or construction, they are about community revitalization, helping residents preserve and expand spaces that are important to daily life. Our team works closely with NYCHA to identify sites that could benefit most, and then we bring in volunteers and resources to make it happen. It’s a model that brings people together around service and leaves a visible impact on the community.”
“NYCHA’s community gardens are vital spaces where residents come together to grow food and decorative plants and share knowledge and culture,” said Zach Williams, Garden Partnership Manager in NYCHA’s Resident Health Initiatives department. “Rebuilding Together NYC is an important part of our partner network; their build activities help us sustain and improve these spaces so that residents can continue enjoy them for years to come.”
Residents and partners who want to start or help expand a community garden at NYCHA can reach NYCHA’s Farms and Gardens team by emailing gardens@nycha.nyc.gov or calling 212-306-8282.
Featured photo caption: More than 200 volunteers worked to beautify and update the Marlboro Houses garden. All photos courtesy of Rebuilding Together NYC.