Brooklyn Heights Community Garden

Description

Brooklyn Heights Community Garden (BHCG) is a non-profit, .56 acre urban farm located on formerly vacant lots in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Nashville, Tennessee, a historically Black and low-income neighborhood that experiences food apartheid.

The founder of Brooklyn Heights Community Garden, Nella "Ms. Pearl" Frierson, had the vision for BHCG over a decade ago. In 2009, she bought 1833 & 1835 Haynes St, which at the time were vacant lots across the street from her home. She started growing a garden on the land and inviting people to join her. In 2014, she registered BHCG as a 501c3. In 2019, she bought the house next to the garden to use as a work-housing space for garden workers, interns, and artists. BHCG is registered with the USDA Farm Service Agency as an urban farm.

Mission

The creation of this garden stemmed from a deep need for the community to get back to its roots of connection between our elders and our young people, to rebuild and reconstruct self­-awareness, self-pride, and self-esteem, and to remind people of all ages how to play in the dirt.