Urban Gardens
Urban Gardens supports Philadelphia organizations and communities with planning, advocacy, and collaboration to protect urban garden parcels from development and legal threats and preserve neighborhood greenspace.
Funder: William Penn Foundation
Due Dates: Rolling (Open applications for urgent opportunities)
Funding Amounts: $5,145,418 awarded across 20 grants since 2024
Summary: Supports planning, advocacy, and collaboration to protect Philadelphia’s urban garden parcels from development and legal threats.
Key Information: Open applications should address urgent opportunities that cannot wait for a future request for proposals.
Description
Urban Gardens is a funding objective within the William Penn Foundation’s Environment and Public Space program. It aims to increase the proportion of Philadelphia’s urban garden parcels secure from development or legal threats from 44% to 75% by 2035. Supported efforts may include ongoing planning, advocacy, and collaboration to protect gardens in neighborhoods that stand to benefit most from them.
The objective responds to a priority identified by the grower community in Philadelphia’s Urban Agriculture Plan. Gardens provide neighborhood greenspace, local food, community connections, and physical and mental health benefits, often in communities with high poverty levels and large populations of people of color. With at least 140 Philadelphia gardens and farms lost since 2008, the Foundation seeks ideas from organizations and communities to preserve these spaces across the city.
