The Community Garden At Alameda Point
A collaboration between the BASE charter school and the Alameda Point Collaborative

The Community Garden At Alameda Point
A collaboration between the BASE charter school and the Alameda Point Collaborative

The Alameda Point Collaborative and the BASE school are working in partnership to create a model community garden at the former Alameda Naval Air station. The creation of the garden represents a special opportunity to integrate former military land with the existing city, restore the urban environment, increase community food security, and provide training and educational opportunities for youth and low-income residents.


Alameda Point: A community in development

Alameda Point consists of more than 2,800 acres of former military land that is being redeveloped to create new businesses, jobs, housing, and recreational facilities for the City of Alameda. The Point includes one third of the City’s land and is located in the geographic center of the Bay Area, just across the Oakland Estuary from the City of Oakland. While largely empty now, Alameda Point will eventually be home to over 6,600 people, a National Wildlife Refuge, and dozens of businesses.

Among the first uses already in place at the Point are the Bay Area School of Enterprise (BASE), a charter high school emphasizing hands-on learning, and the Alameda Point Collaborative (APC), a nonprofit agency providing housing and services to formerly homeless families. The first permanent residents at the Point are more than 600 formerly homeless adults and children housed by the APC.
With the closure of the Alameda Naval Air Station in 1997, the Navy left behind a vast area of land covered with run-down buildings, brownfields, and large areas of concrete and weeds. APC and BASE view the challenge of transforming the former base as an opportunity to both rebuild the physical environment and create an engaged social community crossing age and income lines.



The emergence of the Community Garden

The creation of the community garden is an important step in the process of turning the base into a functioning, living part of Alameda. Currently the Point is severely lacking in parks and public spaces that bind a community together. The new garden serves several functions in strengthening the Alameda Point community: it creates a common outdoor space for recreation and learning; it serves to bring residents, students and workers of Alameda Point together to create a genuine sense of community. The garden also has the potential to reduce conflict among the many stakeholders at Alameda Point and to provide opportunities for improvements in the quality of life and work for members of the Alameda Point community.

The original vision for the 1.5-acre community garden came from the APC as part of the overall reuse plan for its 34 acres. Along with 200 units of housing, a service center and job training opportunities, APC envisioned a central garden that would provide opportunities for residents to grow their own food as a supplement to their incomes, offer training and job opportunities for APC clients, create play and learning space for children served by APC, and help to educate APC clients on environmental issues of concern to Alameda Point residents.

In the fall of 2001, BASE joined with the APC to make the vision a reality. Under the BASE School’s Youth Plan program a group of XX students, assisted by UC Berkeley graduate and undergraduate students, took on the task of planning for the development and implementation of the garden. BASE chose the garden as the focus of its year-long effort because it gave the school a sense of belonging to a larger community, provided students and other Alameda youth with opportunities for community service, and created learning opportunities in community organizing, lifeskills development and various academic subjects (including environmental sciences, mathematics, and chemistry.)

Throughout the course of the year the students met with APC residents and staff, residents of market-rate housing near the Point, the City of Alameda, and gardening experts and organizations such as Urban Seed. They spent time at the garden site (an empty field) and created pictures and three-dimensional models of how the site could be developed. By the end of the school year, the BASE students created a plan for the garden designed around the idea that “together we can grow as a community”.

The living design

The design put forward by the students is intended to meet multiple purposes. At the center of the Garden is a small stage made up of redwood rounds, surrounded by straw bale seating. The stage will be used for a variety of community gatherings, including APC events, award presentations and concerts, and for educational activities. The stage is known as “the heart of the garden.”

Radiating from the heart, four paths mark the directions of the compass. Between the paths will be demonstration gardens that will be used to teach gardening skills and model organic growing techniques. Farther out from the stage will be individual plots tended by community members.
Individual plots will play an important role in increasing nutrition and community food security. A significant amount of highly nutritious food can be produced in small urban plots. The plots also engage residents and students in food production, which encourages understanding of nutrition and leads to better eating habits.

Many hands make light work

At the June 1st kick-off, more than 200 people participated in a group build and celebration with live music, arts, and children’s activities. The festive atmosphere and diverse groups represented showed the enormous potential of the garden to bring people together. Some people worked planting herbs and placing rocks to create a Spiral Herb Garden. Others shoveled dirt into huge barrels and planted flowers. A third group mounted branches on the ground to form a dome and planted vines and beans in the dome, which will twist around the branches as they grow. Two students took the lead in creating the Garden Ball, taking broken tiles and glass and gluing them onto a metal ball to create a work of art that represents the renewal of the garden. At the end of the day, the once empty field showed the promise of becoming a true living space.

Two more build dates have occurred since the opening. Work on these dates included marking of individual plots, cultivating demonstration plots, and building fencing, a tool shed, and compost bins.

Starting in the fall, a second phase in the development of the garden will begin. It will include assigning individual plots, establishing eating areas, planting a small orchard, and developing children’s learning areas. To continue this work, APC and BASE are working together to engage students and residents, to recruit volunteers and donations of gardening supplies, and to raise funds for staff at … to do ….

HERE’S WHERE WE PUT THE DETAILS OF THE ASK - WHETHER WE ARE LOOKING FOR STAFF TIME, MATERIALS, ETC. DEPENDING ON THE FUNDING SOURCE.

About BASE
The Bay Area School of Enterprise is a project of HOME, a youth development program founded and operated by Alternatives in Action, Inc., a California non-profit public benefit corporation dedicated to enhancing the quality of education and community life for children and youth in the greater Bay Area. Since 199X, HOME has operated as an afterschool and elective program serving hundreds of youth in the community.

The educational vision of BASE is that if youth are members of a strong community and are aware of their own ability to succeed, they are more motivated to learn and contribute to the community at large. Therefore, the program at BASE focuses on “enterprise learning”, in which students in project teams interact with adult staff, peers and community members to reach real-world outcomes, through which they gain academic skills and content. The program is site-based, but with a strong element of outreach through community service, public presentation, performance, internships and field trips. Academic skills and content are also delivered through classroom-type instruction, assigned individual projects, and more traditional reading and homework assignments.


About the APC
The APC’s mission is to create a community at Alameda Point that provides housing and comprehensive services to formerly homeless individuals and families from throughout Alameda County. In 1994, more than 30 nonprofit and public agencies, including housing developers, shelter providers, and childcare, employment, health and education organizations, joined to respond to the impending closure of the Alameda Naval Air Station. Together, these organizations negotiated for a single conveyance of land and properties to serve a variety of homeless needs in Alameda County. As a result of these efforts, 34 acres of the former Air Station, including 200 housing units, were secured. To develop and manage this opportunity, the groups formed the Alameda Point Collaborative, APC, now incorporated as an independent nonprofit organization.

The APC is not just providing affordable supportive housing; it is creating a new community. Residents at Alameda Point include women and families recovering from domestic violence, individuals with disabilities (including substance abuse, mental illness, and HIV/AIDS), and formerly homeless veterans and their families. All residents are very low income and have been homeless immediately prior to moving to the Point. Many APC residents have gone years without the opportunity to live in a stable and supportive environment.

APC housing is a mix of small apartment buildings and single-family cottages, featuring large yards and common play areas. Half the housing is provided on a transitional basis for up to two years and the other half is for permanent residency. Among the support services the APC provides at the Point are employment programs and a multi-service center, which offers primary and mental health care, education and substance abuse counseling, children’s and youth services. The goal of APC’s programmatic efforts is to sustain a nurturing and supportive environment in which formerly homeless families and individuals take control of their lives and work toward self-sufficiency.

Community Involvement and Impact
(Excerpted from the AIA Evaluation Pilot Year Report) The pilot year explored six basic areas of the involvement of community members (including parents) with HOME BASE: in what ways did community members participate in HOME BASE, what was their awareness of HOME BASE's projects and activities, did their involvement with HOME BASE have any impact on their attitudes about youth, did they feel HOME BASE was creating a broader sense of community, had their awareness of and involvement in community activities changed since their participation with HOME BASE, and what were the perceived program and policy impacts of HOME BASE's community efforts.

Community Participation/Collaboration with HOME BASE
In the 2001-2002 program year, community adults were brought into the work of HOME BASE in a variety of ways. HOME BASE continued its "community build" process to further develop the physical infrastructure for its Alameda Point facility and to construct the Alameda Point Community Garden. Over 125 adults participated in monthly "Community Builds," dedicating over 400 hours to the renovation and maintenance of the HOME BASE building. In addition, 15 youth and 9 adults made a six-month commitment to participate once a month in the work of HOME BASE's "Seismic Build Teams," charged with the seismic retrofit of HOME BASE's headquarters. Seven Alameda Point community members, five U.C. Berkeley graduate students, and fifteen members of the Alameda Point Collaborative, a local nonprofit organization, worked with HOME BASE youth and staff on the Alameda Point Community Garden Task Force to plan the garden's construction.

Throughout the year, community members provided architectural expertise, public relations advice, and college counseling services to HOME BASE youth. Ten Bay Area artists volunteered their services at a discounted rate during two "Art Days" skill seminars that exposed youth to creative means of expression through spoken word, improvisational theater, painting, drawing, drumming and photography. HOME BASE youth also benefited from partnerships formed with other organizations within the Alameda community, including Tri-High Health Center, which provided counseling and health information, and the Bladium, which provided physical education facilities and instruction.

HOME BASE staff also made efforts to include community members in the decision-making processes that directly affected HOME BASE's administration and organization. Parents of HOME BASE and HOME Sweet HOME youth and children attended community meetings to build relationships, receive updates on their children's progress, and become involved in decisions about future organizational plans. Alternatives in Action, HOME BASE's parent organization, expanded its Board of Directors to include a OME BASE parent, a representative from the local developer Catellus, an employee of the City of Alameda, and a businesswoman with financial expertise. The BASE Charter Governing Board included a staff representative, a youth representative and a representative of the Alameda Unified School District. In ten formal panel presentations, 70 community adults reviewed BASE youth's individual learning plans and assisted the youth in examining their goals for social enterprise projects. Community members also provided feedback on plans for the development of HOME Sweet HOME and assessment of the accomplishments of the first class of graduating seniors.

Awareness of HOME BASE Projects and Activities In general, community adults reported awareness of only the HOME BASE activities in which they (or their children in the case of parents) have participated. A few community adults had a broader appreciation and knowledge of the scope of activities going on at HOME BASE.

They're mobilizing high school-age people to take on issues that have a collective significance for some community. It could be the community of East Bay skateboarders, as in the skate park; or it could be the community of Alameda, when it comes to building a community garden there; or it could be the community of child care providers that may be getting some benefit from what's being modeled at HOME Sweet HOME.

Most parents reported having attended a variety of events, taking on roles such as security, clean-up, painting and making phone calls. Several community adults worked with HOME BASE in their job or expertise area, as an extension of their regular work. In these cases, adults had a more difficult time commenting on the time they worked with HOME BASE as it was over a longer term and was integrated into their regular work.

Eighteen months. It was mostly just I was in charge of charter schools in Oakland. They would call me and ask me questions around strategy, thinking about being state-funded as being locally-funded, questions about the union, should they go and pursue . Shoud they be a union charter or non-union charter, so stuff like that... So that was mostly my involvement.

In addition, while many community members had become more aware of HOME BASE projects and activities, one of those interviewed mentioned barriers to participation, such as its location and transportation difficulties.

Adult Attitudes about Youth
Responses from community adults when asked if their participation in HOME BASE activities or projects had influenced their attitudes about youth were mixed. Two parents, who reported excellent relationships with their children, were not surprised by how capable youth can be. Other adults were impressed with youth's capacities as seen in the projects they undertook at HOME BASE.

As they always say in New York "yutes" had put this whole thing together, with guidance, naturally. But they had done the foot soldier work and gotten it done and that was impressive.

One adult member of the community went to several community meetings over at HOME BASE School, and the way that the students over there handled themselves., I think they did a commendable
job in dealing with the residents....What, I learned, basically learned, is that when students put their
minds to doing something, and they can accomplish it.

One other community adult noted that youth went through cycles of motivation and sometimes needed to be pushed to do the work. Nonetheless, she was impressed with their work.

Super enthusiastic and then... Yeah, they became real. They became real - grumpy, tired teenagers, who weren't, like, necessarily in the mood to do something. It was kind of like pulling teeth. Yeah, I mean, they became real, but they pulled through.

Overall, HOME BASE youth impress adults with their project work, but many of the adults who became involved already believed youth could do more than normally asked in school, and, therefore, their
attitudes did not change much.

Sense of Community
This outcome area was designed to evaluate how effective HOME BASE activities were in creating a "feeling of community" among Alameda Point residents and their families. Most adults who participated in HOME BASE activities, whether through "Community Build" events, HOME Sweet HOME parent meetings or the school's charter development process, agreed that HOME BASE was successful in bringing together community.