by Paige Stanley

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On April 20, iUrban Teen hosted an Earth Day event to celebrate its new community garden project at the Rainier Community Center, focused on environmental education for adolescents. 

iUrban Teen is a national nonprofit organization that provides STEM education opportunities and hands-on experience for teens from underrepresented communities. Its new community garden will serve as an academic space to host free workshops for youth in partnership with local schools and organizations.

The event on Saturday served as a kickoff for the work the organization will begin in developing the land. In attendance were leaders from iUrban Teen, Seattle Parks and Recreation staff, local environmental organizations, and a few parents and teens interested in getting involved. 

This project is part of iUrban Teen’s eSTEM program, which aims to expand knowledge of farm science, technology, and environmental health. According to the project’s mission statement, “The workshops will teach quantitative bio-assessment of wildlife, soil quality testing, hydroponics, solar energy, and much more.”

The iUrban Teen team expressed their excitement to receive this location as their first community garden project and the only garden in Washington focused on STEM education. Supervising Program Manager for iUrban Teen Melanie Ocasio, who has a background in conservation biology and is spearheading the community garden, explained her initiative in this project. “A lot of the immersive environmental field is really whitewashed, and there aren’t people like me that are represented,” Ocasio said. “I’m really excited about the eSTEM program and how I can help the younger generation have some confidence going into spaces that they might be the only one in and learn how to interact professionally in environments that are probably not the most welcoming to them.”

iUrban Teen acquired the land for the garden from the Seattle Parks and Recreation Urban Food Systems Program. Fifty years ago, this plot of land was an open-air landfill, and around 45 years ago, the Parks Department capped the land and turned it into a park. About 12 years ago, Seattle Parks and Rec started an Urban Food Systems garden here, which was remodeled during COVID-19, but the land has been vacant since then. Now, iUrban Teen is taking over the existing garden and the rest of the land.

“Just working here already, [members of the community] were pretty excited, just running up to me about this garden bed. … They’ve been really ecstatic that they have something that they can go to with their kids and bring in some educational aspects,” Ocasio said.

Due to the land’s history, crops can’t be grown directly in the ground, so iUrban Teen will be installing metal soil beds that will house mostly root vegetables, as well as mulch plots filled with wood chips. In addition, iUrban Teen is partnering with the University of Washington to install hydroponic farming systems in which the students will grow fruits and leafy greens.

“iUrban Teen will be in charge of maintaining and growing different foods and vegetables to distribute to their community,” said Paris Yates, manager of the Urban Food Systems Program with Seattle Parks and Recreation. “So, they do the actual work while Seattle Parks and Rec supplies them with the materials, water, wood chips, dirt, etc.”

In addition to its partnership with Seattle Parks and Rec, iUrban teen has partnered with other local environmental organizations for supplies. 

“For this first garden bed, there were a few donations: the Tilth Alliance, the Black Farmers Collective that we got a few starters from,” Ocasio said. “The compost and mulch that we’re going to have will be with Beacon Food Forest and the Black Dollar’s Clean Greens.”

iUrban Teen wants to stay consistent with how the food from the community garden was distributed in the past — through potlucks and community events. The excess produce will then be donated to the Seattle Indian Center, a human services organization with a food bank. 

iUrban Teen plans to continue to use Eventbrite as a means of getting the word out for events and workshops, but it also relies strongly on word of mouth, as evidenced by Kitaka and KJ, a mother and son duo in attendance.

“I heard about the event from my friend who owns Black Coffee Northwest and is really involved in the community. She knows I have a teenager, and she said this is a great way to get involved,” Kitaka said. “He is going to be in high school next year, and this is a way of finding community early that will go through his high school years.”

Yates explained that iUrban Teen currently has a three-year partnership with Seattle Parks and Rec to develop and work on the land. After those three years, iUrban Teen and its partners can decide whether to continue their work together. 

iUrban Teen has created a plan for what it wants to do with each plot of land except for one. The organization is asking the community for suggestions on what they would like to see implemented in this open plot. 

Jennifer Luna, regional director for the Pacific Northwest at iUrban Teen, said, “This is our first step; we have great ideas, and we want your feedback.”

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📸 Featured Image: From left to right: Jennifer Luna, Melanie Ocasio, Paris Yates, and Deena Pierott address the crowd. The leaders of the event spoke on the origins of the plot and the plan for the future. (Photo: Paige Stanley)

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