Help Collective Roots grow and thrive! 
Initiatives
Initiatives are the "growing tips" of our work, essentially new programs or collaborative efforts that are designed to make a deeper impact in educational, community, or environmental settings.
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Backyard Gardeners Create Food System Change One Garden at a Time
Elements of this initiative include:
- Promotion of "Global Gardening" / Backyard Gardener and Farm Network
- Building a network of "Global Gardeners" - Backyard Gardeners & Farmers
- Interviewing and celebrating local gardeners on this web site
- Development of an annual event that celebrates the work of everyday gardeners who do extraordinary things through the universal medium of gardening
Global Gardeners are gardeners with a global mission, but who literally and figuratively "ground" their work in their backyards, communities, or schoolyards.
Urban Agriculture
See a definition of urban agriculture by clicking here. Collective Roots has created a directoy of urban agriculture links and resources. You may access this directory by clicking here.
Science and Technology Projects
Science education is at risk in the Bay Area. Read more about research on this issue by clicking here. Here is a view on this national problem:
Food System Change Initiative
8th Grade Students at East Palo Alto Charter School are changing their food system!
Collective Roots is committed to creating food system change in underserved communities. The following are current projects in this initiative:
East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market
Thank you for your support! After a successful first season, the East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market is now closed for the winter. Stay tuned by visiting our main website, where we'll post the details about our spring reopening plans as soon as we know them.
East Palo Alto Community Farmers' Market
Schoolyard Transformation
Collective Roots Emerging as a Powerful Force for Transforming Schoolyards Into Green, Ecological Habitats for Learning and Environmental Restoration
Food System Vision and Action Statement
Collective Roots is a member of the California Food and Justice Coalition (CFJC). We join with CFJC to envision a California food system in which all activities, from farm to table, are equitable, healthful, sustainable, and community-driven.
Healthy Gardens Healthy People
Collective Roots creates healthy gardens for healthy people. Why do we do this?
Green Waste Recyling Initiative
Over 50 tons of green "waste" recycled so far!
This initiative has several components:
School Food Revolution
There are many signs of a revolution in progress with regard to the quality of school lunches in the United States. Collective Roots is focused on improving meal quality in public schools and bringing together resources from local and national leaders in this important area of food system change. We have created a resources page on School Lunch Nutrition (click here to view it).
Weeks Neighborhood Plan Spoke of Dreams for a City That Balances Nature with "Redevelopment"
“East Palo Alto’s Weeks Neighborhood is unique in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a richly green place with many large trees and open views, in sharp contrast to the concrete and freeways of much of the nearby Bay Area. Many people come to the neighborhood and stay for a lifetime, creating a close-knit community. Historically it has been a farming place due to its rich soils, abundance of clean water and sunny climate outside the coastal fog zone. Communities like this were once common throughout the Bay Area, but today are rare. This Neighborhood Plan seeks to maintain the Weeks Neighborhood as a thriving place to live and work.
Micro Enterprise Development
Your help is needed in developing some product lines that benefit our nonprofit organization as well as provide income for low income women, youth, and families. Cooperatives are well established structures for promoting micro enterprise. Collective Roots needs your help in utilizing these time honored approaches to generating income in resource starved communities.
These are some sample ideas:
Herbal Bath Product
Herbal Bath Products that are grown and dried by youth and then packaged in colorful hand made bags produced by a Mothers Cooperative.
Help Support the Community Farmers' Market in East Palo Alto
Saree Mading, a lifetime resident of East Palo Alto, Board Member of Collective Roots, and Vice Principal at East Palo Alto Charter School, has written an amazing letter about Collective Roots' initiative to develop the East Palo Alto Community Farmers’ Market.
Environmental Action & Science Education Initiatives
Our Environmental Action Initiatives are linked to our curriculum which focuses on environmental and life science. Please view more about the following programs by clicking on the links featured on this page.
Collective Roots garden at East Palo Alto Charter School is a Bay-Friendly Garden and is also a Certified by the National Wildlife Foundation as a Wildlife Habitat. Read more about these distinctions by viewing the links on left hand side of the page.
We Need TREES--Join the East Palo Alto Tree Initiative
Welcome to the Collective Roots' tree projects page. Collective Roots is proud to be an active supporter of the East Palo Alto Tree Initiative led by Faye Brown.
Science, Education, Community and Organic Gardens
Community gardens are sowing more than seeds, thanks to a project bringing students, educators, researchers and neighbors together to cultivate food and science together. First introduced in 11 U.S. cities, Garden Mosaics is now going global.
Graduate student Alexey Kudryavtsev with a young Garden Mosaics participant.
November 18, 2005
Environmental Action Research, Resources, and Links
Welcome to the Collective Roots Environmental Action Resource and Links page.
“Nature-deficit disorder is not an official diagnosis but a way of viewing the problem, and describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses. The disorder can be detected in individuals, families, and communities.”
