the vision
We envision healthy children, a healthy park, and a healthy community.
mission statement
Gorgas Garden teaches children valuable life tools such as teamwork, pride in one's community, healthy eating choices, and land stewardship through a collaborative, hands-on urban-agriculture experience.
project plan
Gorgas Garden commercial
Have you ever experienced the thrill of growing your own food? It is truly an awesome feeling to pick a juicy red tomato from the vine and pluck lettuce from your garden and moments later toss up a healthy dinner salad. A new community project, called Gorgas Garden is taking root in Roxborough, right here in Gorgas Park! The park is where we experience life - the lives of each other, and the spectacular growing nature that adds beauty to Roxborough.
Gorgas Garden envisions healthy children, a healthy park, and a healthy community. Gorgas Garden teaches children valuable life tools such as teamwork, pride in one's community, healthy eating choices, and land stewardship through a collaborative, hands-on urban-agriculture experience. We are going to transform the abandoned and overgrown community garden in Gorgas Park into a thriving garden! We are gearing up for our first growing season next Spring and need your help! We are looking for local children to help be our gardeners - and adults who love gardening, horticulture and healthy, veggie-based eating, we need you too! In fact, we're ripe for volunteers of all ages! Not only are we sowing seeds to grow nourishing foods, we are sowing seeds of community pride. Help us grow in support and resources - enroll your kids, donate your time, spread the word and throw a contribution our way! Let's make our park even more spectacular and eat some delicious, fresh produce along the way!
reflection
Designing a vision, mission statement, project plan and commercial were extremely helpful steps in the project planning process. It helped me narrow down my focus, define my goals, objectives and what end products I desire to see. It was a challenge to be so concise and clear but it helps provide outsiders a "snapshot" of what Gorgas Garden is all about. One key lesson that I took away from this exercise is how a vision and mission statement differ. A vision statement communicates the ideal conditions for one's community; it inspires people to dream. A mission statement describes the "what" and "why" of an organization or project and in one sentence, communicates key goals and outcomes. Rather than inspire people to dream, a mission statement inspires people to act (Proclaiming Your Dream, 2013). Although the steps in project planning are somewhat tedious, they are necessary to motivate, direct action and reinforce purpose.
Writing the commercial was another planning step that helped me practice communicating my project and its goals concisely. A way that I can creatively advertise my project to make it more appealing is to show images of children having fun in the fields at the Weavers Way farms at Saul HS and in Mt Airy, and to show close-up images of vegetables growing in gardens.
REFERENCE
Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements. (2013). Chapter 8. Developing a Strategic Plan. Community Tool Box. Retrieved July 31, 2014, fromhttp://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/strategic-planning/vision-mission-statements/main
Writing the commercial was another planning step that helped me practice communicating my project and its goals concisely. A way that I can creatively advertise my project to make it more appealing is to show images of children having fun in the fields at the Weavers Way farms at Saul HS and in Mt Airy, and to show close-up images of vegetables growing in gardens.
REFERENCE
Proclaiming Your Dream: Developing Vision and Mission Statements. (2013). Chapter 8. Developing a Strategic Plan. Community Tool Box. Retrieved July 31, 2014, fromhttp://ctb.ku.edu/en/table-of-contents/structure/strategic-planning/vision-mission-statements/main