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Community Gardening
with the City and County of Honolulu
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Updates
10/31/23: Big mahalo to all of our community gardeners who participated in our survey, which closes today. Your feedback is not only key for helping us improve the program, but will also guide how we expand equitably going forward.
Quarterly Newsletters
January 2024
April 2024
About the Program
The Honolulu Recreational Community Gardening Program was founded in 1975 to provide an alternative form of recreation around “experiential environmental opportunities in even the most dense urban environment, by providing the opportunity for urban citizens to care continuously for the health of a small plot of earth” (Bonnie Goodell, the first coordinator of the program). While much of the original intention is the same today, the program has grown to 11 gardens of varying sizes and character, and has begun to expand outside of the urban core, recognizing that this opportunity might serve an wider mission and vision:
Mission: the Honolulu Recreational Community Gardening Program (HRCGP) provides community garden spaces for people to grow their own foods, herbs, flowers and other plants, and to connect with their neighbors through community-led gardening activities. HRCGP supports neighborhood volunteers who steward community gardens as active resources that strengthen communities. HRCGP is committed to serving the needs of community members whose recreational needs are not met by athletic, craft, non-active open space, and other traditional park facilities, and especially of those who would not otherwise have access to growing space.
Vision: to promote community building, resiliency, healthy food and movement, and stewardship of green spaces through experiential and educational opportunities, and publicly accessible physical activities, for the communities of O‘ahu.
Map of Community Gardens
Below is a map of community gardens within DPR’s community garden program. To see other parks and gardens managed by DPR, click here.
Planning for Growth
The Honolulu Recreational Community Gardening Program not only is experiencing long waitlists, but also receives frequent requests for new community gardens across the island and most notably in areas not yet served by this program. We recognize that there is a need to grow this program, and to do so with equity in mind. In response to this need, the Department of Parks and Recreation is utilizing a 2-year ARPA grant to conduct an assessment of the program and to develop a roadmap for the future.
Since it’s founding in 1975, HRCGP grew to 11 gardens by the end of the century and has been growing much more slowly ever since. This is in part due to the lack of capacity within DPR to support the establishment and long-term maintenance of more gardens. We are working to expand capacity internally so we can a) better support our current garden membership and volunteer officers, and b) add more gardens to our program.
Additionally, there is a need to streamline pathways for community groups to partner with DPR to grow this high-demand opportunity, especially to O‘ahu communities who are not currently served by this program.
In the checklist below is a list of considerations for community-based organizations wishing to establish and manage a community garden on City land. The goal of this list is to provide transparency in this process, best prepare these organizations with the necessary steps to create a community garden, and to facilitate the success of a proposed community garden.
