Baltimore GROW Centers

Baltimore GROW Centers (Green Resources & Outreach for Watersheds) are your neighborhood greening resource hubs, linking city residents, communities, and faith-based groups to plants, materials, and technical expertise for greening projects. Over the past two years we have provided free and/or low cost trees, mulch, plants, and other materials, as well as free workshops on topics including community greening, vacant lot revitalization, installing rain gardens and rain barrels, environmental justice, and composting.

Funding for the GROW Center pop-ups, as well as the creation of a feasibility study and business plan, is provided in part by the USDA Forest Service. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.

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Spring 2021 GROW Center Pop-ups and Workshops

This past Spring DPW held four pop-up events and three free virtual composting workshops. Pop-ups were held in April and May:
April 17: Calverton E/M Middle School (in partnership with DPW Shredding Event)
April 24: Ashburton Water Filtration Plant
May 1: City of Refuge (Brooklyn)
May 8: Reverend William Brown Park (Johnston Square)

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Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the pop-ups were limited to free trees, mulch, and chaff and information from DPW’s Recycling Office. Still, attendance was good with people eager to be gardening and planting trees:

• 150+ people attended from 34 different neighborhoods
• 120 trees were given away along with 4 truckloads of mulch – courtesy of TreeBaltimore
• 40 packets of seeds were given away - courtesy of MD Cooperative Extension
• 200 reusable bags were given away – courtesy of DPW ‘s Recycling Office

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Three free virtual workshops on home composting workshops were also offered. The workshops were led by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. In total 56 people attended the workshops.

 

 

  

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Interested in what we have done so far? Check out the following two reports: