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 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 and workshops, as well as the creation of a feasibility study and business plan, is partly provided by the USDA Forest Service and the Chesapeake Bay Trust. USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

The GROW Center would not be able to function without our many partners, in particular,  TreeBaltimore and Camp Small, which provide the trees and mulch we can give away for free. Other partners include MD Cooperative Extension/Master Gardeners, Office of Sustainability, Office of Emergency Management, BMORE Beautiful, Department of Housing and Community Development, and the many communities where we have held pop-ups and workshops.    ,

Fall 2022 GROW Center

This past Fall was a fun and busy time for the GROW Center, with five pop-up events and three workshops held across the city. Workshop topics included home composting, greening resources and funding for community projects, and beekeeping. A huge THANK YOU to our pop-up and workshop hosts:

• Hillen Homestead
• Duane Avenue Park
• Filbert Street Garden
• People’s Community Lutheran Church
• Conkling Street Garden
• Harlem Park Community Farm
• Whitelock Farm
• Pimlico Public Safety Training Center

We would also like to thank our many partners – DPW Recycling, TreeBaltimore, Camp Small, MD Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners, Office of Sustainability, BMore Beautiful, Department of Housing and Community Development, the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, Patterson Park Audubon Center, Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake, Chesapeake Bay Trust, Baltimore Community ToolBank, and the UMCP Watershed Stewards for providing resources that made our events successful.

A few numbers from the Fall 2022 GROW Center events:

• 400 people attended the pop-ups and workshops
• 54 trees were given away
• 5 truckloads of mulch were given away
• 16 compost bins were given away

If you are a non-profit or community run organization and are interested in partnering with us, please reach out to Mark Cameron at mark.cameron@baltimorecity.gov.

Some photos from our Fall 2022 pop-ups and workshops:

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