Clarisa James, Co-Founder/Executive Director of DIVAS (Digital Interactive Visual Arts Sciences) for Social Justice, opened The Garden of Resilience in Laurelton as a Green Thumb garden a year ago. Resilience means the ability to bounce back quickly from trouble; toughness, and that’s exactly what they demonstrated. During a pandemic, they managed to recover and transform an unwanted space while establishing an impact on their community.
The garden recognized the impact of food insecurity during the pandemic on southeast Queens (SEQ). They were the first garden in Queens district 13 to donate all the crops from their garden to help combat the lack of healthy food available in the city. Resilience’s’ pledged their harvest to the community refrigerators and residents who visited the garden.
After a temporary hiatus from the New York Department of Sanitation, Clarisa James decided to use the garden as a resource to address the rising issue of food waste by hosting a DSNY public food scrap drop-off site. The garden was also used by residents to display food, herbs, and art from Caribbean, African, and Hispanic cultures living in SEQ.
Through all of their social impacts, Daniel Avila, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, recognized this garden for its visual exhibition of art. As you walk around the garden you see pastel artwork commemorating community-building events, race and reconciliation, and immersive QR codes. Truly this garden showcases the empowerment of its community through its design. The garden is located at 179-18 145th Drive Springfield Gardens, NY, NY 11434. Every Saturday 9 am to 1 pm, stop by the garden to drop off food scraps, interact with it, or just admire it.
