On The Outside
On The Outside
Our Green Industry Career Guide is now live —
We want this career guide to get into as many hands as possible! We also want it to grow! Please reach out to info@thenewgardensociety.org if you or an organization you represent would like copies to distribute, or if you are or represent a business that would like to be added to our list.
Renée Portanova and Jenny Pore planting ornamentals and perennials in the front yard of New Beginnings Reentry Services’ new property
New beginnings reentry
In 2021, our volunteers, board members, and friends designed and planted a garden at New Beginnings Reentry Services, a home for women re-entering society post incarceration. We were thrilled to be able to support endeavors of using horticulture, as therapy and vocation, as a means of lifting people up upon their release, so it was especially joyous to take part in this on the outside of the prison walls we spend most of our time working behind. Learn more about their work and how you can support them here.
The 2nd Northeast Prison Garden Retreat in Providence, RI.
The Northeast Prison Garden Collaborative
In 2021, The New Garden Society co-sponsored the “Conference on Social and Ecological Infrastructure for Recidivism Reduction.” For more information, visit the conference webpage: prisongardenjustice.org
Early on, The New Garden Society recognized that therapeutic horticulture in corrections is an emerging, and often challenging, field. The work happens beyond the view of the general public and is subject to restrictive institutional policies. Incarcerated program participants also face unique obstacles as they do time in an environment that was not designed for healing and does a poor job of preparing people for release. Emerging from conversations with other educators across Massachusetts and at the 2014 American Horticultural Therapy Association conference, The New Garden Society co-founded the Northeast Prison Garden Collaborative.
The 3rd Northeast Prison Garden Retreat in Lakeville, CT.
Since then, The New Garden Society has co-organized three convenings of prison garden educators to strategize and build community with others doing the work. We started in living rooms and grew from there. During the most recent event in January 2018, 25 educators gathered from 17 different organizations across the Northeast for the third Prison Garden Educators Retreat.
Beyond The New Garden Society, key leadership, support, and organizing for the collaborative has been provided by Abrah Dresdale of Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, Kate Lacouture of Garden Time, and Ferriss Donham of The Emerald Necklace Conservancy.
From our ongoing outreach, we have identified more than 45 active prison gardens across the Northeastern United States.
Join the conversation
If you work at the intersection of plants and prisons in the Northeast and want to join the regional conversation, email info@thenewgardensociety.org with LISTSERV in the subject line.
SLIDING SCALE WORKSHOPS & TALKS
Over the years we’ve given dozens of talks and workshops, sharing our experiences gardening alongside incarcerated students. Invite us to your community group, garden club or student organization to shine a light on this vital work happening in Greater Boston prison landscapes. We discuss prison gardens and greenhouses as tools for healing, expanded healthy food access and skill-building for our incarcerated neighbors. Talks and workshops are offered on a sliding scale. Reach out to info@thenewgardensociety.org to learn more.