We are happy to announce that Summer of Solutions Hartford is a finalist in The  Health Justice CT Challenge.  The winner will be decided through an online vote and will receive a $10,000 grant from the CT Health Foundation to work towards establishing “equal opportunities for health to all Connecticut residents.”

It’s springtime in Connecticut, though the calendar insists it’s February. Summer of Solutions Hartford is planning our second summer of food justice work in Frog Hollow, Hartford. We have an excellent summer behind us and a million plans in the works for the next, but in the meantime I’ve been spending a lot of time at my kitchen table on this computer.

This image has been floating around Facebook for the past few weeks. I had to laugh when I saw it, because I had been sitting for 6 hours with a laptop, my phone, and a notepad- “organizing.” This particular day I was scheduling meetings with partners, emailing our participant application to community members, and fixing up our website- soshartford.wordpress.com. On days like this, it appears my “community organizing” is lacking some community.

When I’ve been working at my kitchen table so long that I don’t realize the sun has set- only that my papers have been getting harder to see- it is memories of that community and enthusiasm for our future work together that inspire me.

Memories like:

-Meeting our team of 2011 program participants for the first time at La Paloma Sabanera coffee shop in Hartford.

– Getting to the register to buy a cart full of seedlings and hearing “oh, you’re starting the garden in Hartford? We’re giving you all of this for free”

– The first time Nino, a five year old boy who lives next to el Jardín de Zion Street, came out to the garden to work with us and ran around with a wheelbarrow, which he called his “truck,” helping us fill raised beds.

– When Climate Summer visited and we ate home-cooked picnics on the front yard.

– Planting squash in a tire with Ramón who lived down the street, “it will be beautiful.”

– Wes teaching me how to maximize all the space in a 4×8 bed, and that your tomatoes won’t grow if you don’t talk to them enough.

– Playing Power Rangers with the kids during the summer camp we ran, and not knowing how to properly represent the yellow one.

– Holding a meeting of organizers and activists in our basement on a particularly hot day.

– A Hartford Courant photographer showing up at the garden during the heat wave “looking for people crazy enough to be outside.”

– During “Graffiti Day” of Art Week, when Javier showed Nino how to paint the Puerto Rican flag on their raised bed.

– Witnessing the secret musical talent of our garden neighbors at our open-mic potluck picnic.

– Drawing a “magical chalk garden” at the playground- featuring a bean stalk, jack, the giant, heart flowers, purple strawberries, and “car plants” during summer camp

– Playing Seedling Scavenger Hunt with neighborhood kids (celery is deceiving!)

– Talking to strangers on the sidewalk about our kale harvest and signing them up for plots on the spot.

– The last night of our summer, when everyone came out to eat dinner together in the garden at Alice-in-Wonderland-esque tables and our neighbor called the garden “a wonderland.”

So thanks, clever graphic, but I think what we do has a lot more community in it than you think. Sure, I have my fair share of desk hours, but it’s all to make those moments possible. As I plan for next summer, meet with potential partners, and talk up the program to applicants, I am encouraged by the potential of Summer of Solutions Hartford to bring people together, makeover vacant lots into flourishing gardens, and turn the tides of food justice in Hartford.

If you’re wondering, “say, what might the magical moments of SoS Hartford 2012 entail?” You should check out What’s New 2012: http://soshartford.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/whats-new-2012/ and apply to join us at http://grandaspirations.org/summer-of-solutions/apply2012/

Happy new year from Hartford, CT.

Before I start, I’d like to thank everyone who supported our 2011 program. You can read about what we did last year in our Recap page.  Without the help of many, many people, we wouldn’t have had a successful summer.

We are very happy to announce that Kevin Rodriguez has joined the Program Leader team for the 2012 season.  We’re really excited that Kevin has started to work with us, and are looking forward to spring planning and to summer working.

Second, if you haven’t already seen it, we recently began a Twitter page for Summer of Solutions Hartford.  Despite not knowing what we were doing when we began, we’ve had a lot of fun using twitter as a way to spread information about our program and activities.  It has been especially helpful in linking to other organizations.

Another big change, for us at least, is that we are opening up our own local bank account.  After a long training on accounting and keeping track of finances, we are prepared to start managing our own funds.  There are several benefits to this: in addition to keeping the money in a local institution, we will be more knowledgeable about our financial support , and will also save the cost of the accounting fee.  We’ll be starting our bank account in the next month.

We are in the thick of planning for the 2012 summer program.  We have already received a grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund , and have submitted more grants to other foundations.  We have several application deadlines still coming up.  We are also in the process of reaching out to city and nationwide individuals, organizations and groups to share applications to the 2012 summer program.  Applications opened in February and will go through until April, if not longer.  Our goal is to have a 10 person team this summer.

As for programming, we are hoping to continue and expand on our activities from last summer.  We will have a full growing season at the Zion St Garden, and are looking into organizing the construction of a second community garden in the Frog Hollow neighborhood of Hartford.  We are also in conversations with Billings Forge and other community organizations in Hartford to create new partnerships that could involve a children’s camp, other community garden sites, and new community programs.

Looking forward to the 2012 growing season and summer program, we are very excited for what the new year will bring.  We hope that you continue to follow our activities and projects, and welcome any and all forms of help and support.  If you’re interested in volunteering or working with the 2012 program, or in supporting the program financially, you can find all of the necessary information here.  Please also feel free to share information about our project with anyone you know who might be interested.

in thanks,

Summer of Solutions Hartford 2012