Summary

Community gardens can help reduce food insecurity by improving access to fresh fruits and vegetables and adding physical activity that supports chronic disease prevention. This guide explains garden types and benefits, including better diet quality, stronger social connections, and community empowerment. It outlines how to start and sustain a garden through needs assessment, partner and volunteer recruitment, site and water planning, produce distribution plans, and long-term funding. Includes considerations for school gardens, example outcomes to evaluate success, and a Tennessee case story showing how Extension, Master Gardeners, and local partners expanded fresh produce access.