New Haven's 19 publicly owned community gardens after Gather New Haven handed them back
New Haven, Connecticut, United States · Operator: ニューヘイブン市（2026年4月まではNPO Gather New Haven が受託運営）
Overview
New Haven's 19 city-owned community gardens and micro-farms were run for years by the nonprofit Gather New Haven, which handed them back to the city in April 2026 as its finances deteriorated. No replacement operator has been settled; the city's Food Policy Council is forming a working group and weighing whether to ask the city to contract the work out as a two-year pilot.
Citizen participation
Plot-holders do the growing, but the nonprofit had carried the underlying work — turning the water on, repairs, materials, liability insurance. With it gone, the city does not have a full picture of which plots are in use by whom, and volunteers cannot absorb the load. The Food Policy Council, revived in November 2025, now meets on the first Monday of each month at City Hall.
Operating model
Previously run under contract by the financially struggling nonprofit Gather New Haven, which handed the 19 sites back to the city in April 2026. The Food Policy Council is weighing a draft ordinance that would have the city issue an RFP for a contractor to run urban-agriculture services — including garden maintenance — as a two-year pilot; as of August 2026 this is still a draft, not a filed proposal. The precedent cited is CFAN, a food-assistance network that grew out of a working group and now has $350,000 in this year's city budget.
Impact
Recorded as evidence that community gardens do not, in fact, run on unpaid volunteering. Council chair Nadine Horton says a volunteer council of people with full-time jobs cannot do the scope of work Gather did; Gather board president Kyle Pederson notes that "that coordinating role requires a lot of different capacities. Maintenance, fixing things and building things, having agriculture background, and having interpersonal relationships with partner organizations." Who holds liability insurance is unresolved. As of August 2026 the city does not know which plots are in use; water has at least been restored at the Davenport Community Garden.
Land tenure
City-owned land was managed under contract by a nonprofit until it withdrew in April 2026; no successor operator has been decided.
Crops
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Scale
市が所有するコミュニティガーデンとマイクロファーム19か所。個々の面積は公表されていない
In the media（1）
Web articles and features that cover this case.
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