Winter Newsletter 2025

The MarinHEAL Collaborative Gardens are thriving with a variety of vegetables, fruits, and medicinal herbs sprouting across our communities.  The gardens are not only producing an abundance of food, but they are also undergoing upgrades to increase future yields. The bountiful harvest is being shared with residents through local schools and community events. As you will see below, the garden collectives have made remarkable strides in enhancing local food production and community engagement.

Over the past year, collaboration between the County’s Nutrition Wellness Program (NWP) and MarinHEAL’s Community Action Teams (CATs) led to the formation of garden collectives in the Canal, Marin City, and West Marin where work on one of the community selected equitable food system priorities – local food production — was launched. These collectives, which include school, community, elder gardens, and even a transformed parking lot urban garden, are focused on increasing food security and resilience locally.

In June, the collaborative celebrated the launch of these collectives with a field outing that brought together partners to share their goals and vision for growth. Plans for expansion include school farm-to-cafeteria programs, agricultural career and business exposure for youth, water catchment systems to enhance self-sufficiency and expanding access to food for low-income residents.

Key to the current progress has been the collaboration and knowledge exchange fostered by the Collaborative and CAT Garden Collectives, which are designed to enhance local and regional resilience. Tools, created through the Communication and Evaluation Sub-Committees, like a monthly bulletin and food tracking tool help with capacity building and planning.

Looking forward, the Steering Committee identified securing funding, strengthening its leadership structure, and ensuring long-term sustainability as key areas of focus for the next phase of MarinHEAL’s mission in 2025.