Boosting Member Engagement in Campus Gardens

Goals

The goal of this project is to increase awareness of and participation in campus plot based community gardens. UCSB currently has three plot-based on-campus gardens, Family Student Housing Storke and West Campus gardens, and the Greenhouse and Garden Project.  

Increasing member engagement in plot-based community gardens is a student-led initiative within the Edible Campus Program (ECP) that seeks to strengthen community engagement and increase membership in plot-based gardens at UCSB. The Family Student Housing (FSH) gardens primarily serve its residents, while the Greenhouse and Garden Project (GHGP) is open to all students, staff, and faculty. In these plot-based gardens, members are allowed to grow their own produce and practice gardening among fellow community members who share the same interests. 

Plot-based gardens on campus allow community members to participate by signing up to be a member and giving them a piece of land to utilize for growing their own plants and produce. James Abad, serving as Student Engagement Intern, creates promotional materials for GHGP, FSH Gardens, and the ECP as a whole. He works on tabling and general outreach to the UCSB community with the aim of increasing membership in these gardens on campus. 

James also hosts gardening engagement events. In Fall 2025, he hosted a garden matchmaking event that paired those who are interested in having a plot, but do not want the commitment of managing a whole garden bed on their own, with a garden buddy. He also began sending out emails to all staff and faculty listservs promoting participation in GHGP. GHGP allows staff and faculty to have garden beds in addition to students. This has resulted in many new collaborations with various faculty and professors who wish to have their classes visit the GHGP gardens. Some faculty have even signed up to have their own individual plots in the gardens. In February 2026, James will host block parties at Storke and West Campus Family Student Housing, where residents can get to know each other and share garden knowledge. He will also implement more garden volunteer days focused on existing members and their plots. 

As of Winter 2026, both Storke and West Campus gardens are full and have active waitlists; however, the GHGP has open capacity. The current focus for GHGP is promoting its availability to the community, while the focus for Storke and West Campus is on repairing and building more beds for expansion, giving new members the opportunity to garden.