Goals
In late Spring 2025, the Edible Campus Program (ECP) took on the role of day-to-day management and member engagement at Storke and West Campus Family Student Housing Gardens. This transition was motivated by the following goals:
1) Improve safety and compliance with garden rules at Family Student Housing (FSH) community gardens.
2) Increase engagement of members in the garden through added support of gardeners and expanded programming.
3) Reduce the waitlist for the garden and ensure garden plots are being actively used by gardeners.
Deliverables
This is a new project, deliverables not yet ready for release.
Outcomes/Metrics
Garden Member Coordinators seek to cultivate a sense of belonging and cooperation, allowing the garden to serve as a hub where individuals can interact and build meaningful relationships. Through cleanup efforts and structural improvements, this project will restore the gardens into a safe area and create a more organized, inviting environment that encourages residents to spend more time outdoors and take pride in the shared space. The following metrics will be used to track project outcomes:
- Reduction of the use of bird netting in the garden
- Reduction in the use and presence of unsafe materials in the garden
- Expansion of new garden beds
- Number of gardeners actively engaged in the garden
- Reduced wait times for new garden plots
- Number of hours garden members volunteer in the garden outside of their own plot
About
This project consists of increasing community and membership engagement at Family Student Housing (FSH) gardens by revitalizing the garden spaces to strengthen community connection and outdoor engagement. As Member Coordinators, Brianna Griffin, Elisa Coccioli, and Fred Torres manage member communication, coordinate garden plot assignments, and support the day-to-day operations of the garden.
Over Spring and Summer 2025, Member Coordinators partnered with the Garden Operations team (Osmanthus Lynch, Siying Zhong and Brandon Aoki) to clear out dangerous materials in the garden and build safer garden beds for the community. Member Coordinators also updated the member rosters, collected information on current gardeners, and verified the status of each garden plot and bed. This allowed them to open up new spaces for residents on the wait list and get an accurate list of current members.
Member Coordinators have launched dedicated newsletters for each garden to open up communication channels among residents. In Summer 2025, they also expanded partnerships with other organizations and services supporting Family Student Housing. A new workshop series has been piloted with the Storke Family Student Housing Girl Scout Troop and a grant from the Family Student Housing Tenants Union has allowed for children’s amenities to be included in the garden.
In Winter and Spring 2026, Member Coordinators focus on bringing garden members out to the garden more often, increasing collaboration across garden members, and recruiting new gardeners.
Partners
- Associated Students Department of Public Worms
- Edible Campus Program
- Nic Nesbit, Housing, Dining, and Auxiliary Enterprises
- Justin Prince, Housing, Dining, and Auxiliary Enterprises
Funders
- Housing, Dining, and Auxiliary Enterprises (HDAE) finds garden membership positions at Storke and West Campus.
- Additional funding support is coming from the Edible Campus Program and its various donors.
Project Leads
- Elisa Coccioli, West Campus Family Student Housing Garden
- Brianna Griffin, Storke Family Student Housing Garden
- Fred Torres, Storke Family Student Housing Garden
Ways to Get Involved
- Contact the Volunteer Coordinator for the Edible Campus Program (ECP): sa-ecpvolunteer@ucsb.edu
- If you currently live at UCSB Family Student Housing, please consider applying for a plot. You can request a plot here.
- Questions and other engagement-related inquiries can be directed to sa-fshgardens@ucsb.edu
Related Projects & More Info
- Promoting Coastal Friendly Gardening Practices (Brandon Aoki, member of the Garden Operations team, supports FSH gardens through his work in eco-friendly garden management.)
- Family Student Housing Gardens