The Giving Grove

The Giv­ing Grove is a nation­al 501c3 orga­ni­za­tion that is pas­sion­ate about the mul­ti­ple ben­e­fits of urban com­mu­ni­ty orchards to pro­mote food access and sov­er­eign­ty, address envi­ron­men­tal inequities, and serve as a green­space for com­mu­ni­ty con­nec­tion. By sup­port­ing neigh­bor­hoods that are excit­ed about fruit trees and are locat­ed in areas vul­ner­a­ble to envi­ron­men­tal changes and health inequities, the pro­gram is designed to work side-by-side with res­i­dent lead­ers. Ser­vices include pro­vi­sion of dis­ease-resis­tant trees, main­te­nance tools, holis­tic orchard­ing sup­plies, site vis­its, and work­shops. This allows res­i­dent lead­ers, who serve as orchard stew­ards, to learn to care for their own lit­tle orchards, which become com­mu­ni­ty assets.

After five years of suc­cess­ful pro­gram­ming in Kansas City, Mis­souri, The Giv­ing Grove began a nation­al action-aligned affil­i­ate net­work in 2017. With a goal of grow­ing a strong, sus­tain­able net­work of orchard pro­grams across the Unit­ed States who share their exper­tise and best prac­tices, The Giv­ing Grove has steadi­ly brought inno­v­a­tive orga­ni­za­tions like Tree Pitts­burgh into the fold. The Giv­ing Grove pro­vides tech­ni­cal and finan­cial sup­port for pro­gram starts and expan­sions. It also offers an ongo­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty for part­ner orga­ni­za­tions to learn and grow togeth­er in a net­work com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing neigh­bor­hood vital­i­ty and healthy urban environments.