14 | City of Atlanta
about planting and providing care to plants.
Beyond the schools, community gardens
have been also been increasingly established
throughout the city. Thus far, more than 500
volunteers have worked to create and main-
tain community gardens with Park Pride, a
local nonprofit organization. Many of these
gardens, located in neighborhoods without
a grocery store, donate a portion of their
produce to neighbors in need through local
food pantries.
Those efforts figure in two other impor-
tant goals for the city: to expand green space
so that all residents are within one-half mile
walking distance to a park or greenspace; and
another designed to ensure residents have
ready access to locally grown food within ten
miles of seventy-five percent of all residents.
Quarles says the City has partnered with
organizations such as Georgia Organics
to not only capitalize on Atlanta’s yearlong
growing season, but help residents under-
stand the benefits of community gardens.
The benefits involve more than the harvest-
ing of produce. Quarles explains how green
spaces provide effective means to more capa-
bly manage storm water, but also help mini-
mize the impact of elevated temperatures af-
