ARCHIVED WEBINAR: Community Development with Urban Agriculture – Release of Model Ordinance
Registration is Closed
FREE

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized as a beneficial tool for municipalities to achieve goals such as increasing civic participation, complying with storm-water regulations, revitalizing neighborhoods, addressing food scarcity, increasing economic opportunity, and achieving sustainability goals. Join the SCDN and Local Government Academy for this webinar to explore community gardening and urban agriculture ordinances as tools for community development.

Marisa Manheim, Grow Pittsburgh‘s Director of Community Projects, will share best practices in establishing long-lasting, stable community gardens based on eight years of experience starting 27 community gardens in Allegheny County. Jon Burgess, Senior Agriculture Conservationist and Urban Agriculture Lead at the Allegheny County Conservation District, will introduce a newly-released model urban agriculture ordinance designed as a reference for municipal leaders to safely encourage this growing interest among their residents.

Marisa Manheim is Director of Community Projects at Grow Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that teaches and demonstrates gardening and promotes the benefits that gardens bring to neighborhoods. Marisa has eight years of experience coordinating community-led efforts to create community gardens and urban farms in Pittsburgh. She also leads Grow Pittsburgh’s efforts to create policy to support urban agriculture. Marisa co-chairs the Urban Agriculture Working Group of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council, is on the Board of Directors of Common Ground: Greater Pittsburgh Community Land Trust, and participates in the PA Department of Agriculture’s Urban Agriculture Working Group. In addition to a holding a Masters in Human Computer Interaction, Marisa has a certificate in landscape design, is a Certified Master Gardener and a trained permaculturalist.

Jon Burgess joined the Allegheny County Conservation District after studying Public Policy at Duquesne University. His background mixes natural resource management, agricultural extension, and policy analysis. Jon also leads the Conservation District’s Urban Agriculture Program. He is co-chair, of the Urban Agriculture Working Group of the Pittsburgh Food Policy Council and participates in the PA Department of Agriculture’s Urban Agriculture Working Group.