Highland Cultivators Build Community

The Highland Cultivators are a 4-H group in Gaston County that tills, plants, tends, and harvests the community gardens in the Highland Community in Gastonia, NC. The Highland Community is a food desert and also has among the highest health disparities in the state. In 2017 the local Kintegra Health Clinic partnered with the county health department and Caromont Health to conduct community-engaged strategic planning to address a major chronic health problem for the community - obesity. In those planning sessions, neighborhood members decided that a community garden would be a first step towards providing the Highland Community access to fresh, healthy food.

Once the strategy of a community garden had been identified by the neighborhood as a pathway to healthier living, the neighborhood invited N.C. Cooperative Extension of Gaston County to the planning process. This issue's service spotlight is on Marcus Cyprian who led the neighborhood through the establishment of a community garden and has continued to engage the neighborhood in other community-building efforts. How does a community garden engage youth? Marcus gives the following five reasons:

Growing Food Can Lead to Healthier Lifestyles
Healthier Lifestyles Improve Behavior/Discipline
Learning How to Grow Food is Interdisciplinary
Nourished Kids are More Likely to Succeed Academically
Teaching a Child to Grow their Own Food is an Intangible Life Skill

Now, that's what we call a story of community resilience!

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Written By

Becky Bowen Program Manager