How Community Parks Are Setting An Example For Healthy Living, Mentally and Physically.
On a cloudy Wednesday afternoon, the air was heavy with humidity of a hot New York summer. Insects, especially mosquitoes, are thriving, biting any living creature around Concrete Plant Park. Once you step into the park, on the right you see a large section of green plants. These plants, jewelweed, are filled with oils that help stop irritation of bug bites such as mosquito bites. These are just one of the plants being grown in this community garden tended by the Bronx River Alliance and their partners. One of these groups, Intervine, a program that helps formerly incarcerated people and other marginalized populations connect with nature and simultaneously provide job training in the agricultural field, is pivotal in maintaining the park for people in the Bronx community. In addition to tackling unemployment and creating greenspace, Nathan Hunter, the Foodway coordinator believes that the process of gardening serves as therapy for the workers. Mr. Hunter says, “I am a firm believer that first and foremost, … natural spaces are healing spaces…So, doing this type of work and engaging with plants directly, I think, is a healing process, especially for those from communities that have been terrorized by police and other people. …I look at this work and I know from anecdotal experience working with these groups, and these spaces, that this type of work is healing.”
