Home / Our impact

Ten years,
forty-two
gardens.

Thirty-nine of them are still running without us. That's the number we're actually measured by.

42Gardens opened since 2016
39Still running independently
18KNeighbors served each year
96TProduce grown, cumulative
2016

One lot,
one summer.

First Acre started when Dolores Okafor and four neighbors got tired of looking at the lot on Kesler Avenue. Nineteen years vacant, chest-high weeds, and a city department that told them the cleanup would happen "at some point."

They cleared it themselves over one summer, negotiated a lease the following spring, and grew four hundred pounds of food that first season. The second block asked how within a year. The tenth block asked within three.

Garden beds
What we measure

The honest
numbers.

Including the ones that aren't flattering.

Three gardens closed

Two lost their lease when land was sold out from under them - the reason we now insist on long-term title arrangements. One folded when its committee ran out of people. We publish this because organizations that only report wins aren't reporting.

14 months, average

From application to first harvest. Soil remediation is what drives it - a lot with contamination can add six months before a single bed goes in.

$38,000 per garden

All-in cost including land, build, and two seasons of support. Roughly the price of a single street tree planting program, for something that feeds a block for a decade.

Where the money goes

Every dollar.

Audited annually. Full financials and Form 990 available on request or from the footer.

52%

Land acquisition, leases, soil testing and remediation.

32%

Build costs, materials, seeds, and garden educators.

11%

Administration, insurance, and the two full-time staff.

5%

Fundraising and grant writing.

Our gardens

Forty-two
addresses.

Every one of them named by the block it sits on.

Kesler Avenue - 2016
Southside Commons - 2017
Warren & Fifth - 2017
The Dogwood Lot - 2018
Ninth Street Growers - 2018
Marchetti Park Beds - 2019
Halsey Corner - 2019
The Old Depot - 2020
Bell Street Gardens - 2021
Foundry Row - 2021
Ruby & Vine - 2022
The Long Lot - 2023
Pearl Street Plots - 2024
Alder Way - 2025
… and twenty-eight more
Who runs this

Two staff,
forty committees.

The gardens are run by the people who grow in them. We're the part that handles leases and paperwork.

Portrait

Dolores Okafor

Founder & executive director
Portrait

Marcus Bell

Land & programs manager
Portrait

Yara Haddad

Board chair · Volunteer
Portrait

Sam Idris

Treasurer · Volunteer
Supported by

Partners.

Keystone FoundationCity Parks AllianceGrow Philadelphia Hartwell Family TrustNinth Ward Credit UnionPenn Extension The Greenline FundRuby Hollow Farm

Six blocks
are waiting.

We have funding for two of them this year. A monthly gift is what changes that number.

Give today →