UCCE San Mateo/San Francisco is excited to announce that it has assumed co-leadership of the San Mateo County (SMC) Phoenix Garden, a six-acre therapeutic and educational garden with the SMC Health Department. The garden is nestled across the street from the San Mateo County’s Youth Services Center. This center houses SMC’s Juvenile Probation Department, Juvenile Detention Facility, Juvenile Courts and Behavioral Health and Recovery Services clinical team. In 2006, there was a vision to revitalize the land where the old probation building and Hillcrest Juvenile Hall once stood. With support from SMC Health, including BHRS and Public Health, Policy and Planning, this vision has continued to bloom into a space of transformation and renewal.
The UCCE co- leadership of the garden is a collaboration between 4-H, with Advisor Sally Neas and Community Educator Julio Contreras, and the Urban Agriculture and Food Systems Program, with Advisor Lucy Diekmann, as well as our collaborators at SMC, which includes Behavioral Health and Recovery Services, Public Health, Policy and Planning Department, and Juvenile Probation. Together, we are excited to revitalize the garden and shape its future.
Currently, the site hosts community service opportunities for youth and adults as an alternative to incarceration, a space for Native and Indigenous community members, and informal use as a therapeutic space for many throughout the county. But with such a large site, the possibilities are endless. Since assuming co-leadership, we have worked on tending to the site, including the orchard, putting up new deer fencing and establishing bee hives, and have revitalized the monthly workdays. We are working on building future programming, such as educational workshops and a summer internship for youth.
We invite folks to come out for our monthly workdays. They are usually the third Saturday of the month (with some variation, please check here to confirm) from 9 A.M.-1 P.M. More information can be found at our Eventbrite page.
