A refugee from Bhutan harvests greens in the Tukwila Community Garden in Seattle, Washington.

 When a group of Somali Bantu refugees approached staff at the International Rescue Committee's (IRC) office in San Diego in 2006 and said that they wanted to find a way to farm again, the IRC recognized that addressing this need by teaching refugees to farm could have a broad and lasting impact. Farming is an important tradition for many refugees who come to the U.S., and being able to reconnect with the land would have a positive impact on their wellbeing.  The IRC saw farming as an effective way to help refugees integrate into their local communities, grow their own fresh produce, and in some cases, supplement their incomes through sales at farmers' markets and to local restaurants.

And so the IRC's New Roots program began.  Since sowing the first seeds at their New Roots Community Farm in San Diego in 2009, the IRC, working with community partners, has re-connected more than 400 families with gardens and farms in 12 U.S cities.  Refugees are growing crops from home -- ong choy, kabocha vines, African eggplant and hibiscus.  They are getting out of their apartments and meeting their neighbors, exchanging tips about farming and the various ways to cook one vegetable. In some cities, refugees are selling at local farmers' markets, making locally grown produce available and affordable to their entire community.

Community gardening has a positive impact on physical and mental health of refugees.  Aside from eating fresh produce, refugees establish social relationships and a sense of belonging to their community, which promotes psychological wellbeing during resettlement.  Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) helped support the launch of the New Roots program in San Diego, Phoenix and Salt Lake City and supports dozens of refugee community gardens and agriculture projects through the Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program. 

This article was contributed by New Roots Program, a project of International Rescue Committee San Diego. Learn more about the IRC's New Roots Program > 

Resources

• Refugee Agricultural Partnership Program (RAPP). U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement. Resources to support collaboration among refugees and other community-based organizations and list of local partner organizations in RAPP.
• Refugee Agricultural Promotion Projects. Institute for Social and Economic Development (ISED). Publications and tutorials supporting refugee agriculture.
• Connecting food environments and health through the relational nature of aesthetics: gaining insight through the community gardening experience.  Hale J, Knapp C, Bardwell L, Buchenau M, Marshall J, Sancar F, Litt JS. (2011) Soc Sci Med.
• The influence of social involvement, neighborhood aesthetics, and community garden participation on fruit and vegetable consumption. Litt JS, Soobader MJ, Turbin MS, Hale JW, Buchenau M, Marshall JA. (2011) Am J Public Health.
• Community gardening: a parsimonious path to individual, community, and environmental resilience. Okvat HA, Zautra AJ. (2011) Am J Community Psychol.

Upcoming Events & Trainings

National Welcoming Week

September 15-22, 2012, Nationwide

Presented by: Welcoming America

National Immigrant Integration Conference

September 22-25, 2012, Baltimore, MD

Presented by: The National Partnership for New Americans

6th International Conference on Health Issues in Arab Communities

October 16-17, 2012, Dearborn, MI
Presented by: ACCESS Community Health & Research Center

UNSPOKEN Conference: Create Space for Gender-Peace

October 17-18, 2012, Utica, NY

Presented by: Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees

2012 National Refugee and Immigrant Conference: Issues and Innovations

October 18-19, 2012, Chicago, IL

Presented by: Adult Learning Resource Center

The Eighth National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations

March 11-14, 2013, Oakland, CA  

Presented by: DiversityRx  

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RHTAC is a project of the Refugee and Immigrant Health Program, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Center for Refugee Trauma and Resilience at Children's Hospital Boston, the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, the Cultural Orientation Resource Center at Center for Applied Linguistics, and JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc. RHTAC is funded by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Grant #90RB0042.    

For more information, please email refugeehealthta@jsi.com.