A year on the same ground.
What we grew, taught, built, and gave away across 49 East Bay schools in 2025, and where we go from here.
Cover, 2025 Annual Impact ReportGrowing Together began in Oakland as a grassroots effort, connecting neighbors by greening public spaces and planting fruit trees. By 2014 we started partnering with local schools, working with teachers, students, parents, administrators, and district leaders on campus greening projects while training and employing young people to plant trees and build gardens. As stakeholders saw how this work changed students, our opportunities grew, and we began to integrate outdoor, experiential learning into the instructional programs of more and more schools.
Much of that growth came from learning to work well with school districts and communities: building a team of allies and finding a shared path forward. The result is a set of strategies, shaped through school-community partnerships, that address some of the education system's hardest problems. This year's report is built around that idea. In the pages that follow, each program names a specific systemic challenge in public education and the strategy we've developed, alongside our school communities, to meet it. Last year's feedback surveys, filled out by over 500 teachers, students, parents, and principals, are worth pausing on:
A student leans in close to a flowering pea vine.- 100% of parents say garden education has improved their child's health and wellness.
- 100% of teachers say it keeps students engaged and focused, and 99% say it helps them learn science concepts.
- On a five-point agreement scale, stakeholders averaged 4.78 that our programming should be a district priority and 4.28 that it increases student attendance.
Fortunately, these programs are taking root everywhere. In 2023 we co-founded the CA School Garden Coalition, now a network of over 80 community-based organizations running similar programs for more than 250,000 students across the state, some for over a generation.
Before we share a few stories from this year, take a moment to remember the first time you realized the world was truly alive, and what that meant for the rest of your life. As you read, remember that you are part of why these experiences are possible for so many children, and that through their lives they will keep shaping the world in good ways.
With gratitude,