NeighborWorks network organizations across the country celebrated NeighborWorks Week with paint, plants, trash pickups, cards, signs, hammers, nails, food, and all of the other trappings you’d expect in a community celebration. Held each year the first full week in June, NeighborWorks Week highlights the collective impact of NeighborWorks America’s nearly 250 network nonprofits. The week, celebrated nationally since 1983, also celebrates the resiliency and strength of communities.

Communal gardens have become a fixture of neighborhood revitalization and community-building programs. Whether it be individual plots in one garden or one big lot that residents cultivate together, there is a growing escalation of a phenomenon with deep roots in American history, culture—and psyche.