Mutual mm, Housing CO CALIFORNI TORN ‘Mutual Housing at River Garden: International Garden of Many Colors Mutual Housing at River Garden is a community of 123 units off of Northgate Boulevard and Garden Highway. This is one of Mutual Housing California's 19 communities. Mutual Housing is a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop, operate, and advocate for sustainable housing that builds strong communities through resident participation and leadership development. The garden committee at Mutual Housing at River Garden represents a group of over 40 households that work the land behind the apartment complex in the International Garden of Many Colors. They work to solve problems and issues that arise in the garden. Since the City of Sacramento owns the land, there has been a long history of compromising and ‘organizing around protecting the land that the gardeners use. There are also two towers that sit on the land (WAPA and SMUD). Currently the City of Sacramento has plans to ‘© Build an access road that would displace all gardens surrounding and south of towers (about 15 gardeners). ¢ Build a new garden at the adjacent park at Ninos Parkway consisting of 100 plots that are 20x20 in size (Beginning December 2015; must complete project by end of March 2016) Eventually (in three years) move all gardeners to the new garde, and use the existing garden space as a foraging garden. ‘The city has not shown us the exact plans for the new garden, and has told us bits and pieces through ongoing conversation. Our most recent efforts began in September 2015 to work on creating documentation of the benefits of the garden as well as developing our own plans for what garden committee members would like to see. David de la Pefia, Alex Cole-Weiss, and UC Davis landscape design students have hosted three workshops with the Garden Committee to facilitate a participatory planning process. With the input and feedback of the gardeners, the students have created beautiful plans that incorporate the needs and preferences of the gardeners into the City’s garden plans. We plan to host an open house at Mutual Housing at River Garden before the end of this month to show the community and City of Sacramento the work we have done and the value of the garden. Please contact Courtney Poole for more information: Courtney@mutualhousing.com (916) 389-4482