By Jocelyn Bogen
June 4, 2012

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and community leaders dedicated the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone’s new gateway park on May 25, which serves as the official entrance to Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone in Cleveland. The city is a recipient of The U.S. Conference of Mayors and The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company'sponsored GRO1000 gardens and green spaces grant award program.

The Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone is a cutting-edge project, which is repurposing 26 acres of vacant, formerly residential land in Cleveland for urban agriculture. Mayor Frank Jackson and the city leadership are committed to the development of urban agriculture, gardens and green spaces as part of the city’s "Re-Imagining Cleveland" initiative.

"The GRO1000 initiative is a welcome addition to the city’s ‘Re-Imagining Cleveland’ efforts," said Jackson. "The new gateway park embodies the goal of both initiatives by providing a beautiful and useable green space that will welcome visitors to the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone."

The Cleveland GRO1000 event in the Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone was the fifth and final 2012 GRO1000 local dedication event. Area students and community volunteers joined city officials and GRO1000 national partners to install a new green space at the Zone’s entrance. Gardening and environmental education activities were offered to local area residents and youth. Community Wraparound Academy at East Technical High School students were presented with the ScottsMiracle-Gro Give Back To Gro Youth Gardener Award.

GRO1000 will establish 1,000 community gardens and green spaces in the U.S by 2018. The program is designed to help communities and their residents experience the benefits of community gardening and green spaces and support local hunger needs. This year five GRO1000 grants were awarded to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, Columbia (SC) Mayor Steve Benjamin, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Corpus Christi Mayor Joe Adame, and Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson.

"We are proud to be working with Mayor Jackson and Cleveland officials to redevelop the city through more green spaces and gardens," said Mike Carbonara, North Regional President for ScottsMiracle-Gro. "Through our GRO1000 partnership, we are seeing communities across the country thrive and grow with the addition of new greenscapes."