The San Diego Foundation recently awarded a $30,000 Age-Friendly Community grant to the La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation towards the La Mesa Community Garden. The Age-Friendly Communities Program promotes systems-level change to prioritize age-friendly initiatives in transportation, housing, outdoor spaces and buildings, community support and health services, respect and social inclusion, communication and information, and civic participation, and employment. The City of La Mesa is recognized as a global Age-Friendly Community and in 2019 adopted the Livable La Mesa Age Friendly Action Plan with technical support from The San Diego Foundation.

This grant will help fund the remaining infrastructure needed for the first public community garden in the City of La Mesa, located at MacArthur Park, centrally located close to La Mesa’s historic downtown, targeted to open in spring 2021.

The space allocated for the garden was a putting green and clubhouse of a former golf course that the city reallocated as park open space that has been assigned to the La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation under a no cost operating agreement. The garden will create an intergenerational space that will enhance the park’s amenities, encourage social participation, and improve access to healthy eating, exercise and active living. Applications for a lottery for the leasing of inaugural garden beds are expected to be published in the next month.

In addition to The San Diego Foundation grant, the garden project has received a $5,000 grant from the San Diego Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects and $5,000 founder level sponsorships from EDCO, The Cushman Foundation, La Mesa Sunrise Rotary, and Laurie MacDonald of Coldwell Banker West.

The La Mesa Park and Recreation Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that facilitates quality projects and programs to provide activities that strengthen community and family bonds and foster pride in La Mesa and its parks. For additional information about the garden, contact [email protected] or visit www.lamesaparks.org.