Established by Project New Village, the Mount Hope Community Garden provides a San Diego neighborhood with the green space it needs to practice sustainable agriculture. Through our Conservation Loans program, we provided the financing for Project New Village to buy land from the city of San Diego so the organization could continue stewarding a socially valuable resource for the community.

Our Role

In 2011, Project New Village held the groundbreaking ceremony for Mount Hope Community Garden, an urban community garden bringing sustainable agriculture to communities in southeastern San Diego that lack reasonable access to local healthy foods. Project New Village had been leasing the space for this garden, an empty lot, from the city of San Diego, but when the organization inquired about renewing its lease in 2019, it discovered that the land was to be put on the market, where it would face a high risk of development. With a short deadline and an urgent need to acquire the property, Project New Village reached out to The Conservation Fund for a loan and, with our financial backing, bought the land in December 2019. Now owners — not tenants — of the once vacant lot that had been transformed into the Mount Hope Community Garden, Project New Village has the security it needs to continue creating a healthy, sustainable community garden for current and future generations. Its plans for the site include developing the Good Food District, which will enhance urban agriculture’s connection to economic opportunity by changing the relationship between how people sell and source their food.

Why This Project Matters

Southeastern San Diego is an ethnically diverse region composed of several smaller neighborhoods adjacent to the city’s downtown. Established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, these neighborhoods are distinguished from greater San Diego by their historical architecture and community-oriented developments built around churches, schools and cemeteries. This region near San Diego Bay is known for its steep hills, and many of its neighborhoods were built atop small plateaus where military and other working-class families took up residence throughout the 20th century. The historical significance and cultural diversity of these neighborhoods creates a strong community identity.

In the 20th century, discriminatory housing practices barred many people of color from living in large swaths of San Diego, which led to a high concentration of people of diverse backgrounds in the city’s southeastern neighborhoods. Following World War II, city zoning changes allowed unappealing and environmentally damaging industrial complexes to be located in southeastern communities, while entire blocks of neighborhoods were demolished to make way for freeway development. These changes fragmented communities and exacerbated the impact of segregation, contributing to the area’s socioeconomic decline. These challenges have also affected the availability of affordable, nutritious food in southeastern San Diego.

Concerned for public health and wellness, Project New Village established the Mount Hope Community Garden, utilizing urban land conservation to provide area residents with educational and economic opportunities from within the community. Nestled in the heart of Mount Hope, the garden not only beautifies a vacant lot and brings valuable health benefits to the community, it also serves as a social gathering space for movie nights, festivals, workshops and farmers markets that unifies the neighborhood. Urban gardens such as Mount Hope also provide unique volunteer opportunities for children and adults to enhance their neighborhoods and learn about food systems in a safe, outdoor environment, which is especially important in underserved areas that have historically been disconnected from sustainability movements. Mount Hope Community Garden is a beloved place where people came together to cultivate positive change, turning a vacant lot into a green space that is equally valuable to the environment and the community.

Learn More

• Article: “Mt. Hope Community Garden Re-Opens With Focus On Food Justice” (KPBS)