The Senior Refugee Garden at Little House

131 Avacado Ave, El Cajon, California
February 2016

Health and Human Services- East County, the El CajonCollaborative at Little House andRooted In Place Landscape Architecture and Consulting partnered to transform the Little House outdoor space into a garden for the local senior refugee community. Community input meetings brought community members, Little House tenants, and business owners together to create aVision Plan to secure funding and prioritize improvements to the area. Participants were asked to brainstorm design ideas for the Little House Garden.Common themes, goals, and values were identified and incorporated into the ultimate Vision Plan.

The Senior Refugee Garden at Little House was developed with support from Health and Human Services to generate access to healthy and culturally relevant food for the senior refugee community in El Cajon. Through a collaborative design process, Rooted In Place facilitated a design workshop with the local senior refugee community at Little House. The design ideas the seniors developed, informed the framework for the final Vision Plan and Community Building Day concept plan.Community members who helped to build the first phase of the garden included high school students from Granite Hills Key Club, San Diego County employees, El Cajon Collaborative members, UPAC Refugee Seniors, Rooted In Place, and friends and family. Garden beds, storage containers and a vertical garden were constructed in one day. Donated garden beds were positioned close together to allow for future garden expansion. The Senior Refugee garden continues to thrive and be implemented in stages, guided by the Vision Plan and with support from local organizations and through workshops.