In 2010, the Athens Land Trust (ALT) received a three-year grant from the USDA National Institute for Food and Agriculture to establish a Community Garden Network (CGN) in Athens. Working in close collaboration with the University of Georgia Horticulture Department, Keep Athens-Clarke County Beautiful (KACCB) and a number of other community partners, ALT will create two major “hub” gardens, which will serve as demonstration and teaching sites, and will help interested community groups to establish multiple satellite gardens throughout the community. The School Garden Committee was established as a sub-committee of the CGN in an effort to promote school gardens and engage the community in gardens at local schools. http://athensclarkecounty.com/index.aspx?NID=3763

PLACE is an Athens-based non-profit organization whose mission is to promote a strong, accessible local food culture in Athens by creating opportunities to celebrate local food, creating opportunities to grow and eat locally, developing and facilitating educational opportunities around food and networking community members, organizations, and institutions to create, maintain, and strengthen mutually beneficial relationships that build a strong local food culture.