PSU Community Greenspace 

PSU COMMUNITY GREENSPACE PROJECT    

The PSU Community Greenspace Project was a student-led and student-centered project to transform a vacant PSU lot into an accessible, culturally affirming, multi-use community greenspace. The development project was intended to grow food production and educational programming by transforming the vacant lot into a culturally diverse, inclusive, accessible, and relaxing space where students can interact with and learn in the outdoors. The goals of this project included: 

1. Building and maintaining stronger, more reciprocal partnerships with on-campus student groups, centers, and relevant departments, particularly to serve our Black, Indigenous, and people of color groups, LGBTQIA+, disabled, youth, and elder student communities;

2. Expanding equitable student access to greenspace on campus for events, gatherings, food production, education, and research; and 

3. Increasing our ability to produce food and support greater food security across campus.

SSC is planning to transition out of this space in the 2025-2026 academic year and transition into a new centrally located space centered on partnering with the community. Stay tuned!

HISTORY OF PSU COMMUNITY GREENSPACE PROJECT (LOT 3128)

Formerly the site of Adeline Residence Hall until its deconstruction, the space was managed by PSU’s Residence Housing Association (RHA) as a community garden from 2005-2018. Due to challenges that included key access issues, accessibility concerns, and lack of summer management, the lot was unused from 2015-2018. RHA returned Lot 3128 to PSU Facilities and Property management for general use. 

In May 2018, the Student Sustainability Center (SSC) submitted a proposal to begin managing the space along with the adjacent Community Orchard. Facilities and Property Management approved SSC’s proposal in March 2019. Zoning restrictions and the SSC’s agreement with PSU require that the space be aligned with the adjacent Community Orchard (established in 2011). 

SSC’s accepted proposal for Lot 3128 states three goals:

• Build upon existing successful Orchard programming to create a safe and accessible space for the PSU community;

• Provide new opportunities for garden education and service events;

• Increase campus habitat and outdoor space.

The SSC and PSU facilitated a survey to gather community input has been developed by Student Sustainability Center staff, students, and volunteers. PSU’s Food Pantry, Committee for Improving Student Food Security, Campus Sustainability Office, and Oregon Food Bank also helped design the survey.

The SSC hosted a series of envisioning design charrettes in the spring of 2019 to help gather feedback. Students sent in photos and their own hand drawn designs for inspiration. Using the data from the survey results and the design charrettes, former garden coordinator, Laihha Organna created the design below. 

In the winter of 2020, the SSC submitted a proposal to the student building fee (SBF) committee. Students pay a small student building fee as part of their mandatory fees each term, and this money goes towards maintaining or creating campus building projects that support students. We submitted our proposal in hopes to fund our first phase of the establishment of the garden. Due to COVID-19 and the transition to online learning, all students were refunded their SBF dollars and therefore, none of the projects were funded in 2020. We were notified in 2021-2022 that we should not expect funding availability for the next 15 years from that fund, and we were encouraged to seek alternative grants. 

Using salary savings from 2020-2021 when SSC did not have a full-time staff coordinator, we were able to begin working on design implementation, and began leveling and grading the lot with help from PSU Facilities & Management in 2022. The remainder of the money will be used to fix the Cobb structure near the Smith gardens, and potentially build ADA accessible pathways or other relevant base-level structures in the space.

In 2023, we began working on grant applications and pursuing alternative funding sources, such as fundraising through the PSU Day of Giving. In 2023-2024, we hope to begin concrete stakeholder engagement processes with diverse student groups and stakeholders in the lot and final design. SSC is now working closely with institutional partners to tend to the needs of the space and plan for the future.