Email dugfairmontgarden@gmail.com to inquire about plot availability.

Starting in the year 2020, annual fees are approximately $75 per plot. Please refer to Plot Fees for 2020 Season for a cost breakdown.

• An additional administrative fee of $7 is required to process a background check. A background check is only required once every 5 years. Some exemptions may apply to parents of Denver Public School (DPS) students or DPS staff.
• For the first time, we have smaller plots that are one-third the size of most plots at a reduce annual plot fee.

Review Gardener Responsibilities

• Submitting dues, membership fees, and background checks.
• Participate in volunteer tasks such as weeding common areas, caring for community plantings and areas, caring for gardening tools, etc. by providing a minimum of 8 hours per month to the community garden.
• The maintenance of common areas and furnishings, fencing, trees, trash receptacles, compost bins, street and alley right-of-way, and water lines.
• Gardeners must have their plot planted by June 1st, or the plot will be forfeited and reassigned.
• You are required to notify the Steering Committee and make arrangements to maintain your plot during any absence. If a garden appears neglected, you will be given ten (10) days notice to maintain it.
• DUG requires water restrictions and conservation measures be followed.
• A gardener MUST remain on the premises while watering his/her garden.
• DUG Community Gardens are organic gardens. It is DUG policy to prohibit the use of non-organic pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers.
• All dead plants, weeds, trash, tools, sticks and cages are to be removed or stored by November 1 each year.
• Each gardener is responsible for conducting themselves in a civil manner that is mutually beneficial to all participants and the garden as a whole.

Fairmont School Community Garden is situated on Denver Public School (DPS) property. DPS policy mandates that all gardeners fill out a volunteer application form / background check application as a pre-requisite to becoming a member of the community garden.

Click here to download the DPS DUG Volunteer Application & Background Check Form (English)

Click here to download the DPS Dug Volunteer Application & Background Check Form (Spanish)

Standard for Background Check

All gardeners who have signed a plot agreement, including family members of students, will fall under the classification of a Denver Public Schools (DPS) Volunteer, and a name-only background check will be required. Gardeners who take a hiatus from the garden for 2 or more years must go back through the background check process. For example, a gardener who completed the 2012 gardening season leaves and then returns to the garden for the growing season in 2015; they must be rechecked. Background checks are valid for five years, so ALL gardeners must be rechecked every five years.

Gardeners who wish to volunteer and support students directly, at least once per month or more, and in situations with the likely possibility where a DPS staff member or fingerprinted volunteer are not in a supervisory role, will need to complete a national fingerprint background check through the CBI. They can contact Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) directly to complete this process.

Additionally, the designated school garden leader(s) at DPS gardens will need to undergo a fingerprint background check because of their potential for direct and unsupervised contact with students. DUG will contact school garden leaders directly with the additional information needed to complete this process. DPS employees who act as school garden leaders do not need to complete the fingerprint background check.

Exceptions to the Background Check

Episodic Volunteers: Occasional visitors or volunteers to the garden will be considered “episodic volunteers” and a background check will not be necessary. Episodic can be defined as 1-3 visits per season. If uncertainty exists about whether a person falls into this category, DUG requests that the garden leader err on the side of caution and request a background check of such a volunteer.

Existing DPS Volunteers: A gardener who has completed a DPS background check in the past five years does not need to repeat the background check process. The garden steering committee can check with DUG to verify that DPS Volunteer Services has an updated check on file for a particular gardener.

The Background Check Process (for name-only background checks):

It is the responsibility of the garden steering committee to track and facilitate background checks with gardeners/volunteers, with the exception of DUG’s Connecting Generations mentors. Each school-based community garden will be required to send a steering committee member to participate in a DUG-led training session to become the facilitator of the background check process at their garden. Typically this person also coordinates membership for the garden.

Instructions for the garden leader facilitating background checks:

1. Provide the DPS Volunteer Application and Request for Criminal History/Background Check form to all potential new gardeners or gardeners whose background checks were run more than five years ago.
2. When both sides of the form are complete, but before the individual has signed the form, check the photo ID of the individual that corresponds to the ID number they wrote on the form.

3. Sign and date the form as Witness, which confirms that the individual’s ID has been checked. The individual also signs the form at this time.

4. Review the form to be sure it was filled out completely and correctly. Ask the individual to make additions or corrections to the form as needed.

5. Mail or drop off complete form(s) to the DUG office (1031 33rd St, Suite 100, Denver 80205). We cannot complete the background check without BOTH sides of the form.

1. If an individual does not have a social security number, indicate this on the form. A social security number is not required to run the background check.
2. In the ID section, the ID must be a photo, for example driver’s license, passport or student ID, but does not need to be government-issued. Foreign ID’s such as a driver’s license or passport are also acceptable if an individual does not have a United States ID.
3. Undocumented individuals can submit a background check without concerns regarding their legal status. All information is kept confidential within DUG and DPS. If uncertainty still exists, a trusted person at the school (parent liaison, teachers, etc.) may be more effective in communicating these details.
4. Individuals should disclose any and all misdemeanors or felonies, including a DUI or DWAI, on the form, even if they seem unrelated to gardening. Any information that appears on the background check that was not indicated on the form will lead to an automatic denial from DPS for the volunteer/gardener. Note that not all offenses necessitate a denial, the decision is made by DPS Human Resources and is often determined on the basis of case outcome.