This garden grows community in South Oakland

A Pitt student group is growing connections with the University's neighbors - through gardening.

Members of the environmental honors fraternity Epsilon Eta Delta, in collaboration with Pitt's Office of Engagement and Community Affairs and the Oakcliffe Community Organization of South Oakland , are reviving the formerly neglected Oakcliffe Community Garden.

The aim is to make the garden both operational and open to everyone in the area, said Paige Ritti, Epsilon Eta Delta's finance chair.

"Access to natural environments benefits both mental and physical health. The Oakcliffe Garden is a place for people to be more directly in nature, to engage with it," added Ritti, a senior who's pursuing environmental science and English writing majors in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences.

Decades ago, residents created and tended the Oakcliffe Community Garden at the corner of Lawn and Elsinore streets. But over the years, the project fell by the wayside. That's where Pitt's Neighborhood Commitments - place-based community partnerships focused on Pittsburgh's neighborhoods, including Oakland, where Oakcliffe is located - came in. While attending monthly community meetings, Pitt representatives heard Oakcliffe residents ask for support in breathing new life into their neighborhood garden.

Bringing Epsilon Eta Delta into the fold was an easy decision. The group's mission is to invest in and steward the environment. Members commit to completing at least 8 volunteer hours a year, and last year the club logged 1,019 hours; some of those hours were dedicated to revamping the Oakcliffe Community Garden.