A GCA Grant Provides Environmental Education and Stewardship in Oakland, California.

Piedmont Garden Club collaborates with Peralta Hacienda Historical Park.

February 05, 2025

By: Marguerite Nichols

In 2021, the Piedmont GC (PCG) received a $10,000 GCA Common Ground Collaborative (CGC) grant to partner with the Peralta Hacienda Historical Park (PHHP), a community center serving the ethnically diverse Fruitvale district of Oakland, California. Together, PCG and PHHP restored a native plant garden and  expanded both a small pollinator garden and a native plant riparian habitat along Peralta Creek. An important local resource, the center functions as a bridge between people and nature in an underserved urban area with little greenery. 

PGC assists in monthly clean-up days, providing both volunteers and landscape maintenance guidance.  Educational programs such as a Pollinators Workshop, Plant Propagation Class, and Basic Garden Maintenance Workshop are offered. PCG also works with the Water Keepers youth program and the ACE summer camp.

In 2024, PGC assisted a youth environmental program and held a Propagation Workshop for the Welcome to Wildlife youth group. Volunteers instructed at four stations on different ways to propagate plants.  A fifth station focused on seed discovery and exploration. The children were divided into five groups and rotated through each station in 15-20 minute intervals. At the end of the workshop, the children threw seed balls (using a GCA recipe) around the native plant garden at Peralta Hacienda.

The GCA Common Ground Collaborative Grant, offered annually to only six GCA clubs nation-wide, fosters the spirit of partnership, demonstrating the power of working together toward a common goal.