We are glad to share some good news during weeks of escalated aggression and grief within our communities.
With the help of friends both near and far, we reached our $15,000 goal!
A small victory for our neighborhood that will allow us to move towards a more secure future for the space. Though it feels hard to celebrate anything right now, we are finding solace in knowing we have the support and can rely on our community when we ask for help.
Thank you to everyone who uplifted this campaign, shared to friends and family about our work, came to our plant party, or sent funds. Stay tuned over the next months sharing how the final steps go in regard to this parcel and the pending land bank lots.
If you’d like to support our land care efforts, you can donate monthly via Patreon.
We are so grateful for the year we’ve had in community, building toward lasting land security organizing and staying committed to supporting our neighbors through exceptionally challenging times. Before we take some time to rest for winter, we are calling on our supporters (like you!) to help us with our annual end of year campaign.
Last week, we launched our fundraiser with hopes of crowd funding $15,000 to purchase the last lot in our physical community space on Arlington Street in West Kensington. As of today we’re excited to report we are about 30% toward our goal!
We have successfully made contact with the landowner and are working toward being able to purchase the lot in the immediate future. We need help from the public to make sure we can pay it in full and cover the many fees associated with the transaction.
Over the years, we have slowly gained ownership of many of the lots on which our garden was founded in 2012. Looking at the image above, you can see our space is situated on a wide variety of land ownership. We became a nonprofit in 2021 in an effort to be able to make these purchases. We’ve raised money through grants and individual donors to be able to buy lots from private owners and advocated through campaigns to ensure the space we’ve built will remain as it is for generations to come. Due to the US Bank Lien deal, we received several lots that are in legal limbo, but we will have titles in our name soon. For us, this means permanent security from development of the once vacant parcels we currently use for community gatherings, plant connections, and neighborhood recreation.
You can learn more and share the campaign through our Chuffed page. This includes the history of the space and its current uses.
We have a lot of exciting things happening to support the fundraiser, so stay tuned! Part of these announcements will feature an end-of-year happy hour where we will host an in-person raffle and sell merch created by some of our core members.
If you have items like art prints, services, zines, etc. you’d be interested in donating in support fill out this form to run a raffle for us digitally or in person! Click here to enter an item and contact Caro-if you have questions carotorrestoledo@gmail.com
Our campaign will run from October until the end of 2025 and we hope you will join us in sharing the call for support and donating! You can find a shareable flyer at the end of this blog post.
Announcing our first-ever Heavy Harvest, deadlift-only fundraiser, supporting Iglesias Gardens! All funds raised will go toward supporting our work protecting community land. Heavy Harvest will be hosted at BAMN Fitness on Sunday, September 28! Prizes will be awarded for: Heaviest Harvest (biggest lift), Best Dressed, and Best Walk-out. Pick your own deadlift song, lift heavy, and help the garden grow! Please register by August 28 to guarantee a t-shirt: fill out the registration form here!
Date: Sept 28th Time: Doors open 11am, lifting starts noon. $60 to lift 🏋️♀️ Donation based to enter to watch 🤭
Come out to the garden for Our Community Block Party this Saturday, August 9, 4-7pm! We’ll have a water slide bounce house, kids games, a potluck dinner (bring a dish to share!) & BBQ, free backpacks & school supplies, face painting, Cumbia lessons in the evening, music, art and good times. We’ll also be talking a bit about our lot steward organizing and you can learn how to get involved. Hope to see you there!
In May, our Land Security branch hired our first full-time organizer, Ryan Gittler-Muniz! Ryan has been a member of the garden since 2021 and will be working with our core group to build a new and powerful base of land stewards in Philadelphia.
This summer, we are starting a citywide surveying effort to identify vacant lots that are cared for by residents but remain at risk of being lost to development. If you want to get involved with this work, come to our upcoming Land Security Training at the garden on Thursday, July 17th at 6pm, or reach out to Ryan at ryan@iglesiasgardens.com. RSVP here: https://bit.ly/land-training.
This Saturday, July 19, we are hosting our second Volunteer Orientation of the summer! If you’re curious to learn more about our work and how you can plug in, meet us at the garden on Saturday, 11am-12pm for a brief tour and history of the garden, as well as an overview of ways volunteers can get involved. Volunteers help tend to the garden, help with build projects, canvass lot stewards, make flyers, pick up & set up food for Bodega Libre, and more!
If you can’t make it out this Saturday, save the date for our next Orientation on August 16!
The Iglesias Gardens is a neighborhood project in West Kensington and a city-wide land security organizing project in Philadelphia. Started in 2012 when neighbors and organizers came together to transform vacant land into a collective garden and park space. We are a community hub within our neighborhood offering free biweekly food distribution, activities for children, building and gardening workshops, and three annual events honoring culture and arts. We work to raise awareness about the commodification of land in Philadelphia. Since 2019 we have advocated for the preservation of vacant land by lot stewards and pushed the city to grant community control of land rather than letting greedy developers destroy our neighborhoods.
Today we are launching our annual fundraiser to raise $10,000 for mutual aid efforts in the immediate neighborhood, community infrastructure projects in the Iglesias Garden space, and to sustain our programming in the neighborhood.You can donate through chuffed where we will provide updates!
In 2022 we became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization allowing us to access funding to support the acquisition of the lots that were in danger of being developed, to install a water line, and to help us hire 3 (very) part-time staff for the first time. In previous years, we have been able to fully fund infrastructure builds in our space, including an accessibility plaza by gaining financial support from the community at large. As we understand the capitalist nature of the non-profit industrial complex, we have remained discerning with who we receive money from and for what. We also understand unrestricted funding for mutual aid is limited or highly controlled. These funds will be used at the discretion of our core group of volunteers who are directly within the community we serve.
As we await a transition to the Trump administration, we know that we will need to step up to support those we love. We deeply believe that we take care of us. There is no doubt that the few resources available to working-class, Black, and immigrant communities will be drained. We also know that efforts against gentrification will be under increased scrutiny, as Philadelphia leadership has proven to value the profits of millionaires over that of the people.
Please join us through the end of the year and we raise money to support these vital efforts so we can go into 2025 with the support of many. Share this campaign with your networks and support generously! We will be adding some exciting events and merch as this campaign moves so please stay tuned.
It’s been four and half years since the land bank verbally committed several parcels to our garden. During this time we’ve watched Mo Rushdy and other predatory developers get their projects approved immediately. While we have been knocking on doors, doing outreach, and essentially doing the Land Bank’s job of engaging the community about the land they tend, the Land Bank has stalled their main responsibility of figuring out the next steps for our mortgages.
As we attended the meeting Tuesday 9/10, we noticed the strange closeness between the Board and developers. Public comments were rushed over while developers patted each other on the back with the familiarity of old friends as they presented barely affordable new housing developments spanning dozens of lots. During the public meeting, the Land Bank was quick to shift the responsibility of the mortgages to PRA (Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority) and give us an unclear response on when they’ll be completed.
We will continue to put pressure on the Land Bank and PRA until they make good on their promise and give us the mortgages and transfer the land.
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Han pasado cuatro años y medio desde que el Land Bank nos prometio verbalmente las parcelas para nuestro jardín. Durante este tiempo, hemos visto a Mo Rushdy y otros desarrolladores obtener la aprobación inmediata de sus proyectos. Mientras hemos estado tocando puertas, divulgando y esencialmente haciendo el trabajo del Land Bank de involucrar a la comunidad sobre las tierras que cuidan, el Land Bank ha estancado su responsabilidad principal de determinar los próximos pasos para nuestras hipotecas.
Cuando asistimos a la reunión del martes 9/10, notamos la extraña cercanía entre la junta directiva y los desarrolladores. Los comentarios públicos fueron apresurados mientras los desarrolladores se daban palmaditas en la espalda con la familiaridad de viejos amigos mientras presentaban nuevos desarrollos de viviendas casi no asequibles que con el use de docenas de parcelas. Durante la reunión pública, el Land Bank se apresuró a transferir la responsabilidad de las hipotecas a PRA (Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority) y nos dio una respuesta poco clara sobre cuándo se completarán.
Seguiremos presionando al Land Bank y al PRA hasta que cumplan su promesa y nos den las hipotecas y nos transfieran las tierras.
If you’ve walked past the garden this week, you’ve see some upsetting developments. Our Memorial/ Children’s garden was half-flattened and is now coated in rubble. The house next door, which held murals honoring neighbors on the block who died too young, was an abandoned PHA property they sold to a private developer this summer. They ripped apart this garden as they tore the house down.
Over by our stage, a private developer, who has owned that open field for 6+ years, has finally fenced it off. This field where kids have run and played, we’ve grown corn and squash, we’ve hosted Day of the Dead celebrations, a vigil for Gaza, music during our Juneteenth Celebration, Aztec dance and temascal ceremonies and more, will become condos.
While we are close to securing a majority of the gardens, these losses are painful. We have been waiting for the title to the garden parcels in the Land Bank for over four years. It goes to show that land transfers, when going to developers, when being used for profit, move years faster than transfers for lots already in use by the community for gardens and parks.
If you want to help with clean up, join us at the garden for a land stewardship volunteer day on September 14. Another way to support our land stewardship, is joining our Patreon and committing $5 $10 or $25 per month to our garden. All Patreon funds go towards garden builds and upkeep: https://www.patreon.com/iglesiasgardens.
Si has pasado por el jardín Iglesias esta semana, habrás visto algunos cambios intensos. Nuestro jardín conmemorativo/de niños quedo cubierto detierra y escombros por la demolicion. La casa de al lado, que tenía murales en honor a los vecinos de la cuadra que murieron demasiado jóvenes, era una propiedad abandonada de PHA que vendieron a un desarrollador privado este verano. Destrozaron este jardín cuando derribaron la casa.
Al lado de nuestro escenario, un promotor privado, que ha sido dueño de ese campo abierto durante 6+ años, finalmente lo ha cercado con cerco. Este campo donde los niños han corrido y jugado, hemos cultivado maíz y calabaza, hemos organizado celebraciones del Día de los Muertos, una vigilia por Gaza, música durante nuestra celebración de Juneteenth, danzas aztecas y ceremonias de temascal y much más, se convertirán en condominios.
Aunque estamos cerca de asegurar la mayoría de los jardines, estas pérdidas son muy dolorosas. Llevamos más de cuatro años esperando el título de propiedad de las parcelas del jardín en el Banco de Tierras. Esto demuestra que las transferencias de tierras, cuando van a los desarrolladores, cuando se utilizan con fines de lucro, se mueven años más rápido que las transferencias de lotes que ya están en uso por la comunidad para jardines y parques.
Para les que quieran ayudar con la limpieza, únete a nosotros en el jardín para un día mantenimiento de la tierra el 14 de septiembre. Otra forma de apoyar nuestra administración del territorio es unirse a nuestro Patreon y comprometer $5, $10 o $25 por mes a nuestro jardín. Todos los fondos de Patreon se destinan a la construcción y el mantenimiento de jardines: https://www.patreon.com/iglesiasgardens.
(Spanish abajo) Today, 7/12/24, for the first time in over three years, the City of Philadelphia will resume online sheriff sales for tax-delinquent lots and houses. As a community garden and neighborhood organizing project, some of our garden land and the land of other lot stewards remain vulnerable to these sales, and so we reassert our continued demand: Stop the Sheriff Sales! ¡No Más Subastas!
Most side lots in Philly are located in Black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods that have been intentionally segregated and neglected by the city. Despite this structural violence, lot stewards have taken it upon themselves to care for the land around them and maintain deep, reciprocal relationships with land and community. Lot stewards are owed land sovereignty–regardless of what the city, sheriff, or real estate market says!
We reject the premise of sheriff sales that reduces beloved community spaces into commodities to be sold to the highest bidders: developers and investors who profit from lot stewards’ sweat equity as they dispossess them and gentrify our neighborhoods.
Sheriff sales for lots with U.S. Bank liens, which are listed by U.S. Bank and not the City, have been ongoing since 2021. As the city resumes their own sheriff sales, even more community land is now at risk—348 properties are for sale in July and 207 in August. We refuse the false choice of affordable housing or green space, community gardens or side lots, and believe that all community land should be in community hands. From Philly to Palestine, occupation is a crime! Stop the Land Grab!
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Hoy, 7/12/24, por primera vez en más de tres años, la Ciudad de Filadelfia retoma subastas del alguacil en línea de para yardas y casas en mora de impuestos. Como un jardín y organización comunitaria, algunos de nuestros jardíndes y los terrenos de otros representante de yardas siguen siendo vulnerables a estas ventas, por lo que reafirmamos nuestra demanda continua: ¡stop the sheriff sale! ¡No Más Subastas del alguacil!
La mayoría de las yardas o terrenos abandoanos en Filadelfia están ubicados en vecindarios negros y puertorriqueños que han sido intencionalmente segregados y descuidados por la ciudad. A pesar de esta violencia estructural, representahhntes de yardas se han encargado de cuidar la tierra que los rodea y mantener relaciones profundas y recíprocas con la tierra y la comunidad. A los representante de yardas se les debe soberanía sobres los terrenos – ¡independientemente de lo que diga la ciudad, el alguacil o el mercado inmobiliario!
Rechazamos la premisa de las subastas del alguacil que reducen nuestros queridos espacios comunitarios a mercancía para ser vendidos al mejor postor: desarrolladores de inmobiliarios e inversionistas que se benefician del sudor de los representante de yardas mientras los despojan y gentrifican nuestros vecindarios.
Las ventas del alguacil para yardes con derecho de retención al US Bank, que figuran en la lista de U.S. Bank y no de la Ciudad, han estado en curso desde 2021. A medida que la ciudad retoma sus propias ventas de alguaciles, aún más tierras comunitarias están ahora en riesgo: 348 propiedades están a la venta en julio y 207 en agosto de este ano. Rechazamos la falsa elección de viviendas asequibles o espacios verdes, jardines comunitarios o yardas, y creemos que todas las tierras comunitarias deben estar en manos de la comunidad. ¡De Filadelfia a Palestina, la ocupación es un crimen! ¡Alto la expropiación de tierras!
As an organization engaged in land-based struggle on stolen land, Iglesias Gardens stands in full solidarity with the Palestinian people and their demand for decolonization. We honor life and condemn Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Cesar Andreú Iglesias Community Garden 