Dwayne Cooper Garden of Hope

The Dwayne Cooper Garden of Hope is an urban farm, community vegetable garden and sunflower garden in the Hill District community. The site is a platform for education and training programs, farmer’s market space, and community events. The location of this site is the former Francis Court public housing community (intersection of Bedford Avenue & Francis Street) owned by the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh.

For GTECH, this project combined our vacant land expertise and commitment to workforce development. In 2010, the Garden employed 2 adults and 5 youth and engaged dozens of community members through two community events in the early summer and late fall. During the 2011 growing season, over 300 pounds of fresh produce that was donated to local community. In 2011, the size of the farm increased and incorporated a more formal workforce development program.