University of Kent

Kent Community Oasis Garden. A collection of students, staff and community members working to create a sustainability and wellbeing hub around growing food

A collection of students, staff and community members working to create a sustainability and wellbeing hub around growing food.

Kent Community Oasis Garden (KentCOG) is a unique open access project, providing opportunities for students, staff, and community members to ‘get growing’ together. Volunteers are actively engaging with a space centred around social and environmental sustainability building the relationship between people and planet, which supports good wellbeing and mental health and provides opportunities to actively engage with climate and environmental positive solutions.

The project is run as a partnership between the University of Kent and East Kent Mind (EKM). This exceptional partnership between the University and EKM is the cornerstone of KentCOG, bringing an extraordinary collaboration of education, community engagement, sustainability and mental health and wellbeing to one project. KentCOG’s profile doesn’t reflect other community gardens because of its continuing engagement with students, particularly 18–25-year-olds, international students, and students with additional needs. We have seen how our regular student volunteers continue to feel empowered to embed and take ownership of this project, with it becoming very much, their safe space.

Top 3 Learnings

1. An open community garden provides continuity outside of term to support students in growing food.
2. Sharing our successes across platforms has brought a diverse range of people to our project.
3. Building a strategic partnership around sustainability and mental health has provided a unique space for our students.