The Community Family’s (TCF) overarching mission is to provide high-quality adult day health services that keep adults in their homes and communities as long as possible. We provide these services to elderly and disabled adults, and those with Alzheimer’s disease, at three centers located in Everett, Medford and Lowell, MA. TCF is fiscally stable, with a $3 million budget and three beautiful centers. Unlike most adult day health programs that are sponsored by larger health or social service organizations, The Community Family's exclusive focus is quality, affordable adult day health services.Each day, TCF provide medical care, therapeutic activities, nutrition, and social services to 140 individuals, including 100 at our Everett and Medford centers. All of our clients have at least one chronic medical or psychological condition that disrupts their ability to live independently and to carry out activities of daily living. In meeting with our mission, however, they are all functioning well enough to be living in their homes and communities.While clients are with us at our centers for 6+ hours each day, we seek to conduct programs and activities that keep them active and engaged. We offer a wide range of activities that emphasize cognitive skills, physical dexterity and expressive creativity to ensure the highest level of independence and functioning. Successful and innovative programming has been a trademark at TCF for nearly four decades and we would like to continue this by adding a new Garden Therapy Program at our Everett and Medford centers. This is the primary reason we have formed this group and decided to become active. Some of the details of the program are to follow. TCF would like to partner with Green City Growers (GCG), a Somerville, MA-based company that builds urban farms for grocers, businesses and municipalities but also has a very successful senior living garden program. GCG has a team of highly-trained and passionate farmers/educators who will offer hands-on farming tasks, group discussions and educational services during their time with us. Daily gardening activities for clients will include planting, weeding, watering, harvesting and basic farm maintenance. Any excess produce that is grown will be sold at farmer’s markets or given to food pantries.The Everett and Medford centers both have fenced-in backyards, enabling us to build gardens designed specifically for elders and those with disabilities. Likewise, Green City Growers are familiar with the needs of those with disabilities and those with memory loss. We are confident the Garden Therapy Program will add so much to the health and vitality of our clients and others it touches. The two most important outcomes of the project will to be to grow healthy food for our clients and to involve them in meaningful activities that also strengthens their ties to the larger community. There are numerous other benefits to be derived from a structured gardening program, however, including cultivating and promoting healthy eating and healthy lifestyles, participation in a physical activity, increased hand strength and dexterity and improved outlook and life satisfaction. Other mental health benefits include cognitive stimulation, enhanced self-esteem, stress relief, brain health, and alleviating depression. For clients at our Medford Alzheimer’s center, the project provides complex sensory stimulation. Our goal is to have 40-50 active participants at our two centers but the benefits will extend to other clients (about 250 total per year), staff, family members and the community at large.Our current timeline is to have Green City Growers lead weekly education sessions over a six-month period at each center, beginning May 1 of this year and running through October 31. This should result in a maximum of 26 sessions for each center and 52 sessions total. The preliminary budget for the Garden Therapy Program is $12,500, which will cover the expected costs of Green City Growers and the building of raised garden beds. Because it is the first year, one-time costs will be incurred for the garden beds but should not be needed in subsequent years. A successful Garden Therapy Program will result in an abundance of positive outcomes and this is our motivation for forming our group. It is a wonderful opportunity to take advantage of our available facilities and give our clients a welcome and healthy diversion for half the year. In doing so, we will be keeping our clients and the community vibrant while becoming healthier in the process.Regarding other questions on the application: Because we are a healthcare business, we will have paid staff involved with the program, hopefully in combination with volunteers. The Activity Director at each center will be responsible for the day-to-day running of the program at their respective sites. They will be involved in all aspects of the program, from recruitment of participants to distribution of the produce. They will also be the liaison to Green City Growers and coordinate the schedule of sessions at the center. We would expect two other staff at each center to assist during times when the Garden Therapy Program is active. Our website and Facebook pages list in this application are for the entire organization and not just this group but we would surely promote the Garden Therapy Program on these sites.