The Rise Community Garden is an organic community education garden operated by Wichita Public Library's Maya Angelou Northeast Branch designed to support education and expand food access in the Angelou Branch service area. Named after Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise" poem, the Rise Community Garden informs our efforts to be "rooted in shared earth" through food access and environmental education.

History

In October of 2025, the Rise Community Garden (RCG) Steering Committee was established to create a team of talented community stakeholders and gardening experts to lay the garden's administrative groundwork, while Jeff Hiss and his team at Lawnworks, Inc. lay its physical groundwork with a sympathetic design maximizing limited space. The RCG Steering Committee then selected a garden design plan by Stacy Zablocki of Make Life Better Together, Inc.

The garden is comprised of six raised beds, one of which will be for library programs, a strawberry patch, a pollinator garden, and roadside planting for shade, wind protection, and aesthetic interest.

The City of Wichita's Public Works & Utilities Sustainability Office supplied rainwater irrigation and composting capabilities for sustainable stewardship and tending of the garden.

How to Participate

Volunteer

The RCG is currently seeking a Senior Garden Volunteer. Once that position is filled, we'll share additional volunteer opportunities, including long-term and short-term agreements and individual and group agreements. Community partners who have entered Adopt-a-Bed Agreement may also send volunteers.

All volunteer agreements are subject to terms and conditions as outlined in the Wichita Library Policy Manual, Section PER-007, entitled "Volunteer Program."

Programming

The Angelou Branch Library will coordinate learning experiences in nutrition, horticulture, sustainability, and our range of target literacies as informed by our Strategic Agenda:

• Nutrition: cooking classes, presentations on healthy and affordable eating, food preparation demonstrations, and field trips to outside farms, gardens, grocery stores, and other food system partners.
• Horticulture: plant science and cultivation, soil management, pest and disease control, and horticultural techniques, like propagation and pruning.
• Environment and Sustainability: general gardening classes, presentations on energy and water conservation strategies and initiatives, community projects focused on waste reduction, etc.
• Literacies and Empowerment: in line with the Library's Strategic Agenda, programs should also promote one or more of the following literacies:
  • Traditional literacy skills
    • Pre-K/3rd grade reading readiness
    • Engaging low literacy individuals
  • Digital literacy skills
    • Using assistive technologies
    • Sustainable technological practices
    • Learning about technologies that facilitate garden access and information access
  • Public literacy skills: Practicing civic, cultural, information, and media literacies
  • Personal literacy skills: Empowerment for more financial, health, and emotional literacies

Adopt-a-Bed

Adopt-a-Bed agreements allow community organizations to adopt one of our five raised beds. Organizations tending to a bed enjoy:

• Community engagement opportunities for volunteers
• Educational opportunities for all ages
• Share in harvest (50 percent of yield)

All beds are currently adopted by community organizations. Future openings will be posted on this page.

Partners

Frequently Asked Questions

• Where does the harvest go?

  Produce harvested through the RCG will be donated to local food pantries in the area. Additionally, a distribution channel at the Angelou Branch will be established in the future.

• Where can I get food from the RCG?

  Paid:

  • Healthy Corner Store Initiative
  • Common Ground Mobile Farmers Market
  • Kansas Grown! Farmers Market
  • Old Town Farm & Art Market

  Free:

  • Kansas Food Bank
  • The City of Wichita/Sedgwick County Food and Farm Council

• How can I donate?

  We are currently accepting monetary donations through the Wichita Library Foundation. We also accept in-kind donations of seeds, plants, tools and supplies.

• How does the steering committee operate?

  The RCG Steering Committee is comprised of 9-13 voting members. Representation on the committee includes community members in the Angelou Branch Library service area, subject matter experts, volunteers, and ex officio members from the Wichita Public Library and City of Wichita.

  In order to be eligible for selection, nominees must live in or have service ties to the Angelou Branch Library service area. There's an open application process, with nominations reviewed by current committee members. RCG Steering Committee members serve one-year terms, with a maximum of two consecutive terms.