Become a member of the
SGSO Network!
Membership is completely free and is up to you on how you engage.
Who can become a member?
Anyone who feels they can benefit from our programs is welcome!
We are a network of school garden champions, supporting programs at any level, from individual school gardens to School Garden Support Organizations (SGSOs) who serve multiple school gardens. Currently, our network consists of 4,600+ individuals representing more than 2,000 organizations or schools that support tens of thousands of school gardens. Learn more about our Network and our mission on our About page.
In response to our 2021 Strategic Plan, we have expanded our membership to include school garden professionals working directly or indirectly with school gardens at any scale from the individual garden educator to the program staff at an organization supporting dozens of school gardens across a region.
Why be a part of the SGSO Network?
We know that garden-based learning has the power to grow healthy kids, engaged learners, resilient empowered youth, and environmental stewards.
By being a member of the SGSO Network, you a part of the growing school garden movement as we all seek to increase the number of:
- School gardens
- Students engaged in garden-based learning
- Teachers utilizing gardens
- Policies to support school gardens programs
As a member, you have the ability to co-create the SGSO Network’s programs, focus, and resources. Share what you’ve learned and learn from others to eliminate redundancy and reduce reinventing the wheel, allowing you to save time and resources and improve the quality of your programs!
How Does Membership Work?
Membership is completely free. We invite you to engage however and whenever you’d like.
Signing up for our email list is the best way for us to stay in touch with you to share information on programs, resources, and events.
Have Questions or New to the Network?
Join one of our quarterly onboarding calls to learn more and ask questions!
or
Book time with Director, Tristana Pirkl, to answer questions about what it means to be a member or ideas on how to get more involved
What does membership entail?
Sign Up for Our Email List
Stay up to date on information related to the Network as well as training, resources, and events for the school garden movement.
Engage with a Peer Learning Community
Connect, network, and work with other school garden professionals within specific a topic, regions, roles, identities, or others!
Join the Google Forum
Engage with fellow school garden professionals! Ask questions and share your knowledge.
- You’ll either need a google account or be able to connect your email to a google account to join.
- Click “Apply to Join this Group”, submit your information and you will be approved to post on the forum within 24 hours.
- Once you’ve been approved, you can either make a post within the forum or by emailing school-garden-network@googlegroups.com. You can also find an existing relevant post and add your perspective or resource to the discussion.
- You can adjust your settings to receive an email for every post, or a daily or weekly digest.
Gather
Meet other school garden professionals at various in-person networking and professional development gatherings to connect, learn and be a part of the movement! Gatherings range from sharing a meal at a national conference to a week-long leadership institute.
Virtual Learning
A core component of our Network is peer-to-peer learning. Our webinars and virtual gatherings provide the platform for you – the school garden leaders – to share your expertise with others.
Request a Webinar Topic
Have a topic you’d like to learn more about?
Fill out the below form to suggest a topic.
Sign up for a Webinar
Webinars are held usually once a month. Learn about upcoming webinars here.
Present on a Webinar
If there’s a topic that you’d personally like to share. We’d love to learn from you here.
Resources
Driven by open source sharing, collaboration, and cross-pollination of ideas, our Promising Practices resources have been curated over the years by fellow school garden leaders and are centered on strengthening all aspects of school garden programming. Learn more or suggest your own resource
Co-Creation
What would you like membership to include? How could the SGSO Network better support your school gardens and programming? Our Network is member-led and continually evolving to meet the needs of our participants. Help us shape our work by sharing your ideas and feedback here.