Newsroom

Please join us in welcoming Georgina Griffith-Yates as Wasatch Community Gardens' new Executive Director! Georgina possesses an extremely solid background in nonprofit management. She has spent the last seven years in the nonprofit field, leading work to advance college and career readiness technology in Utah schools. Her expertise lies in organizational development, team leadership, marketing, and designing accessible programs for diverse populations. She has led significant organizational growth in her career and has experience with developing a collaborative vision for new and expanding programs. Quite simply, Georgina is a dynamic and visionary leader.

Georgina’s education background is impressive as well. She received her Master’s in Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Management from the University of Utah. She is currently in her third year of a PhD in Political Science, Nonprofit Management and Civil Society Track, at the University of Utah. 

Georgina loves spending time tending her garden with her wife and their menagerie of rescue animals. She is ecstatic to be at Wasatch Community Gardens, and we are, of course, ecstatic for her to join us!

Georgina will start on August 10, allowing for a full month of overlap with Ashley so that there is a smooth hand-off of the Executive Director baton. Ashley’s last day at WCG will be September 10.

Click here to learn more about Georgina. We are thrilled to have her join us!

After nine incredible years at the helm of Wasatch Community Gardens (WCG), Executive Director Ashley Patterson is resigning in September to pursue her next adventure. We are grateful to Ashley for all that she has accomplished at WCG, not the least of which is building a permanent home at the Wasatch Community Gardens’ Campus for us to better serve a larger, more diverse community as we work to empower people to grow and eat healthy, organic, local food. At the completion of this project later this year, Ashley will be moving on to new challenges. Ashley is a community leader, an authority on sustainable agriculture, a visionary, and a friend. We will miss her! We will be celebrating Ashley’s legacy throughout the summer.  Stay tuned for further information.

We are actively seeking an experienced, passionate Executive Director to lead WCG’s efforts to create a community where everyone values and has access to growing and eating healthy, delicious food. We’re looking for leadership experience, preferably as a nonprofit executive director, and ability to fundraise, influence the community, and set and drive strategic direction to further organizational mission. The description for this full-time position may be viewed here. Please consider joining our team or sharing this opportunity with a stellar candidate!

"Involving young children in their food from start to finish—planting seeds; seeing, touching and smelling plants; harvesting the bounty; and preparing and eating foods together—gives kids more ownership over what they put in their bodies and can lead to lifelong healthy eating."

Check out this article about our Youth & School Garden Program and the benefits of introducing children to gardening from Early Learning Nation.

As an anti-racist organization that serves all members of our community, including many in the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, we at Wasatch Community Gardens would like to share this recent statement from local leaders and express our solidarity:

“We are devastated by the news of [this week’s] shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, and we express our sincerest condolences to all the victims and their families who are affected by this tragedy. While the motives connected to these horrifying killings are yet to be settled, it is deeply disturbing that many of the fatalities are among the most vulnerable in our communities: women of Asian descent. It is clear that anti-Asian hate incidents have exploded over the past year across our country. The increase of anti-Asian hate speech is absolutely unacceptable and must stop. Divisive rhetoric, such as describing the Coronavirus as the 'Chinese Virus,' has increased acts of hate against members of the AA&PI community broadly. Unfortunately, too often acts of hate go unreported. We urge all Utahns to come together, to call out hateful rhetoric, and to support one another as we get through this challenging time. Hate does not have a place in our community, but your safety and security does. You are not alone.”

~Elected leaders and organizations from Utah’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Community

The Salt Lake Tribune posted this statement, available in context here. 

Click here to read Wasatch Community Gardens' Anti-Racism Statement.