The Research Question
How can design help grassroots organizations build more sustainable, consistent community engagement?
The Uphams Corner Food Forest in Dorchester, MA is a publicly accessible green space maintained by volunteer stewards and part of the Boston Food Forest Coalition. Despite strong community interest, the food forest faced a persistent challenge: neighbors didn't know it existed, and the stewards lacked the resources to change that in any lasting way.

Understanding the Problem
Before designing anything, I needed to understand three things: how food forests function as community spaces, what makes grassroots engagement efforts succeed or fail, and what design toolkits in similar settings already looked like.
That research shaped everything that followed.

Process & Methods
Observational Studies
On-site observation revealed that stewards — the volunteers who maintain the space — are the primary users and the backbone of any engagement effort. Without a registration or sign-up system, there was no way to follow up with visitors, and no data to learn from.
Stakeholder Interviews
Interviews surfaced a consistent set of needs: clearly defined roles, a system for data collection, outreach strategies, and better internal organization. The through-line was that any solution had to be adaptable, accessible, and modular — built for a team with limited time and resources.
Participatory Design Sessions
Working directly with stewards and community members highlighted the need for clearer structure and plain-language instructions. This confirmed the direction: modular tools and templates that could flex to different situations, with digital access so nothing would get lost in a folder.
User Testing
On-site testing validated several tools immediately. Others needed simplification, stronger visuals, and translation into languages spoken in the surrounding neighborhood.

The Toolkit: Rooted in Connection (www.rootedinconnection.net)
The final product is a free, editable, publicly available website resource organized into three sections:

Engagement Tools — for activating and retaining community members
Outreach Tools — for spreading awareness in the neighborhood
Understanding Participation Tools — for tracking who shows up and why

Every tool is designed to be adapted. The goal was never a one-size-fits-all solution — it was a replicable framework that other food forests, community gardens, and grassroots organizations could make their own.

Impact
The toolkit's real-world impact became visible when comparing two consecutive season opener events at the food forest. Door-knocking and flyer distribution — both guided by toolkit resources — drove a measurable increase in sign-ups and attendance. More people showed up. More people left their names.

What This Could Become
This project is designed to grow. Next steps include testing the toolkit with other Boston Food Forest Coalition members, refining tools based on ongoing feedback, and developing resources for season-closing events and longer-term community stewardship. The broader ambition: a replicable engagement framework that travels — to other food forests, other cities, other grassroots efforts working to bring people into shared space.