Beauty's Community Garden

Community
Education
Food Insecurity

Who We Are

Beauty’s Community Garden is situated in Independence Heights—the first African American municipality in Texas and one of 40 food deserts in Houston. The land was purchased in 1926 by Yvette Leno’s grandparents, Ernest and Beauty Leno. Yvette later inherited the property, and after a devastating fire destroyed the family’s homestead in 1991, she repurposed the land in 2012 into a community garden named after her grandmother, “Beauty.”

Today, Beauty’s Community Garden is blossoming into Yvette’s vision: a place for community members to come together, access, and learn about healthy whole foods they can grow themselves. The garden is a natural haven where people can plant roots and connect with the benefits of choosing healthy foods through nutrition education and understanding its impact on physical and mental well-being.

Spanning over 6,000 square feet with a 20 ft container, Beauty's Community Garden boasts community-connected spaces where 10-15 volunteers support the garden weekly, cultivating a variety of fresh produce and herbs.

What We Do

At Beauty's Community Garden, our mission is to fight food insecurity in underserved and underrepresented neighborhoods. We're dedicated to closing the gap on food inequities and promoting a community culture of health and well-being.

Here's what we do:

Educational Programs: We offer hands-on gardening classes and nutrition workshops to teach community members how to grow their own food and make healthy choices.
Community Engagement: We host events and volunteer opportunities to involve the community in gardening and food production.
Produce Donation: We distribute fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs to local residents, especially seniors, to improve access to healthy food.
Farmers Market: We bring produce from our garden to local farmers markets to promote healthy eating and support local agriculture.

We’re dedicated to transforming food deserts into thriving, healthy communities by empowering residents with the knowledge and resources to produce their own food.