Jenga Mwendo

New Orleans

Jenga Mwendo is the founder of the Backyard Gardeners Network (www.backyardgardenersnetwork.org), whose mission is to sustain and strengthen the historically self-sufficient and deeply rooted community of the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, LA. Through revitalizing the cultural tradition of vegetable gardening, we will in turn revitalize our devastated neighborhood, preserve our cultural heritage, and make our community more food secure. Since 2007, Mwendo has worked to strengthen the Lower Ninth Ward community – organizing neighbors to revitalize and create gardens, planting trees, and developing support systems to encourage and support the culture of growing in the neighborhood. She is the winner of the 2010 Cox Conserves Heroes award, is a 2010 TogetherGreen Fellow (www.togethergreen.org), a 2011-13 IATP Food And Community Fellow, and was featured in the 2014 Aetna African-American History calendar.