PORTLAND, Ore. — The sunflowers that tower over the Victory Garden at Portland’s Bybee Lakes Hope Center aren’t just for neighborhood birds.
Twice a month, volunteers harvest bouquets to sell at the St. Johns Farmers Market. The rest form a living billboard for residents — people experiencing homelessness — to come outside and see what’s growing.
“The flowers attract people to come out here and look at things,” said Dennis Brown, an Oregon State University Extension Master Gardener. He invites visitors to drop-in classes or to join him for a few minutes harvesting potatoes, green beans or corn. “The garden is both educational and a place of respite.”
Listening first, then teaching
Brown’s work at Bybee Lakes is one of several projects that led the OSU Extension Master Gardener program and the Oregon Master Gardener Association to present him with the inaugural Growing and Belonging Award in 2023. He has taught gardening skills with African American community organizations, immigrant workers, military veterans and people experiencing homelessness.
“The key to the success of each of these community projects has been how well Dennis listens to the needs of the community and adapts how Master Gardeners can support, educate and serve,” said Marcia McIntyre, program representative for the Metro Area OSU Extension Master Gardener program. “He’s a community cultivator.”
“Leading garden education classes for the Bybee Lakes community and other local nonprofits knits together my interests in environmental stewardship, sustainable agriculture and connecting communities,” Brown said.
He hopes the award inspires other Master Gardeners to find new ways to share their expertise with historically underserved communities.
A return to horticulture
Brown grew up on his family’s Iowa farm and studied horticulture through graduate school, earning a doctorate in plant biology from the University of California, Santa Cruz. He spent 30 years in the San Francisco Bay Area as an environmental consultant. Looking ahead to retirement, he became a California-certified Master Gardener in 2010.
After moving to northeast Portland in 2015, he completed OSU Extension’s Master Gardener training to meet peers and learn how best to serve his new community. In 2022, the Portland Metro Area’s 361 Master Gardeners contributed more than 22,000 volunteer hours. Brown has taught classes at libraries and Fix-It Fairs and staffed the Master Gardener helpline.
In 2019, a request from Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s Portland Alumnae Chapter set him on a new path. The sorority operates the June Key Delta Community Center in North Portland and sought a partner to renovate the gardens. Brown helped secure a grant for new raised beds and organized Master Gardeners to teach volunteers how to build them.
That same year, he taught OSU Extension’s Seed to Supper program for participants in the Voz Workers’ Rights Education Project, a worker-led organization that empowers day laborers and new immigrants. With support from a Spanish–English interpreter, Brown taught a six-week class to workers from across the U.S. and Latin America.
Gardening — and grantmaking — for impact
Brown has continued to use his grant-writing skills to help both the Deltas and Voz launch new projects, and he introduced the two groups to each other. In 2020, a large grant helped Voz workers landscape the June Key Center with native plants, followed by additional rounds of gardening classes.
In 2021, Brown read about the Bybee Lakes Hope Center and its three-acre Victory Garden led by VetREST. He connected with VetREST and Helping Hands Re-Entry Centers, which had transformed an unused prison into a transitional residence for up to 300 people. Working with residents and volunteers, Brown helped plant watermelons, peppers, tomatoes, corn and squash.
For the past two years, Brown and four other Master Gardeners have taught monthly Horticulture for Life classes at Bybee Lakes. He also secured funding for 30 cubic yards of compost and built trellises for grapes and berries. Beyond formal classes, he spends several days a week tending the teaching garden, advising staff who grow food for residents and greeting anyone drawn in by the sunflowers.
Brown says the goal isn’t job training — though skills are gained — and it’s not only about growing food.
“It’s not just about gardening,” he said. “It’s providing people with an experience to enrich their lives. Some people I teach have been houseless for a while and haven’t had structure. Gardening is a hopeful, forward-looking process. You plan the garden. You plant seeds. The seeds grow. You might have some difficulties along the way, but at the end, you get a harvest.”
Previously titled ‘Community cultivator’ uses gardening to enrich underserved communities
