 The existing gardens were owned by a variety of institutions, none of them with long term legal protection.The legal incorporation as a non-profit organization with an elected board composed of neighbors created an entity that was able to partner with The Trust for Public Land to purchase the range of properties from a variety of owners, and set in place a process to use and care for the gardens in perpetuity.Many of the original eight gardens were primarily food producing, helping to augment the budgets of low and moderate-income urban families.