Gardens of Possibilities – inclusion through urban gardening

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Gardens of Possibilities is an urban gardening project, where rehabilitation, education and job training are combined. The objective is reached through horticultural therapy, skills development, individual support and practical work. By participating in the project, the participants prepare for employment or education or get a better living situation. The project is a safe platform for the participants. An individual mapping clarifies the participants current situation, after which a plan with concrete goals is drawn up. In practice, the participants will work with cultivation of flowers and vegetables. The opportunity and challenge is to include people who are (under risk of being) socially marginalized into the society. The target group is long term unemployed persons at risk of lifelong exclusion. If this target group is not reached in time, there is a risk of lifelong exclusiuon. The unemployment rate in the Åland Islands is low, only 3,9 per cent. Among young persons it is 5,4 per cent. This means that the persons who are longterm unemployed are seriously marginalized and (in risk of) lifetime exclusion. There is also a group of unrecorded, not registered unemployed persons and so called NEETS (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), which belong to the target group. ÅSUB (Statistics and Research Åland) estimats the amount of NEETs to 9 per cent amonng young people (15-24 years). The unemployment rate in Valdemarsvik is 9,9 per cent, while the average for Sweden is 7,6 per cent. More than one third of the unemployed are longterm unemployed.

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