By Audrey Clark
Grassroots Gardens WNY (GGWNY) has been “growing community” for more than 30 years. The nonprofit acts as an urban land trust and helps facilitate community gardens and other public green spaces to strengthen local connections between gardeners, residents, non-profits and government.
I recently sat down with GGWNY’s new executive director, Meg Kelly, who has been in the role since July. Meg comes to GGWNY from the tech and startup industries. She has spent most of her career as a serial operator, building internal infrastructure at early-stage companies and supporting economic development initiatives in Buffalo through the lens of entrepreneurship and innovation. Originally from a rural community near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Meg has lived in Buffalo for nearly a decade.
Here, Meg talks about community building, her plans for GGWNY, and gardening in Buffalo.
BNG: What are you most excited about in your new role? What do you hope to accomplish in your first year?
MK: Personally, I have become incredibly attached to Buffalo and my neighbors in the nearly decade that I’ve been calling it my home; I am beyond excited to be doing work that has such a direct impact on the physical spaces and people around me every day.
Organizationally, I’m joining at a really exciting moment. GGWNY is preparing to purchase eight lots from the City of Buffalo that currently house seven community gardens, which will more than double the size of our land trust and permanently protect cherished neighborhood gardens. With that growth comes the responsibility to think long-term about stewardship, sustainability, and the internal systems needed to support it.
“Grassroots Gardens already has deep relationships, trust, and community expertise. My job is not to replace that with systems; it’s to build systems that make that work easier and more sustainable.”
—Meg Kelly
Where do you see GGWNY headed in the next few years?
I see the next few years as a period of thoughtful growth. My predecessor did a tremendous amount of work to strengthen the organization’s sustainability; I plan to continue building on that foundation rather than growing simply for the sake of growth.
Land acquisition and long-term stewardship will be a major part of that, but I also want to make sure we’re strengthening the community-led nature of the organization. The goal is not just to protect more land, but to make sure gardeners and neighborhoods continue to have real ownership, voice, and support in shaping these spaces.
You’re coming to this work from the startup and incubator world rather than from a traditional gardening or nonprofit background. What perspectives or approaches are you bringing with you that you think could be valuable to GGWNY?
I’ve actually been surprised by how much overlap there is between startups and small nonprofits. In both environments, people wear a lot of hats, resources are limited, and you’re constantly asking how to create the greatest impact with what you have.
In startups, I spent a lot of time thinking about how to build infrastructure that could support growth without losing the flexibility and creativity that made the organization successful in the first place. I think that perspective is very relevant here. Grassroots Gardens already has deep relationships, trust, and community expertise. My job is not to replace that with systems; it’s to build systems that make that work easier and more sustainable.
I also spent a large part of my career thinking about what makes Western New York a desirable place to work and build a company. Now I get to focus on what makes it a desirable place to live, learn, gather, and belong.
We’re part of a new generation of nonprofit leaders coming to this work from professional backgrounds outside of gardening. What perspectives or approaches do you think this next generation of leadership can bring to the gardening movement and Buffalo’s nonprofit community, and, in turn, what can gardening teach those of us who are new to it?
I think a new generation of leaders can bring fresh energy, new approaches to partnerships, technology, organizational design, and cross-sector collaboration. But I also think it’s important to come into this work with humility.
Gardening is a pretty good teacher in that way. You can’t force everything to happen on your timeline. You have to pay attention, understand the conditions you’re working in, invest consistently, and sometimes wait.
How can community gardens help address bigger challenges?
Community gardens alone can’t solve citywide challenges like food insecurity, vacancy, environmental inequity, or neighborhood disinvestment, but they can play a meaningful role in addressing them.
They can create access to fresh food, bring vacant land back into productive use, reduce heat and improve biodiversity, and create spaces where neighbors build relationships and organize around shared priorities. One of their greatest strengths is that they address several issues at once while still being deeply local and shaped by the people who live nearby.
What makes gardening in Buffalo special?
One of the first things I fell in love with about Buffalo was summer here. There’s something about warm weather in Western New York that makes it feel like the entire city comes outside at once, determined to soak up every bit of sunshine.
To me, Buffalo’s gardens capture that spirit. They’re places where people create beauty, spend time outside, gather with neighbors, and make a little oasis of their own. The longer I’ve lived here, the more I’ve understood that the gardening culture is also connected to something deeper: the history and identity of our neighborhoods, and the grit and creativity of the people who care for them.
What kind of gardener are you? What’s your favorite plant or flower?
I grew up rurally with many gardens of every variety stewarded by my mom. Since moving to Buffalo and apartment hopping for a few years, I became very passionate about houseplants. I steward a small indoor jungle at home (my favorite pick, a lemon lime Maranta).
In 2024 I purchased a converted carriage house on the West Side and I’m slowly chipping away at turning the large front yard into a cottage garden. I’ve already learned so much from our gardeners; tips and expertise are quite welcome!
Audrey Clark is the executive director of Gardens Buffalo Niagara.
