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☀️Pleasant and warm, with a high near 70 degrees. Sunset is at 7:47 p.m.
We start the week with a story at the intersection of urban planning, food systems and warmer weather. As we reported earlier this month, an estimated 40% of Massachusetts households experienced food insecurity in 2025, meaning that at some point, they either couldn’t afford enough food or worried about where their next meal would come from. That’s more than double the rate of food insecurity in 2019. The confluence of price inflation, rising utility costs and rent increases is making the problem here in the Boston area worse.
So, what’s the solution? GBH News’ Zoe Mathews explores a citywide effort to repurpose vacant lots into edible parks and gardens, an approach that could help meet some of the region’s food demand. She also reports on expected city budget cuts that have urban gardeners worried about their mission to localize the food system.
But first, a few headlines.
Four Things to Know
1. After seven years of collaboration, GBH and New England Public Media are planning to formally merge by the summer of 2026, creating a statewide media organization expected to reach more than 1.3 million people across Massachusetts every week. “This is all about preserving local news,” GBH President and CEO Susan Goldberg said in an interview. “So at a time when local news is endangered coast to coast, at a time when more than $1.1 billion has been taken away from local public media, what we’re doing by this is figuring out how do we be as efficient as we can to make sure we preserve the most important things ... we do? And local news, in terms of a forward-facing operation, is one of the most important things we do.”
2. After the Supreme Court’s ruling this week weakening the country’s most significant voting legislation, Massachusetts voting advocates say the decision will increase resentment of government and threaten democracy. In Wednesday’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, the Supreme Court ordered the state of Louisiana to redraw maps that created a second majority-Black district. That district was created in 2024 to comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but, Justice Samuel Alito called the map an “unconstitutional gerrymander.” The court’s decision allows congressional districts that prioritize racial demographics to be challenged and could lead to fewer majority-minority districts and fewer elected representatives of color.
3. Residents and nonprofit leaders are calling for the city Council to reject the proposed $1.2 million funding cut to Boston’s Arts and Culture Cabinet, which Mayor Michelle Wu proposed earlier this month. The hearing comes as Boston contends with a nearly $50 million deficit brought on by snow removal, public safety and health care costs. Wu’s spending plan, which totals nearly $5 billion, reduces funding to the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture by 27% from last year. Many argued that the loss of funding would hurt Boston’s economic health and lead to fewer outlets and opportunities for the city’s youth.
4. While Boston children are starting kindergarten with strong literacy skills, some performance gaps for older students remain, according to a recent report. The 2026 Cradle to Career Report from Opportunity Boston, formerly known as the Boston Opportunity Agenda, found that kindergarten readiness jumped to 74% in the most recent school year from 66% in the 2022-23 school year. However, third- and sixth-grade students have shown reading and math scores below grade level.
Could urban gardening be Boston’s answer to rising food insecurity?
By Zoe Mathews
While much of the city hunkered down on a cold February day, the stewards of Hope Garden in Dorchester were out pruning apple trees at an edible park, trying to keep the trees from overshadowing the vegetable beds below.
The garden on Geneva Avenue is one of about a dozen “food forests” in the city, run by the Boston Food Forest Coalition, a nonprofit that turns vacant lots into edible parks and gardens.
“There’s hundreds, maybe thousands of vacant parcels across the city, and this is the critical moment in the history of the city of Boston to transform the fabric of the city,” said Alex Alvanos, who leads Boston Food Forest Coalition’s strategy, operations and site management.
There are various approaches to land stewardship for agricultural purposes. Nonprofit land trusts are popular; many community gardens across the state are run that way. There are also farmer cooperatives; local businesses owned and operated by growers themselves, who share their land and resources.
And there are plenty of parcels in the city to work with. In 2022, Mayor Michelle Wu conducted a land audit of all city-owned property to identify which lots are suitable — in the city’s eyes — for housing development, and which are better suited for green space conservation, parks and gardens.
But practitioners of both land trusts and farmer co-ops are sounding alarms about rising costs and growing regional food insecurity. As the city works through its budget for the next year, urban gardeners say they’re expecting massive cuts that could undermine their mission to localize the food system.
Learn more about Boston’s struggles with equitable food access — and how urban gardening might offer some solutions — with the full story here.
Dig deeper:
- Negotiated prices for electricity from Vineyard Wind take effect
- Wu pushes back on GOP candidate who says Boston housing plan will create ‘the next slum’
- Despite missing federal funds, Boston lays out plan to meet 5-year climate goals
GBH Daily
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