Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

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Volunteer Kristian Batiste (right) a student in Afro-American Studies at UNM, gets some instruction from kitchen cook Patrick Jaite as he mixes fruit punch for the evening meal at Project Share Inc., a meal site for Albuquerque's homeless, Tuesday, May 1, 2007. The class, instructed by former Black Panther David Hilliard, is studying community service and planted a garden at Project Share. "In this class you don't only learn about community service, you learn about about yourself," said Batiste.

Photo by Michael J. GallegosTribune

Tribune

UNM Students of instructor David Hilliard work on their community garden at Project Share Inc., a meal site that feeds the homeless in Albuquerque, as part of their course work in Afro-American Studies on Thursday. Hilliard, a former Black Panther, stresses the value of community service in his classes.

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University of New Mexico students are getting their hands dirty in the neighborhoods of Albuquerque.

The year-old Research Service Learning Program works through disciplines as diverse as English, anthropology, African American studies and athletics to get students out of the classroom and into the community.

Two gardens - one in the Southeast Heights, the other in Barelas - are about as visible and hands-on as the program can get.

The projects were inspired by the Black Panthers' survival programs from the 1960s, said Dan Young, director of the Research Service Learning Program. David Hilliard, former chief of staff of the revolutionary movement of the 1960s and Õ70s, arrived last year as a guest lecturer at UNM and quickly dispatched students into the community.

The Black Panthers' 10-point plan included pledges to provide housing, nutrition and health. The group set the prototype for school breakfasts that eventually were implemented at the federal level. Young said the community gardens get to the heart of that ideal.

"That same idea of establishing programs to elevate people hasn't changed," Young said. "It's all still very relevant."

On a recent Tuesday, Hilliard's students were on the grounds of Project Share, 1515 Yale Blvd. S.E., laying PVC pipe for the irrigation system for the 1,200-square-foot vegetable garden.

Willow Cornelius, who is studying English and political science, said the garden will have carrots, radishes, spinach, peas, beans, lettuce, mustard greens, Swiss chard and onion.

"Mostly plants that have the highest nutritional content, because that's what's lacking most here," Cornelius said.

She said the program can be liberating for low-income residents.

"It allows people to improve themselves and allows them to not rely on the government to help them," Cornelius said. "It empowers them."

At the Barelas Community Center in late April, Sean Bruna's anthropology class invited neighbors to begin planting seeds (donated by Los Poblanos and by Plants of the Southwest) in the five raised beds tucked behind the facility. The alleyway by the back fence used to be littered with bottles and garbage, said Scott Duran, the center's activities director.

On the grow list: posole and Anasazi beans, cilantro and epazote, which is a pungent leafy vegetable.

Student Jenya Novgorodskaya helped set up refreshments for the Saturday morning launch party that encouraged neighborhood residents to get down and dirty.

"We didn't want to plant anything," she said. "We wanted the people to do the planting."

"We want the residents to water it and maintain it and take ownership of it," said student Travis McKenzie. "We encourage home gardens, too."

Bruna, a Ph.D. candidate studying diabetes, said his students researched the history of community gardens (like the victory gardens of World War II) and developed a plan for one in Barelas. He said the garden offers a way to teach children, too, not just about agriculture but things like math - how deep and how wide should the beds be, and how much water should be used?

Duran said the gardens help bring back an important part of the children's heritage. And it can be a fun way to teach.

"It's like a sandbox to them," Duran said. "Except they get to create."

Bruna said his students got to wrangle a bit with the city and the neighborhood association over securing a plot of land for the garden.

"The students learned working with the city that government can be challenging," he said.

Hilliard said his students were to each write a paper at the end of the semester and give a five-minute presentation.

"This is the practical application of our theory: the community service program," Hilliard said.

For most of the spring semester, students measured, dug, spread manure, built a fence, planned a crop rotation, planted seeds and buried an irrigation system at the plot they dubbed Hope's Half Acre. They also volunteered at Project Share.

"I think it's really good for the students," said Patsy Kelton-Born, the food bank's director. "They also come here to cook and serve meals. The more they're here, the more dedicated they become."

Gladys Clear, a junior pursuing African studies and a business minor, said the neighborhood interaction takes the Black Panthers' teaching "from paper to reality."

"It's a lot of awareness about what's going on in the community and how students can help and get out there and make a difference," Clear said.

"The garden is awesome," said Jazmen Bradford, a sophomore studying history, "because I always wanted to give back to the community, and this gave me the opportunity to do that."

Jillian Stohr, a pre-med junior, planted the lettuce.

"This is like nothing I've ever gotten out of another class," she said. "It's something that will last beyond a semester."

Project Share has tried to grow food before, with mixed results, Kelton-Born said.

"We had a good time, but we weren't the world's greatest gardeners," she said. "So it's good we have somebody who knows what they're doing."

Young, the Research Service Learning Program director, said the community gardens pave the way for next year's challenge: hunger in Albuquerque. He said it's a problem that can be attacked through several academic disciplines: agricultural, economic, transportation and educational.

"There are all sorts of angles to it and ways we can use the university's resources to address the problem," Young said.