# 119-hr-5255: Thriving Community Gardens Act

119-hr-5255, Thriving Community Gardens Act, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Brown, Shontel M. [D-OH-11] (D-OH); status introduced; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5255
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-5255
- Congress: 119
- Title: Thriving Community Gardens Act
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-09-10
- Sponsor: Rep. Brown, Shontel M. [D-OH-11] (D-OH)
- Cosponsors: 2
- Policy area: Education
- Touches household money: yes
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Allows Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) grant funds to be used to develop and maintain school and community gardens.** It also directs the Department of Education to gather information from local education agencies that use SSAE funds for gardens and publish updated best practices on a public website. - Students and families: Students can get more nutrition education and regular, structured physical activity tied to gardening, including chronic disease management instruction from nurses or other health professionals. - Schools and local education agencies: Schools may spend existing SSAE grant dollars to build and maintain school or community gardens, creating hands-on learning spaces. - Department of Education and practitioners: The Department must collect program examples, identify what works, and post regularly updated best practices online for schools to use. *Does not authorize new funding or change existing program funding levels.*

## Cosponsors (2)

- Rep. Carey, Mike [R-OH-15] (R-OH), 2025-09-10T00:00:00.000Z
- Del. Plaskett, Stacey E. [D-VI-At Large] (D-VI), 2025-09-10T00:00:00.000Z

## Provisions PRIA read

- School funds for gardens and health: benefit, low. This bill would let schools use existing federal Student Support and Academic Enrichment grants for school or community gardens. It would also allow those funds for nutrition classes and regular, structured physical education, including disease management lessons taught by school nurses or nurse pr…

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage Act
- 119-hr-1684: PAST Act of 2025
- 119-hr-5361: George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025

## Sources
- [119-hr-5255 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5255)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-842: Nancy Gardner Sewell Medicare Multi-Cancer Early Detection Screening Coverage A…](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-842)
- [119-hr-1684: PAST Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1684)
- [119-hr-5361: George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5361)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-5255 (as of 2026-04-21).