A vegetable garden at the Chester County Youth Center (CCYC) offers residents a way to help their community. The youths' participation, including planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting, has resulted in the production of 17,000 pounds of vegetables since the garden's planting in 2013. To date, the garden, which consists of six raised beds and a self-irrigated hoop house, has yielded 17,000 pounds of vegetables. All of this produce was donated to local food cupboards and CCYC's cooking program.

The garden is the result of a partnership with Trellis for Tomorrow, a Phoenixville nonprofit whose experiential programs focus on organic gardening, environmental education, and food security.

The organic CCYC garden has three growing seasons: spring, summer, and fall. Spring plantings include potatoes, lettuce, and cabbage. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, zucchini, and eggplants are grown in the summer. More tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers are planted for the fall. The garden is checked and maintained throughout the year, even when it is inactive.

Over the past few years, the CCYC garden has yielded more than 2,000 pounds of vegetables annually. The vegetables have been donated to the West Chester Food Cupboard and other local food cupboards, including Kennett Square Food Cupboard, the Lord's Pantry in Downingtown, Pathstone Food Pantry in Kennett Square, the Chester County Food Bank, and the West Chester Food Cupboard. CCYC's Arts Holding Hands and Hearts cooking program also uses the produce in creating meals with the CCYC residents.