A community garden rarely shows up as an economic success in the way a business would, yet the value it creates is real and fairly easy to see once you look for it: reduced grocery spending for participating households, shared tools that no one had to buy individually, and produce passed along to neighbours.
There is also a slower, less obvious value in the skills it keeps alive. Knowing how to grow food, compost properly, or manage a small plot through a season is knowledge that tends to fade from daily life, and a shared garden is one of the few places it still gets passed on directly.
The land itself often does more work than its size suggests, absorbing rainwater, supporting pollinators, and cooling the immediate area in a way that a car park or vacant lot cannot. None of it appears on a balance sheet, but a well-used community garden earns its keep many times over.