In 2004, Miriam Avins and her neighbors started the Homestead Harvest Community Garden as an organic, cooperative garden serving the Better Waverly neighborhood. The garden turned an abandoned vacant lot that attracted drug use into a place of beauty and peace that provides fresh produce for about a dozen families. In 2006, when the garden was threatened by a possible sale of the lot, Miriam began researching how to preserve open spaces managed by neighborhoods. In 2007, she and three other community gardeners founded Baltimore Green Space, and Miriam was awarded an Open Society Institute Community Fellowship to develop the land trust.

In her work at Baltimore Green Space, Miriam has published white papers on community-managed open space; stewardship practices of land trusts; and Baltimore’s forest patches. In 2010 she was awarded the Aileen Hughes Award for Leadership in Land Conservation for her work with Baltimore City to establish a straight-forward way to preserve community-managed open spaces. She also spearheaded efforts to provide access to municipal water for community gardens. Miriam currently serves on Baltimore City’s Commission on Sustainability.