Does the community garden have a compost pile(s)?

Minnie, you totally cracked me up with the statement about 'ORGANIC COMPOST'. Thanks for the belly laugh. I needed it today.
Tell us more about this garden - where are you, BTW. Hope to get involved with a community garden here in Sugar Hill this year and can learn from your choices.

Rosie

Yes, CG has compost pile- still waiting on all 38 gardeners to jump up and down over benefits of composting. Have compost finishing out at a rate that would serve about 10 garden beds in a meaningful way --28 to go. We are Georgia - zone 7b.

What do the people that garden there do with the leaves that fall from the trees around them? Those leaves are organic matter that could be 1. used as mulch on the soil which will eventually contribute organic matter to the soil which will aid the drainage of the clay, or 2. they could be tilled into the clay (a lot of work, however) which will add organic matter to that clay which will aid the drainage issue.
Any other form of organic matter could be added to the soil also either as mulch or tilled in. Compost is organic matter in a form more readily utilized by the Soil Food Web then raw, undigested organic matter would be, but it is not the only form of organic matter that can be added to soils.

My first inclination is to work on amending the clay that you have...though of course if you're set on using raised beds, you'll need to fill them with something.

As kimmsr says, working in leaves or other organic matter is a lot of work, but if I had a lot of clay with drainage problems, I think I'd bite the bullet and do it, because it will really pay off. If you're talking about trucking in clay to fill the beds, then working in organic matter as you fill is easier than working it into existing soil...but if it were me, I would still dig down and add the existing soil under the beds into the mix.

I tend to think that most people's soils are better than they give them credit for, and are worth amending rather than abandoning. Leaves, horse manure, cow manure, rabbit manure, seaweed if you're near the coast, and of course compost are excellent additions. A bit of asking around can often produce a good supply of free stuff, thus helping your "you can save money by growing food" argument. I've really been on this kick lately, and I basically don't pay anything for soil amendments any more, and when my current bags of organic fertilizer are gone, I don't anticipate buying more.

Remember, though, that if you fill your raised beds with too high a percentage of organic matter, you're just setting yourself for needing to significantly re-fill them every year (I'm not talking about adding a bit more organic matter, but rather needing to fix serious sinkage). I would make sure that you have a high enough percentage of regular old soil to minimize the sinkage problems. I speak with the Voice of Experience!

Ahh. then you all finally helped me get an answer. The raised beds have been up for two years now..some are a mix of clay and compost but most are 100% various mixes of designer bagged compost. Seeing the futility in this made me write this post to begin with. However, I had people deliver leaves last Fall from their own yards and we now have leaves coming out our ears. Sounds like a mix of local red dirt mixed with these leaves and left to sit a bit might ultimately be the most sustainable answer

Once amended, that red clay (I have the same here in NC) makes a wonderful garden soil. Between the garden waste generated, leaves, and encouraging all 38 families working the garden to bring their kitchen veggie scraps, you should be getting enough compost to keep those beds topped off.