Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is the 2,500 students attending the five schools we're serving through this grant. The schools are: X017, serving K-12th grade students with special developmental & educational needs; X025, serving K-5th grade students; X031 William Lloyd Garrison, serving K-8th grade; X267 Bronx Latin, serving 6-12th grade; and X492 South Bronx Early College Academy, serving 6-8th grade. Each of the five schools serve a student population with high economic need, with 90% or more of students in each school living in poverty, and experiencing food insecurity; all schools are located in FRESH Zones and are within or in one block of federal opportunity zones, indicative of the economic need. In Year 1 of the grant cycle (SY2022-23), our program operated in four of the five schools, enabling us to reach close to 2,000 students with educational programming and distributions of the food students cultivated and harvested in their hydroponic classrooms.In Y2 (SY2023-24), we operated in all five schools, reaching close to 2,500 students. Changes/Problems:Two key challenges arose over the course of the two-year grant cycle. The first pertained to workload backlogs at the DOE and other city agencies responsible for preparing school classrooms to receive and run the hydroponic equipment. For both X025 and X267, these issues led to delays in program implementation: at X025, our program launched in April 2023 and at X267, teacher training began in late Spring 2023 and educational programming in September 2023. We maintained regular contact with the responsible agencies and the school to stay abreast of construction progress, provide guidance, and answer questions as needed to keep the process moving. A second challenge related to the logistics of coordinating field trips and workshops. Every school included in this grant expressed strong interest in receiving the workshops and field trips. However, the implementation proved challenging for both our school partners and Green Guerillas, the sub-awardee responsible for these initiatives. Daily school schedules are packed for administrators, teachers, and students, which made it difficult to make time for workshops and field trips that were not already built into the standard instructional schedule. For field trips, schools also needed to identify trip chaperones and arrange teachers to cover classes while the main teacher attended the field trip, since urban gardens and farms are too small to accommodate the large number of students that often compose a full grade in NYC schools, and it was not always possible to find classroom coverage. To mitigate these issues, which arose in year 1, Green Guerillas expanded and amplified its efforts to coordinate with the schools, with additional communication support provided by NY Sun Works. However, responses from schools were often delayed or sporadic, which complicated planning and scheduling the classroom visits and community garden activities, including the weekend food distribution program for students in both years. We would be happy to discuss these challenges with the USDA team to share thoughts on future programming. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through this project, six teachers have received training in implementing our grade-specific STEM+sustainability through hydroponic farming curriculum. Teachers have also learned how to operate hydroponic systems and use the systems as an instructional tool for hands-on science and sustainability education in a grade-specific way. This "train the teacher" model, which includes one-on-one curriculum and technical farming training and mentoring as well as group professional learning sessions, builds teachers skills and knowledge in sustainability and urban farming. This enables teachers to confidently implement our curriculum and use the hydroponic systems effectively as teaching tools, in turn supporting an optimal learning experience for the students we serve and building student interest in and engagement with urban agriculture and the related foundational sciences in this current school year and for successive cohorts of students after the grant cycle concludes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Close to 2,500 students have been introduced to hydroponic farming and learned about the role of urban agriculture in building sustainable and resilient communities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this first year of grant implementation, we installed a USDA-funded hydroponic classroom and launched our program, including providing comprehensive teacher training, at one new school partner (X031). In addition, we delivered our comprehensive sustainability + urban farming program, including teacher support and hydroponic systems maintenance, to X031 and three other partner schools, reaching a combined total of close to 2,000 students.Students at the four schools built their seed-to-harvest farming skills, studied core science & sustainability content in a hands-on, experiential way, and grew their understanding of the role of urban agriculture in addressing food security. In Year 2, all five Hydroponic Classrooms were operating fully for student instruction and in-classroom urban farming, reaching close to 2,500 students. Also in Year 2, 20 high school students at X267 participated in the urban agriculture workforce development program to receive their Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) certification and general workforce readiness training. Each school's Hydroponic Classroom produced multiple harvests, cultivated by the students. The produce grown was distributed to students for sharing with their families and to the school community. Through these harvest distributions, which also include take-home discussion cards to inspire discussion among students and their families, we extended the classroom learning to the community and bolstered families' awareness of where food comes from and the role of hydroponics & soil-based community farms in providing healthy food and addressing community food needs. In addition to in-school farming and instruction, the grant enabled students to learn about soil-based farming and the role of community gardens in building resilient communities, through workshops and garden visits organized by Green Guerillas, the grant sub-awardee responsible for the community farming components of the project. In year 1, 140 students in 4 schools participated in in-school workshops provided by Green Guerillas; however, fewer students participated in the in-school workshops than anticipated, primarily due to challenges schools encountered with incorporating workshops into very full daily instruction schedules. In year 2, Green Guerillas conducted three workshops at X017: Plant Exploration + Life cycle; Seed Bomb Making; and Community Garden Beautification. Green Guerillas organized two garden visits, at Sweet Gum Youth Community and Bronx River Community Garden, open to students at all five schools. At Sweet Gum Youth Community Garden, students actively engaged in various gardening activities, including planting seedlings of rosemary, thyme, cucumber, sage, and tomatoes. At the Bronx River Community Garden, students participated in a Seed Bomb Making workshop, planted edible plants, and built and decorated birdhouses for the garden. Students also observed a healthy cooking demonstration to illustrate ways that the herbs from the garden could be used in cooking; participated in a plant identification activity, deepening their understanding of the diverse flora within these spaces; and contributed to the care of community garden beds by assisting with watering. These garden visits proved instrumental in fostering a sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility among our young participants. All participating schools were invited to participate at the Open Garden Day event at the Bronx River Community Garden. Finally, at all five schools, 6 designated teachers were trained and mentored in using hydroponic systems for grade-specific classroom instruction and implementing the STEM + sustainability curriculum, by NY Sun Works hydroponic and education specialists. This training and professional development supported successful programming during the grant cycle and will facilitate program longevity implementation so that successive classes of students of students can benefit from the program experience.

Publications

Progress 09/01/22 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is the 2,500 students attending the five schools we're serving through this grant. The schools are: X017, serving K-12th grade students with special developmental & educational needs; X025, serving K-5th grade students; X031 William Lloyd Garrison, serving K-8th grade; X267 Bronx Latin, serving 6-12th grade; and X492 South Bronx Early College Academy, serving 6-8th grade. Each of the five schools serve a student population with high economic need, with 90% or more of students in each school living in poverty, and experiencing food insecurity; all schools are located in FRESH Zones and are within or in one block of federal opportunity zones, indicative of the economic need. In Year 1 of the grant cycle (SY2022-23), our program operated in four of the five schools, enabling us to reach close to 2,000 students with educational programming and distributions of the food students cultivated and harvested in their hydroponic classrooms.? Changes/Problems:We encountered several challenges in implementing the program in year 1. The first pertained to workload backlogs at the DOE and other city agencies responsible for preparing school classrooms to receive and run the hydroponic equipment. For both X025 and X267, these issues led to delays in program implementation: at X025, our program launched in April 2023 and at X267, teacher training began in late Spring 2023 and educational programming in September 2023. We maintained regular contact with the responsible agencies and the school to stay abreast of construction progress, provide guidance, and answer questions as needed to keep the process moving. A second challenge relates to the logistical challenges of coordinating field trips and workshops. Every school included in this grant expressed strong interest in receiving the workshops and field trips. However, the implementation has proved challenging for both our school partners and the sub-awardee. Daily school schedules are packed for administrators, teachers, and students, which makes it difficult to make time for planning and implementing workshops and field trips that are not already a requirement and part of the instructional schedule. For field trips, schools needed to identify trip chaperones and arrange teachers to cover classes while the main teacher attended the field trip (urban gardens and farms are too small to accommodate the large number of students that often compose a full grade in NYC schools. We also encountered substantial scheduling challenges with implementing the weekend food distribution program for students in Y1. With the benefit of a better understanding of the logistics and time required to arrange these activities, we are optimistic that implementing the community farming component will be a more efficient process in year 2. Finally, even though we recognize the value of working with a smaller organization as a sub-awardee, it has been challenging at times to coordinate between the schools and the sub-awardee, which does not have the established relationship with the school administration and whose program is not already a part of the school's regular curriculum. We would be happy to discuss these challenges with the USDA team to share thoughts on future programming. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through this project, six teachers have received training in implementing our grade-specific STEM+sustainability through hydroponic farming curriculum. Teachers have also learned how to operate hydroponic systems and use the systems as an instructional tool for hands-on science and sustainability education in a grade-specific way. This "train the teacher" model, which includes one-on-one curriculum and technical farming training and mentoring as well as group professional learning sessions, builds teachers skills and knowledge in sustainability and urban farming. This enables teachers to confidently implement our curriculum and use the hydroponic systems effectively as teaching tools, in turn supporting an optimal learning experience for the students we serve and building student interest in and engagement with urban agriculture and the related foundational sciences in this current school year and for successive cohorts of students after the grant cycle concludes. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Close to 2,000 students have been introduced to hydroponic farming and learned about the role of urban agriculture in building sustainable and resilient communities. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In this next reporting period, we will continue the current programming and will also begin the CEA workforce development program at X267. In addition, to facilitate implementation of the community farming component, our sub-awardee has created a straightforward digital form for schools to complete regarding their needs and preferences for workshops and visits, which we are optimistic will streamline the planning process for this part of the program.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In this first year of grant implementation, we installed a USDA-funded hydroponic classroom and launched our program, including providing comprehensive teacher training, at one new school partner (X031). In addition, we delivered our comprehensive sustainability + urban farming program, including teacher support and hydroponic systems maintenance, to X031 and three other partner schools, reaching a combined total of close to 2,000 students.Students at the four schools builttheir seed-to-harvest farming skills, studied core science & sustainability content in a hands-on, experiential way, and grew their understanding of the role of urban agriculture in addressing food security. Each school's hydroponic classroom produced multiple harvests, cultivated by the students, and the produce grown was distributed to students for sharing with their families and to the school community. Through these harvest distributions, which also include take-home discussion cards to inspire discussion among students and their families, we extended the classroom learning to the community and bolstered families' awareness of where food comes from and the role of hydroponics & soil-based community farms in providing healthy food and addressing community food needs. Green Guerillas, a grant sub-awardee, delivered workshops to students in seeding and composting at three schools (X017, X025, and X492) and organized field trips to local community gardens for two schools. X492 participated in a garden tour at the NY Botanical Gardens, organized by NY Sun Works. During the workshops, which were tailored to the grade level and students' learning needs, students created seed bombs to understand seed propagation and planting techniques and learned about the importance of composting in reducing waste and enhancing soil health. At the community farm visits, students planted seeds for tomatoes, kale, peppers, and collard greens; sowed the seed bombs they crafted during the in-school workshops; contributed to the care of community garden beds by assisting with watering; and participated in a plant identification activity that deepened their understanding of the diverse flora within these spaces. These garden visits proved to be instrumental in fostering a sense of stewardship and environmental responsibility among our young participants.

Publications