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

Outputs
Target Audience: The target audience for student beneficiaries of IRC's Growing Healthy Futures Project were elementary-aged (K-8) studentsin the San Juan Unified School District, specifically at four target schools: Thomas Edison (TE), Dyer-Kelly (DK), Greer (G), and Starr King (SK), that are located in low-income/low-access areas of Sacramento, and servehigh populations of refugee and immigrant families, students who are English Language Learners (ELL), and studentsqualifying for free and reduced lunch (FRL). Student demographics at each of the schools is as follows: TE - 35% ELL, 64% FRL; DK - 66% ELL, 85% FRL; G - 30% ELL, 73% FRL; SK - 59% ELL, 83% FRL (Source: ed-data.org). Collaborating teachers at each of the schools also benefited through informal training and support from IRC staff, including receiving technical assistance in gardening and agriculture, shadowing garden-based activities with students led by IRC staff, and development of lesson plans and activities, and shared garden-education curricula and resources. IRC staff supported 12educators through informal training and technical assistance in gardening and facilitating garden-based education for lower-elementary aged youth. Student participation counts and attendance rosters with student names and grade level were collected for all grant activities, however,other specific demographics data of student participants were not collected. 337 students were served in garden-based lessons and learning activities in the school gardens, including 92 Garden Leadership Club students who also attended experiential learning activities and field trips at the IRC New Roots urban farm. Students ranged in age and grade-level across the four school sites. Youth participants served in garden-based education activities and Garden Leadership Clubs were primarilyin lower-elementary grade levels (grades 2-5). Garden Leadership Clubs were comprised of: 19 - 2nd grade, 33 - 3rd grade, 25 - 4th grade; 15 - 5th grade; and 3 - 6th grade students over two years of the project. Additionally, school-wideproduce sampling during lunch meals at each of the schools served a total of 2,167 K-8 students. Families of students at the four school sites were also served by the project. Educational activities were held at Family Engagement and community outreach events that served 1,475 adults and families, featuring seasonal garden-education, food access resources, nutrition and healthy eating resources, taste-tests and sampling of farm and garden produce, recipe demonstrations, and other activities in the school gardens like planting, garden maintenance, and harvesting produce. 104 immigrant and refugee parents and adult family members were also served through hands-on nutrition education classes and cooking demonstrations through collaboration with the Health Education Council using a CalFresh approved curricula, "Fresh from the Garden," to teach parents/families about the nutritional benefits of common garden vegetables and practice cooking and preparing healthy and affordable meals using fresh produce. Finally, an unanticipated audience that was reached through the project were older high-school aged youth (grades 9-12) through collaboration with IRC's Youth Department Programs. 58 high-school aged Afghan youth in the Youth Leadership Council and InspiHer Leadership Program were served through gardening activities, experiential learning field trips to IRC New Roots farm, and through leadership focused activities that combined education on local food systems and sustainable farming. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Teachers at each school formed Garden Committees that participated in monthly meetings with IRC staff during which teachers received informal training and guidance from IRC staff in addition to school-garden curriculum guides and educational resources. Teachers also shadowed IRC staff in the school gardens to learn about small-group and class facilitation methods for garden-based lessons. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The IRC in Sacramento's New Roots program staff that worked on this project presented on school garden programs to IRC professionals at a convening of 12 IRC offices at the 2023 New Roots National Conference. An overview of the IRC in Sacramento's Food and Agriculture Service Learning Project (FASLP), along with best practices for implementing school garden programs and experiential learning in agriculture for youth, was shared during a training session for education professionals in nutrition and agriculture programs across IRC's New Roots Programs. Additionally, newsletters and outreach to parents and families about FASLP activities were produced and distributed to families across the four participating school sites, that shared highlights on Veggie Tastings and the experiential learning field trips through school district listservs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: Improve students' nutritional health and increase access to education on healthy foods during and after school. IRC worked with teachers and district staff at the San Juan Unified School District (SJUSD) to provide nutrition education at four underserved elementary schools to deliver educational activities in nutrition and healthy eating, to increase students' awareness of and access to healthy foods and improve the nutritional health of youth. IRC staff worked with teachers to develop and deliver 10 garden-based nutrition lessons across four school gardens both during and after school that included hands-on activities focused on nutrition, harvesting and sampling produce, preparing healthy recipes, and identifying vegetables in the garden. 121 youth were served in garden-based nutrition lessons; 74% of students reported enjoying eating fresh vegetables from the school garden and 96% reported increased awareness about eating healthy foods. IRC staff also facilitated educational activities at community engagement events and distributed food access and nutrition education resources for parents and families and provided support and educational resources to teachers on incorporating garden-based learning into classroom curricula. IRC partnered with the Heath Education Council to provide hands-on nutrition education and cooking classes that served 104 parents at three schools. Adult family members learned about the health benefits of eating fresh produce and how to prepare affordable healthy meals using fresh produce from the garden. Classes for parents were facilitated in Spanish and Dari/Farsi to reach immigrant and refugees primarily. IRC also coordinated with SJUSD's Nutrition Services Department and school food service staff to deliver eight Veggie-Tastings that served 2,167 students across the four school sites. Youth experienced tastings of locally grown produce and learned about the nutritional benefits of eating healthy foods. Recipe cards with the featured produce were shared with students and distributed to families. IRC produced two newsletters about the Veggie Tastings that were shared with parents through school listservs about nutrition education activities, along with recipes and resources for families. 82% of students that participated in the Veggie Tastings reported an increase in knowledge on the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. As a result of this project and collaboration with SJUSD, IRC has expanded its partnership with the district's Nutrition Services Department to supply 4-6 crops of seasonal fresh produce each year from the IRC New Roots farm for SJUSD's district-wide Harvest of the Month (HOM) nutrition education program that served 1,500 students each month with samples of fresh produce for taste tests and in-school nutrition education activities. IRC will continue its partnership with SJUSD to supply produce for the HOM program beyond the term of this project. Goal 2: Increase capacity of garden education in the classroom to improve students' understanding of agriculture and practical gardening skills through promotion of experiential garden-based education in elementary schools. Throughout the project, IRC supported at least 12 teachers at four schools to increase their capacity to provide garden education for students. IRC staff facilitated 29 experiential learning activities and garden-based lessons to improve practical knowledge and skills in gardening and agriculture for 337 elementary youth. IRC staff routinely visited school gardens on a weekly and monthly basis and coordinated with classroom teachers to lead activities and lessons in the gardens with entire classes, small groups, and Garden Leadership clubs. IRC provided materials, support, and technical assistance to schools to develop and maintain school gardens. IRC procured tools, garden materials and other inputs (including soil, compost, mulch, fertilizer, seeds, plants, etc.) and produced over 1,400 seedlings that were planted in the school gardens in workshops with students. At least 20 types of edible crops were planted and cultivated by students. IRC worked closely with educators to provide garden-based education to students through hands-on gardening workshops at each school on a variety of topics, including soil preparation, planting seeds, transplanting seasonal crops, harvesting and washing produce, garden maintenance and weeding, setting up drip irrigation, and composting. IRC shared existing garden-education curricula (i.e., Slow Food USA's "Good" and "Clean" school garden curricula guides) and additional educational materials and recipes that were developed by IRC to support teachers' capacity to lead garden-based lessons on their own. At the end of each school year, students in the Garden Leadership Clubs (92 youth) attended an experiential learning field trip at the IRC New Roots farm to learn about urban farming and the local food system. IRC staff facilitated hands-on learning activities at the farm on a variety of topics, including direct seeding, transplanting seedlings, and harvesting, and learned about composing, soil health, pollinators, and farm ecology. Students also prepared a presentation about their school garden to share with youth from other schools. 93% of the Garden Leadership Club students reported learning new skills in gardening, and 90% reported an interest in continued learning about gardening and agriculture. Goal 3: Promote self-reliance, leadership, community engagement and responsibility among SJUSD students through food systems based service learning activities in the school gardens and through after-school School Garden Leadership Clubs. Across four school garden programs over the two-year grant, 92 elementary-aged students (grades 2-6) were actively engaged in Garden Leadership Clubs at each school throughout the school year, both during and after school activities. Students participated in Garden Clubs on a weekly basis to learn about gardening and the necessary responsibilities to maintain a functioning and productive garden. Students took active responsibility for maintaining their school gardens, resulting in an overall improvement in their leadership skills through garden, farm, and peer-to-peer mentorship activities. 95% of student Garden Leaders demonstrated improved leadership skills and engagement in learning. Teachers who facilitated the Garden Clubs were surveyed about their observations of students and the impact of the Garden Leadership Club and school garden program on students; six teachers at three school gardens reported having observed increased leadership skills, improved social skills, improved academic performance, increased engagement in learning, and improved behavior or emotional wellbeing, in addition to increased knowledge of gardening and healthy foods among youth. Several students from year one of the project continued their involvement into year two and mentored younger youth in the program to teach them gardening skills and how to take care of the school garden. At the end of each school year, IRC awarded student Garden Leaders with certificates of accomplishment to recognize their growth in leadership and gardening skills.

Publications

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

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of IRC's Growing Healthy Futures Project are elementary-aged students (K-8) in the San Juan Unified School District, specifically at the four target schools: Thomas Edison, Dyer-Kelly, Greer, and Starr King, that are located in low-income/low-access areas of Sacramento and serve populations with a high number of refugee and immigrant families and students who are English Language Learners. Besides attendance rosters and student participant count, specific demographics data of student participants was not collected; however, the gender breakdown of Garden Club Leaders overall was 30 female and 20 male student participants. Garden Leadership Club students ranged in age and grade-level, from grades 2 to 6, (5- 2nd grade; 18- 3rd grade; 9-4th grade; 14- 5th grade; 3- 6th grade). Changes/Problems:A significant challenge has been the unexpected turnover of key teachers and changes in school leadership that resulted in the need for IRC to reestablish our relationship with school garden programs at the beginning of this reporting period. IRC's partnership with SJUSD district offices has remained strong and has been instrumental in connecting new teachers and school staff with IRC's garden program. The resulting delay in launching their garden programs and establishing Garden Leadership Clubs resulted in a delay in delivery of activities and limited the number of activities that we could lead with students throughout the school year. Additionally, due to the typical schoolyear schedule with a significant break over summer, nearly all the gardens were not utilized at capacity during the summer months because students and teachers aren't on campus during that time. An additional challenge was realized during the implementation of the Veggie Tastings at each school. The fast-paced lunch schedules affected IRC's ability to survey students. A modified collection method of "dot surveys" was implemented to collect feedback from students during the Veggie Tasting events. This project was originally intended to engage older elementary and middle school students (grades 5-8) with greater focus on local food-systems and community food assessments as the service-learning component; however, the program was modified to work with teachers at the lower grade levels who were most willing and interested in utilizing the school garden at each school site. This effectively meant that IRC had to modify its activities to be more age appropriate to meet the learning needs of younger students. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Adult membership within the School Garden Committees at each school site participated in monthly meetings during which teachers received informal training from IRC staff on school-garden curriculum guides and educational resources. Teachers also shadowed IRC staff in the school gardens to learn about small-group and class facilitation methods for garden-based lessons. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?IRC routinely shares information across New Roots channels with twelve other IRC locations through monthly community of practice virtual meetings, and real-time access to shared on-line folders. We also anticipate presenting results of our Nutrition Education programs at an annual conference in late 2023. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, IRC plans to implement all activities highlighted in this report that lend to meeting the Major Goals of this project, including: supporting school gardens and teachers through monthly meetings and facilitation of garden-based education activities, facilitating Garden Leadership Club meetings and leading youth in nutrition, gardening and food systems learning projects, organizing school-wide Veggie Tastings with support from District Nutrition Services staff and school administrators, and coordinating activities and logistics to engage Garden Leadership Clubs in immersive agriculture education on the Farm Field Trip. In addition to these activities, IRC plans to improve its delivery of nutrition education by providing at least four hands-on cooking activities with students in the Garden Leadership Clubs. IRC staff will continue to meet with educators and students monthly to support garden and nutrition education activities. Additionally, IRC staff will compile school-garden educational resources into an online format that will be shared with educators. Beginning in September 2023, IRC New Roots Farm is also working with SJUSD's Nutrition Services Department to provide seasonal produce (Seven crop varieties for a total of 1,500 samples each month) for their district-wide Harvest of the Month nutrition education program. While this activity is beyond the scope of this project and its deliverables, it is mentioned here to illustrate the growing partnership between IRC New Roots and SJUSD.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Goal 1: IRC coordinated with SJUSD staff at the district office and four participating elementary schools to facilitate school garden programs and support educators in delivering gardening and nutrition education to K-8 youth. IRC facilitated four stakeholder meetings with school garden committee members to coordinate school garden projects, garden-education activities, and nutrition education for students and their families. IRC worked with teachers and school garden committees at each of the four schools to plan and deliver in-school and after-school gardening and nutrition education, distribute food access and nutrition education resources to parents at family engagement events, and provide support and educational resources to teachers on incorporating garden-based learning into classroom curricula. IRC developed eight culturally appropriate healthy recipes that were shared with school garden committees, teachers, students, and parents/families. Garden-grown seasonal fresh vegetables were featured in the recipes which were translated to Dari/Farsi and Spanish. IRC also coordinated with the Health Education Council to provide a series of six cooking classes, in Spanish and Dari, at three schools using the "Fresh from the Garden" adult-education curriculum. Each of the six nutrition education lessons featured a hands-on cooking demonstration of an affordable recipe using seasonal fresh vegetables. Thirty parents participated in the program and received nutrition education, food access resources, and recipes. IRC's New Roots Farm supplied more than 200 pounds of fresh radishes for "Meet the Farmer" Veggie-Tastings at each of the four school garden sites. School-wide tastings were held during lunchtime in the school cafeterias; a sample of fresh radishes was offered to every student in attendance with a cumulative reach of 1,937 total students that received a sample. During the Veggie Tastings students learned about the importance of eating fresh vegetables and the key nutritional benefits of radishes through an interactive presentation. Recipe cards were distributed at this event and students were surveyed on their knowledge gain and tasting preference. 82% of the approximately 2,000 students that participated in the Veggie Tastings reported an increase in knowledge about radishes and nutrition, 467 students reported an increase in their knowledge on the health benefits of eating vegetables. Additionally, throughout the school year 206 students received nutrition education including learning about healthy eating guidelines and hands-on cooking and garden-based activities led by teachers and IRC staff. By the end of the school garden program, 100% of survey respondents (n=47 of 49 total) of Garden Leadership students reported an increase in understanding that eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables is important to one's health; and 74% reportedly enjoyed eating vegetables that were grown in their school garden. Goal 2: The IRC New Roots Farm produced more than 800 seedlings and supplied these transplants -and more than 50 seed packets, soil, compost, tools, and other garden materials - to school gardens for seasonal planting workshops and gardening lessons with students. At least 12 varieties of edible crops were planted and cultivated by students. IRC worked closely with educators to provide garden-based education to students through hands-on gardening workshops at each school on a variety of topics including, soil preparation, seasonal plantings, garden maintenance, setting up drip irrigation, composting, and harvesting. IRC supported teachers and school garden committees with general garden maintenance, troubleshooting issues, and necessary repairs and improvements, and offered advice and guidance to educators on best practices and general gardening support. IRC shared existing garden-education curricula (i.e., Slow Food USA's "Good" and "Clean" school garden curricula guides) and additional supporting materials and recipes that were developed by IRC to support teachers' capacity to lead garden-based lessons on their own. IRC staff routinely visited gardens on weekly or monthly basis and coordinated with classroom teachers to lead activities and lessons in the gardens with entire classes, small groups, and Garden Leadership clubs. Approximately 220 students (K-8) gained practical knowledge on cultivating vegetables and developed hands-on gardening skills through their direct involvement in the school gardens. Each school garden program was led by a dedicated group of Garden Leadership Club students (49 students total), who were routinely engaged in gardening activities, lessons, and garden-based nutrition education throughout the year. 94% of students that were surveyed reported having gained new gardening skills and knowledge about gardening. At the end of the school year, 49 students (grades 2-6) from the Garden Leadership Clubs attended an experiential-learning field trip at the IRC New Roots Farm to learn about urban agriculture and local food systems. Students participated in hands-on planting, transplanting, and harvesting activities, and presented on their respective school gardens. 83% of the Garden Leadership students surveyed reported wanting to continue to learn more about gardening and agriculture. Goal 3: Across four school garden programs, 49 elementary-aged students (grades 2-6) were actively engaged in Garden Leadership Clubs at each school throughout the school year, both during and after school. Students participated in Garden Club activities on a weekly basis to learn about gardening and the responsibilities necessary to maintain a functioning garden. Students took active responsibility for maintaining their school gardens, resulting in an overall improvement in their leadership skills through garden, farm, and peer-to-peer mentorship activities. 95% of student Garden Leaders demonstrated improved leadership skills and engagement in learning. Teachers who facilitated the Garden Clubs were surveyed about their observations of students and the perceived impacts of the Garden Leadership Club and school garden program on students. Four teachers across three school gardens reported having observed increased leadership skills, improved social skills, improved academic performance, increased engagement in learning, and improved behavior or emotional wellbeing, in addition to an increased knowledge of gardening and healthy foods.

Publications