Non Technical Summary
DC Greens manages and operates The Well at Oxon Run, a one-acre educational farm and intergenerational outdoor gathering space that elevates health and wellness, and creates a community anchor that lifts up the culture and history of the place. The Well is located in zip code 20032, which covers a large portion of Ward 8 in the District of Columbia. The planning project to be funded by this grant comprises a slate of new activities and pilot programs designed to increase engagement with The Well's programs, offer education to our neighbors around regenerative agriculture and farming best practices, and open new distribution channels for getting more fresh produce from The Well into the hands of our neighbors.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
703	6099	1010	50%
704	6099	1010	50%

Knowledge Area
703 - Nutrition Education and Behavior; 704 - Nutrition and Hunger in the Population;

Subject Of Investigation
6099 - People and communities, general/other;

Field Of Science
1010 - Nutrition and metabolism;

Goals / Objectives
Goal 1: Increase understanding in our target population of how small-scale agriculture and gardening can help navigate food insecurity challenges and increase nutrition and healthy eating knowledge.Objective 1: By March 2025, DC Greens will have a refinedcurriculum for a 6 week gardening workshop that integratesagriculture, fruit and vegetable gardening, composting and nutrition and healthy eating concepts.Activities:Lead two 6-week workshop series during the 2024 season to engage at least 10 community members.Lead 1-2 feedback sessions with community members who completed the workshops to provide feedback on their experience, benefits, and recommendations to improve the curriculum.Refine curriculum integrating feedback from participants to ensure the final curriculum is effective and in alignment with what community members need and want.Objective 2: Engage 50 community members in the gardening workshops through the 5 series we plan to run during the grant period (plan to have2 series in 2024 and 3 series in 2025).Objective 3:Run a community composting cooperative pilot at The Well offering a neighborhood drop-off point for food scraps and providing composting techniques and education to our community members.Goal 2: Increase nutrition and physical activity resources in Wards 7 and 8 to support community residents making healthier nutrition choices and adopting healthy behaviors to improve disease management. We plan to do this through programming led by the DC Greens team in partnership with other partner organizations.Objective 1: Design programming and calendar of events for season 2025 integrating leasons learned and feedback from community members and partners to ensure The Well's programming is in alignment with community needs.Activities:Complete 2024 season on October 31.Gather feedback from community members and partners.Analyze data from the 2024 seasonIntegrate feedback and lessons learned from the 2024 season into the design of programming and calendar of events forseason 2025.Objective 2: Lead programming and calendar of events classes for the 2025 season and reach 5,000 community residents who end up having stronger connections to food landscape resources in D.C.Activities:Strong community outreach and marketing of events at The Well.Provide nutrition education, cooking, gardening and fitness classesFresh food distributions supported by our partners Capital Area Food Bank and FRESHFARM.Referrals to SNAP, WIC and other government nutrition benefit programs.Host commmunity wellness and resource fair eventsObjective 3: Have community ambassadors at The Well to establish specific accountability mechanisms for people experiencing food insecurity to share decision-making and program design about food access.Objective 4: Incorporate The Well programming into Produce Rx communications and engagement to provide nutrition and physical activity resources to all DC Greens' participants.Goal 3: Improved resilience and self-reliance for the Oxon Run Park Neighborhood, and a more secure food systemObjective 1: Design a distribution model for The Well at Oxon Run Park Neighborhood households that will include a CSA and a monthly produce distribution during the growing season (May-October)ActivitiesGrow 4,000 pounds of food at The Well farm every year for distribution at no cost to the communityDevelop partnerships with other food access organizations in DC that can support our food distrubution efforts. These include FRESHFARM, Capital Area Food Bank, andFoodRescue DC)Objective 2: Increase number of mobile markets by hosting Capital Area Food Bank and Arcadia Mobile markets at The Well. These are organizations that run mobile markets in DC and sell nutritious food in areas with limited access to grocery stores at reasonable cost. These organizations also take a SNAP, WIC, and other local nutrition benefit programs.

Project Methods
Activities at The Well go from March to October every year. During the months of November through February our team is working on gathering feedback from community members and key partners to inform the programming for the following year.During the planning phase DC Greens works on establishing partnerships that are going to support us provide the programming planned for the season.During the season March-OctoberThe Well Manager oversees all activities related to the space and is the point of contact for other DC Greens teams and external partners.The Well Coordinator supports the day-to-day operations of the space, maintains calendar of events and supports with data management.Farm manager and farm assistant are in charge of all farm operations as well as the gardening workshops and composting collaborative.DC Greens collects primary data, including both digital and non-digital:Pounds of produce harvested from our farmPounds of produce distributed to community membersPounds of trash collected from The Well site and the surrounding Oxon Run Park and waterway.Number of events hosted and event typeNumber of program participants at each class and eventPre- and post- survey to assess the impact on health behaviors and self-reported food insecurityCommunity feedback sessions at the end of the seasonKey partner interviews at the end of the seasonMedia and communications collateral includig materials, photos, and filmed footage for use in traditional and social media.At the end of each season The Well Manager with support from Programs Director analyze the data and integrate lessons learned to the planning for the next season.