Non Technical Summary
Iowa State University Extension Food Systems Team and nonprofit Next Step Adventure will develop and pilot a Youth Local Food Leader (LFL) Educator Cohort for high school educators. Local Food Leader curriculum was developed in 2017, which has taught 377 participants, and now offered nation-wide with 23 trainers in 15 states. The curriculum incorporates food system review, participation in the food system, facilitation techniques, and evaluation. This project grows agriculture literacy and future workforce development by evolving this curriculum into techniques for high school teachers to create and deliver food system lesson plans to students.While programs exist through efforts like Farm to School and nutrition education, there have not been adequate lessons around the complexity of the food system. This includes a gap in engagement practices that assist teachers and students alike to question and more fully understand why our national, regional, and local food systems are shaped the way they are. While there are models that exist, like Cornell's Discovering Our Food System (Cornell University Cooperative Extension, 2011), we believe that additional and updated curriculum that is adaptable for teachers across the nation can support educators in lesson plan development. An additional gap identified is the current need to diversify and develop our next generation of local food leaders. Due to the gaps mentioned previously around available curriculum, there are also concerns about the ability to diversify and engage the next generation of food system workers across a variety of fields and trades.Local Food Leader was initially designed to fill a gap for new food system practitioners seeking skills to engage in the food system. This included sharing common language and information on "What is a Food System," key definitions for food system sectors, community asset areas, skills for engaging and facilitating local food system coalitions, project management, and evaluation. We believe the next iteration will also fill gaps in aforementioned needs, like building our next generation of food system leaders through introduction of careers and initiatives. With sustained engagement of LFL alumni, we believe a similar outcome will come about in offering this youth-focused LFL to high school educators. Launching the Youth LFL Educator Cohort will increase the number of high school educational professionals who are trained to offer food system education. With increased knowledge, participants will be prepared to integrate food and agricultural science components into their classroom curricula, explore food and agricultural career paths with students, and forge mentorships with food system leaders across Iowa and participating states.Through two cohorts, twenty-five high school educators will become prepared to provide standards-aligned, impactful food system education. The cohort will engage high school educators, thereby impacting students in their local food leadership. It is anticipated that this will lead to an increase in interest in local food workforce and career development.A blended learning model will include in-person cohort gatherings and virtual monthly learning circles. Youth LFL will offer comprehensive food system education: frameworks for understanding local and regional food systems, common language, community asset areas, and activities for facilitation and implementation. Participants will create lesson plans and activities, sharing for group review and discussion. Educators will integrate food and agricultural science concepts into their classes, assist students in exploring career paths, and facilitate partnerships between students and food system organizations and businesses. Training will provide community-responsive food system education and strengthen the capacity and agency of educators and their students.Food system leaders bring a systems approach to the work, including an understanding of intersecting sectors, scales, and complexity. The food system workforce of the future will need this knowledge as the impacts of weather and global conditions further complicate our living conditions. While this project intersects with all six AFRI Farm Bill Priority areas, the program focuses on the intersections of health, environment, ag systems, and communities.The project proposal addresses gaps in food system-related professional development offered to high school educators and gaps in food system education itself. Food System partners and alumni of LFL have long voiced interest to offer a version of the current LFL that would bring food systems education and leadership opportunities to students. The Food Systems team is eager to meet this need and is equipped to develop a version of the LFL Certification designed specifically for teachers and other educators to deliver to a high school student audience. While the Food Systems team has extensive experience developing curricula and training for youth (early care and education through 8th grade) and adult audiences, there hasn't yet been capacity for creating curricula such as this for high school.We anticipate that while educators participate in the cohort, high school students will grow awareness and understanding of the foundational competencies that are critical for successful food systems development. Both high school educators and their students will develop their capacity to respond to food system needs and opportunities because of the program's focus on student-directed learning and partnerships with community members and businesses. Additionally, due to this programming, the following will be completed 150 new lesson plans; 7 new in-person modules; 12 learning circles, and 4 in-person trainings. We anticipate that 25 educators will be directly impacted, 10 advisory committee members will participate in review of programming, and 625 students will participate with programming created from educator involvement.

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
806	5010	3020	100%

Knowledge Area
806 - Youth Development;

Subject Of Investigation
5010 - Food;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;

Goals / Objectives
Iowa State University Extension Food Systems Team and nonprofit Next Step Adventure willdevelop and pilot a Youth Local Food Leader (LFL) Educator Cohort for high school educators. Through two cohorts, twenty-five high school educators will become prepared to providestandards-aligned, impactful food system education.This willlead to a diversified local food workforce.A blended learning model will include in-person cohortgatherings and virtual monthly learning circles. Youth LFL will offer comprehensive food system education: frameworks for understanding localand regional food systems, common language, community asset areas, and activities for facilitationand implementation. Participants will create lesson plans and activities, sharing for group review and discussion. Educators will integrate food and agricultural science concepts into their classes,assist students in exploring career paths, and facilitate partnerships between students and foodsystem organizations and businesses. Training will provide community-responsive food systemeducation and strengthen the capacity and agency of educators and their students.Our anticipated community impact is educators and students will collaborate through food systems learning and engagement with local food organizations, businesses, workers and policy makers to transform their communities.The objectives include:Provide standards-aligned, impactful food system education for 25 educators who then engage our next generation of food system leaders - high school students.Pilot a Youth LFL cohort-based professional development for educators, where lesson plans and activities are created and piloted in schools by educators and focus on key competencies:understanding common language for food systems,determining key workforce and career opportunities,identifying key interactions between personal values and working in food systems,developing skills for facilitation and dialogue,investigating food supply chains and procurementcreating goals and project development tools, andlearning evaluation techniques to show impacts.Strengthen capacity of educators to empower students in understanding and engaging in their local and regional food system.Engage a broad representation of educators to ensure all students have access to food systems understanding.

Project Methods
Detailed descriptions of the methods are provided and explain the planning, evolution, and evaluation process of the Youth LFL Educator Cohort across the thirty-six-month pilot project. Year one of the project, Septembe4r 2025 through August 2026, will be devoted to research, writing and review of training and engagement content for the Youth LFL Educator Cohort. The Food Systems team will lead the research and content creation for seven food system modules, based on LFL, that will be taught in the in-person training. The working titles and key concepts related to each module are listed below.Module 1. Food System Overview: What is a Food System & Common LanguageKey Themes: defining food systems, sectors and assets; food system frameworks and tactics; scales from local to globalModule 2. Working in the Food System: People and CareersKey Themes: exploring careers by sector and asset area; Local Food Coordinators; personal values and connection to work; determining leadership styles and strengthsModule 3. Dignity and InvolvementKey Themes: participation in the food system, implications and challenges; open and inclusive conversations; resources for additional learning and researchModule 4. Building Relationships: Methods of Community EngagementKey Themes: coalition and working group structures; facilitating public input, research and assessments; considerations for project and program planningModule 5. Local Food Systems in Schools: Farm to School Procurement and EducationKey Themes: school food supply chains and procurement systems; opportunities for student-driven feedback and systems change; integrating hands-on food education into lessonsModule 6. Project Development & Design ThinkingKey Themes: goal setting for projects; project development tools and management techniques; principles of Design Thinking for project success and community identificationModule 7. Evaluating InitiativesKey Themes: defining project, program and systems evaluation plans; developing evaluation logic models; identifying appropriate evaluation tools; creating goals and project development tools, and learning evaluation techniques to show impacts.All team members will meet monthly to discuss progress throughout the collaboration. To support these activities, we will determine and convene an advisory committee to inform and review training logistics and content. This committee will include members from the Iowa Farm to School and Early Care Coalition's Food Education Strategy Team and meet bi-monthly. With input from this advisory committee in year one, we will determine appropriate cohort recruitment methods, training delivery and engagement, and discuss options for virtual meeting platforms, accessibility needs (i.e. electronic versus hard-copy material), and evaluation methods.Year two of the project will launch in July 2026 with a four-month recruitment and selection process to determine members of the first Youth LFL Educator Cohort. The first cohort will be comprised of teachers working in Iowa high schools; the second cohort (launching 2027) will be open to high school educators across the United States. The opportunity will be promoted throughout the summer and early fall via in-person and virtual outreach. A virtual application will be created and required for consideration. Twelve to fifteen applicants from a range of districts will be accepted into the cohort. Within year two, the following activities will take place for educators: participate in a two-day in-person training (November); participate in six-months of virtual cohort learning circles (December-May); participate and present at the annual Farm to School and Early Care conference (June).In-Person Training: The first two in-person meetings of the first Youth LFL Educator Cohort will take place in Central Iowa in early November. Two days of networking and training will be facilitated by the project team. Hands-on activities will be integrated across training modules to bring learning to life, demonstrating facilitation methods and activities for educators to utilize. Along with becoming trained in food systems and facilitation, participants will have ample time to network with peers and discuss ideas for implementation. Project leads will facilitate activities that support educators to prepare lesson content and to utilize practices that center student-led exploration. At the end of two days, educators will leave the training with new knowledge, connections, resources for student implementation, and an excitement for continued engagement.Virtual Learning Circles: The following six-months will be devoted to educator implementation and continued group engagement. From December through May, educators will determine their preferred methods for leading food system education and engagement with their students. As they integrate food system education into lesson plans, educators will be encouraged to incorporate facilitated activities from the in-person cohort gathering, prioritize opportunities for student-directed exploration of food system partners and sectors, and hands-on, immersive experiences that enhance learning. Educators will submit their lesson plans and learning with facilitators each month. An output of the implementation period is a collection of teacher-created lesson plans, resources, and recommendations for integrating food system education into their classrooms. We anticipate evaluating to learn knowledge change of their students. Another outcome from this stage is improved understanding of successful implementation that will then be utilized to inform the development of the second cohort. Similarly, with the second cohort in year 3, the team will collect resources created by educators participating in the regional cohort. With a total of twenty-five educators submitting monthly resources across each six-month period, we expect to collect and organize 150 lesson plans. These resources, unique ideas, and local project descriptions will be organized, analyzed, and made available for additional educators to utilize.In-Person Gathering and Cohort Graduation: In June, the cohort will attend a final in-person meeting. This gathering will be planned in coordination with the Community Food Systems + Iowa Farm to School and Early Care Conference, an annual event hosted by the Food Systems team. Prior to the conference, the cohort will be convened for a one-day meeting where educators will participate in facilitated activities and share feedback about their experience and students' experiences and provide recommendations for future convenings of the Youth LFL Educator Cohort program. Following the first cohort completion, the project team will review all provided resources and evaluations. Based on lessons learned, a revised training model for Youth LFL will be incorporated, and the second-year cohort will begin in fall 2027. To meet objectives, facilitators will utilize a project management structure and maintain clear roles.