Progress 09/01/12 to 08/31/13
Outputs
Target Audience: Food Youth Initiative (Formerly Youth Food Council) Total participants in the Food Youth Initiative: 26 (19 youth and 7 adults) Data taken from youth only. Percentages calculated out of 18 because one youth did not provide demographic data. Target Audience:African American 37% (7/18) Target Audience:Immigrant/Refugee 33% (6/18) Target Audience:Limited Resource 83% (15/18) Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, United Piedmont Target Audience:General Population AUDIENCE PROFILE – 2013 Season Total Participants: 163 Race White 86% (133/155)* African American 6% (10/155) Multi-racial 4% (6/155) Native American 3% (4/155) Other 1% (2/155) Unknown 2% (3/155) Gender Male 38% (61/162) Female 62% (100/162) Age 18-24 18% (28/156) 25-39 49% (76/156) 40-64 30% (47/156) 65+ 3% (5/156) Household Income $0 - $30000 50% (74/149) $30000 - $40000 9% (14/149) $40000 - $50000 5% (7/149) $50000 - $60000 5% (8/149) $60000 - $70000 5% (8/149) $70000 - $80000 9% (13/149) $80000+ 17% (25/149) Source of income Employment 91% (123/135) TANF 0% (0/135) SSI 1% (1/135) Social Security 3% (4/135) Pension 3% (4/135) Unemployment 4% (5/135) No Income 1% (2/135) Other 6% (8/135) Household Type Single Parent (F) 5% (6/133) Single Parent (M) 1% (1/133) Two parents 17% (22/133) Single 40% (53/133) Two adults 34% (45/133) Multi-family 3% (4/133) Other 2% (2/133) Family size 1 38% (59/154 ) 2 36% (56/154) 3 10% (16/154) 4 6% (10/154 ) 5 6% (10/154 ) 6 1% (2/154) 7+ 1% (1/154) Other Household Characteristics Food Stamp 2% (3/140) Medicaid 2% (3/140) Subsidized Housing 2% (3/140) Own 38% (53/140) Rent 48% (67/140 ) Homeless 1% (1/140) No Health Insurance 20% (28/140) Disabled 1% (1/140) Veteran 5% (7/140) Farmer 27% (38/140) Seasonal Farmworker 6% (9/140) Migrant Farmworker 0% (0/140) Relationship to Farming Currently farming (self) 49% (79/162) Currently farming (family member) 11% (18/162) Not currently farming 43% (70/162) IF CURRENTLY FARMING How long < 1 Year 41% (32/78) 1-5 Years 47% (37/78) 5-10 Years 10% (8/78) > 10 Years 5% (4/78) Role Owner 45% (34/76) Apprentice/Intern 28% (21/76) Salaried Worker 4% (3/76) Hourly Worker 5% (4/76) Work Trade 12% (9/76) Manager 32% (24/76) Plan to continue Yes 96% (74/77) No 3% (2/77) Land Farmer-Owned 65% (50/77) Rented 35% (27/77) IF NOT CURRENTLY FARMING Planning to Farm in Future 58% (41/71) Not Planning to Farm in Future 11% (8/71) Considering Farming in Future 31% (22/71) *Not all participants answered all questions on our CRAFT surveys, so percentages are based on total respondents to each question, not total participants. Target Audience:Limited Resource For the purpose of this report we will use “limited resource” to refer to participants who report income below what we have calculated as a living wage in our region, and/or participants who report food insecurity. Household Income (1) $0 - $30000 50% (74/149) (2) $30000 - $40000 9% (14/149) (3) $40000 - $50000 5% (7/149) (4) $50000 - $60000 5% (8/149) (5) $60000 - $70000 5% (8/149) (6) $70000 - $80000 9% (13/149) (7) $80000+ 17% (25/149) According to the data, 59% (88/149) of participants were limited resource based on income Age 18-24 18% (28/156) 25-39 49% (76/156) 40-64 30% (47/156) 65+ 3% (5/156) 67% of participants were young (<35 Years Old)(104/156)** **We will be using 35 years of age or below as the definition of “young farmer” in our future programming. For this cycle of reporting, farmers were included as “young” if they checked the category “25-39.” Categories will be adjusted next reporting cycle for more accurate results aligned with the 35-year cut-off. Other Possible Indicators of Limited Resource Status Source of income Unemployment 4% (5/135) No Income 1% (2/135) Other 6% (8/135) Other Household Characteristics Food Stamp 2% (3/140) Medicaid 2% (3/140) Subsidized Housing 2% (3/140) Homeless 1% (1/140) No Health Insurance 20% (28/140) Seasonal Farmworker 6% (9/140) Target Audience:African American 6% (10/155) Target Audience:Other Minority: 10% (15/155) We included all participants that did not identify as white or African American in this category: Multi-racial 4% (6/155) Native American 3% (4/155) Other 1% (2/155) Unknown 2% (3/155) Regional Outreach Training Center Target Audience:General Population Total Participants (Adult Event): 111 Race White 74% (82/111) African American 19% (21/111) Multi-racial 5% (5/111) Other 5% (5/111) American Indian 4% (4/111) Unknown 3% (3/111) Asian/Pacific Islander 2% (2/111) Age <18 12% (13/111) 18-24 20% (22/111) 25-39 23% (26/111) 40-64 40% (44/111) 65+ 5% (6/111) Household Income $0-10,830 16% (18/111) $10,830- 14,570 10% (11/111) $14,570- 18,310 4% (4/111) $18,310 - 22,050 7% (8/111) $22,050 - 25,790 5% (5/111) $25,790 - 29,530 2% (2/111) $29,530 - 33,270 7% (8/111) $33,270 - 37,010 3% (3/111) $37,010+ 47% (52/111) Food Insecurity Lack of access to sufficient food 22% (24/111) Lack of access to healthy foods 34% (38/111) Relationship to Farming Currently farming (self) 25% (28/111) Currently farming (family member) 7% (8/111) Not currently farming 71% (79/111) Target Audience:Limited Resource: 53% (59/111) adults limited resource based on income. 34% (38/111) adults limited resource based on food insecurity. 56% (43/77) youth based on food insecurity. (Adult Event) Household Income $0-10,830 16% (18/111) $10,830- 14,570 10% (11/111) $14,570- 18,310 4% (4/111) $18,310 - 22,050 7% (8/111) $22,050 - 25,790 5% (5/111) $25,790 - 29,530 2% (2/111) $29,530 - 33,270 7% (8/111) $33,270 - 37,010 3% (3/111) $37,010+ 47% (52/111) Food Insecurity Lack of access to sufficient food 22% (24/111) Lack of access to healthy foods 34% (38/111) Target Audience:African American: 19% (21/111) at adult event, 49% (38/77) at youth events. Overall, 32% (63/196) of program participants reported their race as African American. Target Audience:Other Minority 27% (52/196) (Adult Event) Race Multi-racial 5% (5/111) Other 5% (5/111) American Indian 4% (4/111) Unknown 3% (3/111) Asian/Pacific Islander 2% (2/111) Total other minority 17% (19/111) (Youth Events) Race Multi-Racial 23% (18/77) Other 0% (0/77) Native American 9% (7/77) Unknown 6% (5/77) Asian/Pacific Islander 1% (1/77) Target Audience:Youth 47% (89/188) of combined program participants (ROTC youth and adult events) were youth. Plant the Pavement (Adult Event) Age <18 12% (13/111) 18-24 20% (22/111) Plant the Pavement (Youth Events) Age Under 18 96% (74/77) 18 or over 4% (3/77) Keep in mind when viewing ROTC Youth Events and Young Farmer Training Program sections below that these programs are only open to youth. As a result, the categories “18 or over” and “18-24” in these sections are made up of entirely of students who are 18. Young Farmer Training Program Target Audience: Limited Resource: 54% (64/119) based on income, 43% (81/188) based on food insecurity. Income Less than $10,000 25% (2/8) Household sizes: 8, 8 $20,000 to $29,999 25% (2/8) Household sizes: 4, 3 $30,000 to $39,999 12.5% (1/8) Household size: 4 $50,000 to $59,999 12.5% (1/8) Household sizes: 4 Unknown 25% (2/8) Household sizes: 6, 6 Target Audience:African American 50% (4/8) Target Audience: Other Minority 25% (2/8) Multi-racial 25% (2/8) Target Audience:Young Farmer Training Program Age <18 38% (3/8) 18-24 63% (5/8) Changes/Problems: See previous: IFFS has made a strategic decision to not take the lead on youth programming moving forward for several reasons. One is that we have found that most youth are not yet ready to start their own farm businesses, and are therefore not the most appropriate audience for the kind of intensive agricultural skills training that we provide. Second, IFFS is not a primarily youth-focused organization, and as such has limited capacity in regards to youth-specific program and curriculum development compared to organizations with an exclusive focus on serving youth. Moving forward we prefer to take a role as a partner who provides resources and technical support to youth-oriented organizations, rather than providing youth programming ourselves. Last, because we operate our farms at very public locations, we are unable to fully ensure the safety of minors working on our property in regards to who they may come in contact with while participating in our programs. As a result, we have decided that our agricultural programming will focus on young (under 35) and beginning (less than 10 years of experience) farmers rather than youth. Our Young Farmer Training Program will be transitioned over the next year into two programs that serve adult beginning farmers -- an immersive Urban Agriculture Training Program based out of the IFFS Training Center and Urban Farm at 500 Hoke St in Raleigh, and the Incubator Farm Program at the IFFS Teaching Farm at 4505 Tryon Rd in Raleigh. These two programs meet the same objectives of the original Young Farmer Training Program but serve what we believe is a more appropriate audience that is more prepared to use this training to start new farm businesses. In addition, several former participants in the Young Farmer Training Program are now over 18 and have continued with us as participants in the Urban Ag Training Program. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? See previous: Regional Outreach Training Center: As part of this project, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (IFFS) and Longview School partnered as a Regional Outreach Training Center (ROTC) for Will Allen’s innovated community food and urban agriculture organization Growing Power, based in Milwaukee, WI. Through this partnership we offer training in commercial urban agriculture to youth and other community members in our region. In November of 2012 we held our first “Plant the Pavement!” urban agriculture workshops series under this partnership, where Growing Power came to Raleigh for 5 days, serving a total of 111 adults and 147 youth over the course of 4 days of training and 1 day of site prep. Participants took hands-on intensive break-out sessions in hoop house construction, aquaponics, year-round microgreens production, compost, vermiculture, and mushroom production. Together we raised hoop houses and built aquaponics and composting systems at two different sites – the school garden at Longview School, and the IFFS Training Center & Urban Farm, both located in Southeast Raleigh, a cluster of low-income, predominantly minority neighborhoods just south of downtown Raleigh. Young Farmer Training Program: The Young Farmer Training Program (YFTP) is a paid apprenticeship program where youth have the opportunity to learn agricultural skills, nutrition and cooking skills, and develop an understanding of food systems and food justice. When/if they are ready, youth are supported in independent projects and provided access to land for growing. The 2012/2013 season included 42 classes over 3 sessions (spring, summer and fall) which ranged in topic from sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and cooking, to food justice, anti-oppression training, leadership development and mentoring. 8 youth graduated from the program totaling 1,483 contact hours. Field trips included: Visits to various urban gardens in Raleigh, including Well Fed Community Garden • Herb Haven • Tierra Negra Farm • Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro • Eastern Triangle Farm Tour • Growing Power Conference 2012 in Milwaukee • Anti-oppression and Youth Empowerment Training • Food Justice Workshop) • 3-day Food Justice and Leadership retreat. One graduate of the program started an incubator plot at the IFFS Teaching Farm comprised of medicinal and culinary herbs as well as vegetables and flowers. Three students from this year’s graduating class plan to continue to tend a plot together at the IFFS Training Center & Urban Farm and to sell their produce at a local market. One youth participated as a panelist at the 2012 Come to the Table Conference, an event organized by the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) in Greensboro. The Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, United Piedmont: CRAFT United Piedmont is a peer-to-peer learning network that supports beginning and apprentice farmers in our region by connecting them to established farmers and providing access to short courses on various topics at regional farms throughout the growing season. CRAFT United Piedmont events are approximately 4 hours in length. The first 2.5 hours are for touring the farm and learning more in depth about 1-2 topics that the host farm has selected. Participants are encouraged to ask lots of questions, and in a few cases the farmer requested help with a work project. The last 1.5 hours of each event is a potluck meal where participants have the chance to socialize and network with one another. Season 1 Events (two additional events not included because they occurred in Year 3): JUNE: Dancing Pines Farm. Topic: Using Hoop Houses During the Summer. Hosted by Bill and Joanna Lelekacs in Efland, NC http://www.dancingpinesfarm.com/; JULY: LL Urban Farms. Topic: Urban Farming Techniques: Indoor and Outdoor Hydroponics and Aquaponics. Hosted by the Loy and Lang Families in Raleigh, NC http://www.llurbanfarms.com/; AUGUST: Piedmont Biofarm. Topics: Growing Cooler-Weather Plants in Summertime and On-Farm Seed-Saving. Hosted by Doug Jones in Pittsboro, NC http://www.piedmontbiofarm.blogspot.com/; SEPTEMBER: Granite Springs Farm. Topic: Retrofitting a Produce Space for Mushrooms. Hosted by Meredith Leight inPittsboro, NC 27312 http://granitespringsfarm.com/ NC Farm Link: NC Farm Link is being created to support farm transition in North Carolina by connecting farm owners, farm seeks, farm service providers, and other supporters of NC agriculture. NC Farm Link is a collaborative project between Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, and Western NC Farm Link. We have spent the past year building relationships to support this tool, and plan to launch it in Year 3. Food Youth Initiative The Food Youth Initiative or “FYI” (“Youth Food Council” in our original proposal) is a state-wide partnership of youth and adults developed with the goal of building a network of future food and farm leaders through food system and advocacy training, as well as literacy training in sustainable agriculture practices. Food Youth Initiative is building a network of representatives from youth organizations across the state working in some form of food justice or food access. For participating youth and their adult sponsors, we provide 1) gathering opportunities 2) training in storytelling and advocacy, food system and policy literacy, and peer-training skills and 3) individual organizational support and capacity building assistance. These youth all come from organizations already working in some aspect of food justice and our intent was to build leadership capacity for them to increase own skills in advocacy and org development, plus develop new skills in training others. These groups were chosen as partners because they represent youth groups and populations most adversely affected by inequities in the food system. As part of this initiative, participating youth have gone on a field trip and workshop to a school farm, received mentoring through our network of mentors, and had opportunities to connect through training and development events. We have also distributed $12,000 worth of mini grants for youth agricultural projects and $25,000 worth of youth honorarium payments for participation ($1,000 x 25 youth and sponsors). This included participation in three gatherings, share-back trainings with their home organization members/community, and participation in the assessment of pilot year and visioning of future plans of FYI. In addition to these activities, two major pieces of curricula currently in development - one formal sustainable ag production curriculum for NC high schools, and one informal food system curriculum for general use by individuals and organizations. We have spent last year and a half partnering with FFA and NC Agricultural Education to create a curriculum for the Department of Instruction that will replace the current Ag Production I & II with “Sustainable Ag Production I & II.” How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? In addition to continual outreach done by program coordinators in support of each of these programs, IFFS also has a Communications Team of two full time staff dedicated to doing community outreach to ensure that both potential supporters and participants in this work are aware of what we are doing and how they can be a part of it. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? In year three, we will be transitioning our Young Farmer Training Program into two adult training programs that meet the same objectives for a slightly older audience. IFFS has made a strategic decision to not take the lead on youth programming moving forward for several reasons. One is that we have found that most youth are not yet ready to start their own farm businesses, and are therefore not the most appropriate audience for the kind of intensive agricultural skills training that we provide. Second, IFFS is not a primarily youth-focused organization, and as such has limited capacity in regards to youth-specific program and curriculum development compared to organizations with an exclusive focus on serving youth. Moving forward we prefer to take a role as a partner who provides resources and technical support to youth-oriented organizations, rather than providing youth programming ourselves. Last, because we operate our farms at very public locations, we feel that we are unable to fully ensure the safety of minors working on our property in regards to who they may come in contact with while participating in our programs. As a result, we have decided that our agricultural programming will focus on young (under 35) and beginning (less than 10 years of experience) farmers rather than youth. Our Young Farmer Training Program will be transitioned over the next year into two programs that serve adult beginning farmers -- an immersive Urban Agriculture Training Program based out of the IFFS Training Center and Urban Farm at 500 Hoke St in Raleigh, and the Incubator Farm Program at the IFFS Teaching Farm at 4505 Tryon Rd in Raleigh. These two programs meet the same objectives of the original Young Farmer Training Program but serve what we believe is a more appropriate audience that is more prepared to use this training to start new farm businesses. In addition, several former participants in the Young Farmer Training Program are now over 18 and have continued with us as participants in the Urban Ag Training Program.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Regional Outreach Training Center: As part of this project, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle (IFFS) and Longview School partnered as a Regional Outreach Training Center (ROTC) for Will Allen’s innovated community food and urban agriculture organization Growing Power, based in Milwaukee, WI. Through this partnership we offer training in commercial urban agriculture to youth and other community members in our region. In November of 2012 we held our first “Plant the Pavement!” urban agriculture workshops series under this partnership, where Growing Power came to Raleigh for 5 days, serving a total of 111 adults and 147 youth over the course of 4 days of training and 1 day of site prep. Participants took hands-on intensive break-out sessions in hoop house construction, aquaponics, year-round microgreens production, compost, vermiculture, and mushroom production. Together we raised hoop houses and built aquaponics and composting systems at two different sites – the school garden at Longview School, and the IFFS Training Center & Urban Farm, both located in Southeast Raleigh, a cluster of low-income, predominantly minority neighborhoods just south of downtown Raleigh. Young Farmer Training Program: The Young Farmer Training Program (YFTP) is a paid apprenticeship program where youth have the opportunity to learn agricultural skills, nutrition and cooking skills, and develop an understanding of food systems and food justice. When/if they are ready, youth are supported in independent projects and provided access to land for growing. The 2012/2013 season included 42 classes over 3 sessions (spring, summer and fall) which ranged in topic from sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and cooking, to food justice, anti-oppression training, leadership development and mentoring. 8 youth graduated from the program totaling 1,483 contact hours. Field trips included: Visits to various urban gardens in Raleigh, including Well Fed Community Garden • Herb Haven • Tierra Negra Farm • Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro • Eastern Triangle Farm Tour • Growing Power Conference 2012 in Milwaukee • Anti-oppression and Youth Empowerment Training • Food Justice Workshop) • 3-day Food Justice and Leadership retreat. One graduate of the program started an incubator plot at the IFFS Teaching Farm comprised of medicinal and culinary herbs as well as vegetables and flowers. Three students from this year’s graduating class plan to continue to tend a plot together at the IFFS Training Center & Urban Farm and to sell their produce at a local market. One youth participated as a panelist at the 2012 Come to the Table Conference, an event organized by the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) in Greensboro. The Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training, United Piedmont: CRAFT United Piedmont is a peer-to-peer learning network that supports beginning and apprentice farmers in our region by connecting them to established farmers and providing access to short courses on various topics at regional farms throughout the growing season. CRAFT United Piedmont events are approximately 4 hours in length. The first 2.5 hours are for touring the farm and learning more in depth about 1-2 topics that the host farm has selected. Participants are encouraged to ask lots of questions, and in a few cases the farmer requested help with a work project. The last 1.5 hours of each event is a potluck meal where participants have the chance to socialize and network with one another. Season 1 Events (two additional events not included because they occurred in Year 3): JUNE: Dancing Pines Farm. Topic: Using Hoop Houses During the Summer. Hosted by Bill and Joanna Lelekacs in Efland, NC http://www.dancingpinesfarm.com/; JULY: LL Urban Farms. Topic: Urban Farming Techniques: Indoor and Outdoor Hydroponics and Aquaponics. Hosted by the Loy and Lang Families in Raleigh, NC http://www.llurbanfarms.com/; AUGUST: Piedmont Biofarm. Topics: Growing Cooler-Weather Plants in Summertime and On-Farm Seed-Saving. Hosted by Doug Jones in Pittsboro, NC http://www.piedmontbiofarm.blogspot.com/; SEPTEMBER: Granite Springs Farm. Topic: Retrofitting a Produce Space for Mushrooms. Hosted by Meredith Leight inPittsboro, NC 27312 http://granitespringsfarm.com/ NC Farm Link: NC Farm Link is being created to support farm transition in North Carolina by connecting farm owners, farm seeks, farm service providers, and other supporters of NC agriculture. NC Farm Link is a collaborative project between Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Center for Environmental Farming Systems, and Western NC Farm Link. We have spent the past year building relationships to support this tool, and plan to launch it in Year 3. Food Youth Initiative The Food Youth Initiative or “FYI” (“Youth Food Council” in our original proposal) is a state-wide partnership of youth and adults developed with the goal of building a network of future food and farm leaders through food system and advocacy training, as well as literacy training in sustainable agriculture practices. Food Youth Initiative is building a network of representatives from youth organizations across the state working in some form of food justice or food access. For participating youth and their adult sponsors, we provide 1) gathering opportunities 2) training in storytelling and advocacy, food system and policy literacy, and peer-training skills and 3) individual organizational support and capacity building assistance. These youth all come from organizations already working in some aspect of food justice and our intent was to build leadership capacity for them to increase own skills in advocacy and org development, plus develop new skills in training others. These groups were chosen as partners because they represent youth groups and populations most adversely affected by inequities in the food system. As part of this initiative, participating youth have gone on a field trip and workshop to a school farm, received mentoring through our network of mentors, and had opportunities to connect through training and development events. We have also distributed $12,000 worth of mini grants for youth agricultural projects and $25,000 worth of youth honorarium payments for participation ($1,000 x 25 youth and sponsors). This included participation in three gatherings, share-back trainings with their home organization members/community, and participation in the assessment of pilot year and visioning of future plans of FYI. In addition to these activities, two major pieces of curricula currently in development - one formal sustainable ag production curriculum for NC high schools, and one informal food system curriculum for general use by individuals and organizations. We have spent last year and a half partnering with FFA and NC Agricultural Education to create a curriculum for the Department of Instruction that will replace the current Ag Production I & II with “Sustainable Ag Production I & II.”
Publications
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Progress 09/01/11 to 08/31/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Young Farmer Training Program (YFTP): We facilitated 64 classes which ranged in topic from sustainable agriculture, nutrition, cooking & food preservation to food justice with 26 youth. We provided mentoring and training to build our next generation of farmers. Youth participated in on site activities, workshops, exploration and demonstrations totaling over 256 contact hours meeting twice per week. The program runs 3 sessions per year: spring, summer and fall and apprentices are encouraged to attend all three sessions. Students from the NC State University Service Learning Soil Science course spent 4 total teaching hours with the young farmers, created lesson plans and activities on topics such as the carbon cycle and soil ecology, and facilitated discussions on careers in agriculture. YFTP went on 9 fieldtrips designed to expose the youth to various ways to make a living in the food system. Youth visited farmers markets, small permaculture-based farms, and big ag farms, and participated in hands on classes including mushroom log inoculation and canning taught by experts. YFTP planned and operated an on-site farm stand at our teaching farm. ROTC: Three IFFS teaching staff attended Growing Power's Commercial Urban Agriculture training in Milwaukee one weekend per month from January to May. Part-time staff was hired to coordinate the ROTC in March. Bi-weekly meetings were held at Longview School to discuss strategy, outreach, curriculum, and infrastructure for the ROTC from March to September. Participants included IFFS, Longview, Growing Power, USDA, and Food Corp staff, as well as local community members and students. A youth visioning session was held in May to determine how best to use space in the school garden and set curriculum priorities. Participants included five Longview students, three IFFS staff, one Longview staff, and one Food Corps service member. Invited more than 30 agriculture teachers from around the region to bring their classes to the youth sessions of "Plant the Pavement," our first urban ag training for youth (held in November 2012). CRAFT-UP : Twenty-six community members (primarily farmers or professionals who work with farmers) attended first planning meeting in Jan 2012. Four working groups were set up - Administrative, Curricula, Programming, Member Outreach. An online group was set up to facilitate communication between CRAFT-UP participants. Developed outreach language/materials. Hired part time staff to coordinate the program in March. During summer, identified and met with potential partners already working with beginning farmers in the region. Ongoing consultation with other CRAFT programs around the country. Information booth/outreach at NC State Earth Day Fair (April) Visited three (3) area farmers markets to talk to farmers about CRAFT-UP and pass out flyers. YOUTH FOOD INITIATIVE: Held a strategic planning session to define the vision, structure and process for the council. 25 youth and 9 youth organizers participated. Out of this meeting, two youth teams worked on planning for Youth Food Council and defined position for youth coordinator. Staff was hired. PARTICIPANTS: Katherine Andrew is the principal investigator for this project and the Director of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Nutrition Farms and Gardens Division. She served as project oversight and manager. Mitra Sticklen served as the Coordinator of the IFFS Young Farmer Training Program for the pilot program in 2011 and the start of the 2012 program. Ricky Bratz stepped in as Coordinator following Ms. Sticklen in summer of 2012. Ms. Bratz is the progam developer and organizer, managing program planning, implementation and budgeting. Neal Wisenbaker is the IFFS Farm Manager. He coordinates teaching and farm activities with YFTP. Sun Butler is the IFFS Farm Educator. He works closely with YFTP and the farm manager to develop sustainable agriculture systems and teaches youth participating in the program. Shosha Capps was hired this year to manage IFFS ROTC and CRAFT-UP. Patrick Faulkner is the Agriculture Teacher at Longview High School who worked with IFFS and Growing Power on the ROTC. Tes Thraves is the CEFS Coordinator for Youth and Community-Based Food Systems and NC FoodCorps. Elizabeth Driscoll is and NCSU Extension Associate who provides leadership and support of Extension youth programs throughout North Carolina in the areas of crops, horticulture, and soil science. Will Allen is the founder and Executive Director of Growing Power. He and his team provided training and collaborated on development of a workshop series. Partners: Growing Power and Longview school worked all year with IFFS to collaborate on development of the Nov 2012 Plant the Pavement workshop series. NCSU collaborated with YFTP to develop curriculum and provide teaching and mentoring for youth. CEFS and NCSU collaborated with IFFS to begin development of the NC Youth Food Council. Three IFFS staff participated in the monthly training at Growing Power to further prepare for development of the ROTC ongoing workshop series. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
YFTP: YFTP graduated 9 students in YEAR 1. As a result of the YFTP program, the apprentices reported an increase in farming skills and knowledge, a positive change in behavior around their food choices, and a positive change in attitudes around healthy and local food. We recorded changes in knowledge, skills, behaviors and attitudes through a pre and post survey of participants. Overall changes for the group include: plan to start farming: (5/12) 42%; who are farming: (6/12) 50%; plan to continue farming: (11/12) 92%; plan to stop farming (0/12); change in knowledge: (12/12) 100%; change in attitudes :(7/12) 58%; change in skills (11/12) 92%; plan a change in behavior/approach: (9/12) 75%;plan to continue participating in training: NA. Students increased knowledge in these areas: Food Justice Issues: (8/12) 67%; Soil Science: (9/12) 75%; Environmental Stewardship (7/11) 64%; Hunger: (10/12) 83%; Gleaning: (9/11) 82%; Botany (7/12) 58%; Farm Worker Rights: (10/11) 91%; Food Policy (9/12) 75%; Farm History (8/12) 67%; Cover Crops (11/12) 92%; Farm Animal (9/12) 75%; Composting (11/12) 92%. Students reported a change in behavior in these ways: Eating fruits and vegetables grown in NC: (4/12) 33%; Eating fruits and vegetables grown by themselves: (4/11) 36%; composting: (5/12) 42%. We also saw positive impact on skills development in these areas: Cooking healthy food: (7/12) 58%; cultivating produce: (9/11) 82%; harvesting produce: (8/9) 89%; selling produce: (7/9) 78%; public speaking: (7/11) 64%; managing people: (9/11) 82%; communicating: (5/8) 63%; teaching: (6/9) 67%; site maps: (8/10) 80%; design: ( 7/10) 70%; wildcrafting: (7/9) 78%; managing spreadsheets: (8/9) 89%. Another major success of the program is the creation of an Apprentice run section of the farm. Initially apprentices contributed to work on the farm as a whole. While this still continues to happen on an as needed basis, we have learned that the apprentices need experience in managing their own plot in order to feel more connected and ownership over the food they grow. The apprentices felt ownership and dedication to the place on the farm where they built beds, planted seeds, cared for and harvested crops. In Summer of 2012, apprentices participated in and graduated from the Share Our Strength Cooking Matters Program, an interactive, cooking-based nutrition program that equips participants with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to improve their nutrition practices, eating habits, and food budgeting skills. The apprentices built knowledge in healthy food choices and kitchen skills. ROTC &, CRAFT-UP are in development and have no outcomes to report for Year 1. YOUTH FOOD INITIATIVE: Created NC Food Youth listserv. Two youth teams created a vision statement document for the Youth Food Council with a plan for everything from large goals, name, and tag line, to recruitment, scheduling, logistics and pilot programs. They also crafted a position description and the interview questions for a youth coordinator position (funded by a supplemental grant). The new coordinator has been hired.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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