Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The Rockford Urban Training Farm and Enterprise Development project targets residents and neighbors of Blackhawk Courts, a Rockford Housing Authority property. In this past year, the project worked with 45 youth, and 40 adults, primarily from Blackhawk Courts and surrounding neighborhood.. According to RHA reports, the total population of Blackhawk Courts is currently 393 residents, including 209 children. Of the 172 heads of households at Blackhawk Courts, 140 are women and 86% are African American, 13% are White, and 1% are Native American. Officially, most households in Blackhawk Courts consist of an African American woman with one or two children; however, household sizes are often much larger and fluid, as friends and family members move in and out of households. Residents of Blackhawk Courts have very low-income levels and a high rate of unemployment. Rockford Housing Authority data demonstrates that income levels reported at Blackhawk Courts fall within the "very low" income category; residents report an average annual gross income of $5,160 as compared to the U.S. Census area median household income level, currently $38,873. The communities around Blackhawk Courts experienced cumulative higher levels of unemployment, ranging from 16-18%, higher than the general metropolitan area. Changes/Problems:In general, we met most goals and outcomes of our project, with some minor adjustments to timeline or approach. The most significant challenge we faced during the grant period was low use of LINK/SNAP cards by RHA residents to purchase farm produce. We believe this is partially a response to the availability of free food from the community garden, and the availability of market money that allows residents to conserve LINK/SNAP funds for other uses. In addition, we recognize that having the market be open more frequently or consistently would like lead to increased LINK/SNAP purchases. In 2016, we also faced significant struggle with the EBT equipment we purchased from Payline, which we ultimately returned to the company due to its lack of functionality. Finally, one change we made to the project was that we did not launch a mobile market. As we wrote in our most recently submitted progress report, we concluded that it is not economically prudent to open a storefront as originally envisioned, as the costs of staffing a storefront far outweigh the income at this stage. With a separate grant provided by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, we completed a feasibility study on farm enterprises in 2015, and concluded that sales in the immediate community would need to be balanced by sales to a market with a higher price point outside of the community. We have expanded our Blackhawk Courts Farm and Garden by the installation of 2 hoophouses and the acquisition of a 4 unit apartment building for farm-use renovation. Our long-term goals for the 4 unit apartment building is to transform it into a year-round space program training space and farm post-harvest handling and marketing headquarters. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Internal trainings: All told, we held 301 youth trainings, 63 educational cooking/nutrition workshops, and 67 community events or educational trainings on site, and 14 off site field trips. Each of these internal trainings and development opportunities exposed residents and participants to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. External Trainings: Project participants were provided with many diverse opportunities to participate in external trainings and professional development opportunities. Please see below for a list of examples from the three year project period: A team of 4 youth and 2 adult apprentices attended the Growing Food and Justice for All conference in November 2014. Two apprentices received food handling training and certification; Three apprentices received CPR and first aid certification. Two apprentices participated in a Whole Farm Assessment; Two apprentices attended the Good Food Festival in Chicago, Illinois. Five youth were able to participate as workshop participants and leaders in a two day event at Beloit College with food activist Vandana Shiva through the Weissberg Program in Human Rights 10 residents participated in the training and installation of 2 hoophouses How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Throughout the grant period, we shared results of our project through a number of regional and national conferences and various public speaking events. For example, our youth and adult apprentices presented at Growing Food and Justice for All conference, the Dubuque Sustainability Fair and various local events with the United Way of Rock River Valley and the Rockford Housing Authority, which often included an audience of major local funders, community leaders, and the Mayor of the City of Rockford. In addition, the project was featured as a case study in CFP report to the USDA. Finally, we publicized result of the project through our organization's communication platforms, including social media accounts and our website blog. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Rockford Urban Training Farm and Enterprise Development project, led by Angelic Organics Learning Center (AOLC), helped build the local food system and community in the City of Rockford. Through this project, we established a farm at a public housing site to grow and sell fresh produce and incorporate a job-training program for both youth and adults. The project helped people in the community to gain more reliable access to fresh, healthy produce, and helped youth and adults gain professional and personal skills to support them in their future educational and career pursuits, while earning additional income and learning organic farming and gardening practices. During the grant, we established an urban farm and harvested a total of 10,796.75 lbs. of fresh food in an area where only 13% of the population is located within ½ mile of a healthy food location. We established an EBT system at the market, as well as a market money system (where volunteers receive coupons redeemable at the market stand), and most community members qualify for SNAP benefits. The project also offered vocational training for adults and youth, helping people to meet their vocational goals and to earn extra income in an area with high unemployment rates and very low income levels. The project offered skills-building trainings and classes for youth and adults; 89% of participants reported gaining knowledge and skills about growing, getting and preparing healthy foods. We conducted activities, collected data, and worked toward outcomes under each of our 5 goals. Under Goal 1, we established our farm and garden sites as secure and permanent sites for growing and programming activities. In 2016 the actual total growing space for the season was 18,663 square feet. From these farm spaces we harvested 2866.75 lbs of fresh food to sell at the market in 2016. Ultimately, we produced, harvested and distributed a total of 10,796.75 fresh produce during the three year grant period. Residents also harvested additional food from the project's community garden, which wasn't weighed or tracked by our internal records. The difference between our projected total and actual total was a result in the unaccounted community harvest, changes in crop combinations (we didn't grow sweet potatoes for market in 2015, for instance, only for the community garden) and unexpected challenges that are typical in farming (in 2015, we lost our melon crop, which totalled 2,406 pounds alone in 2014). Under Goal 2, we increased the availability of fresh food in the neighborhood through a variety of farm microenterprise projects. In 2016, we provided a total of 3 farm stands, and 10 weeks of a 44-household CSA. We generated $11,406 in earned income from the the farm enterprises in 2016, for total sales of $26,100. While we did not meet the total sales projection included in our application, we did see an incredible increase of earned income from farm sales over the course of the grant; in 2013, we only generated $2,333 in earned income from vegetable sales. In addition to selling food we grew at the Blackhawk Courts Farm, we aggregated food and farm goods from a total of 8 rural farms and 2 urban growers for sale and use in the community. In addition, starting in 2016, we sold our produce to 3 wholesale clients. We continued to utilize our system of volunteer vouchers known as "Market Money" - which increased Blackhawk Courts residents' purchasing power at the farm. In total, RHA residents used $2,758 worth of Market Money vouchers to purchase produce, and made $213 of purchases on their LINK cards over the three year period. In 2016, we were unable to accept LINK because of multiple errors made by our service provider. We changed providers and are now working to set LINK back up for late 2016 and beyond. Under Goal 3, we developed a training program, including training paths for youth and adult apprentices. In 2016, we provided 4-25 hours of vocational training per week for 18 apprentices, including 4 adults and 14 teens. Apprentices worked for 10-30 weeks, for a total of 125 to 741 hours per apprentice. Over the three years, we worked with a total 66 apprentices. We helped apprentices meet their employment and vocational goals, by developing standards for job readiness in urban agriculture and working with them to assess career paths and job options in the community. Adult and youth apprentices gained an additional income of $1093.50 to 5,617.50 per person. Throughout the project, apprentices identified additional professional training goals to prepare them for future careers, and many continued as second year Youth Leaders or apprentices to further build their skills. Under Goal 4, we helped build agricultural, nutrition and leadership skills for Blackhawk Residents through a variety of trainings, workdays, community events, field trips and more. We held a total of 301 youth trainings, 67 community events or educational trainings on site, 43 community service sessions, 63 educational cooking/nutrition workshops, and 14 field trips off site to expose residents to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming.Through these activities, and over the three years of the grant, we engaged 455 people from Blackhawk Courts. 134 residents from additional RHA sites were exposed to our project through sales and 84 residents received training and education. In addition, 477 non-RHA residents participated in various activities. In our 2016 programming year, 92% of surveyed youth reported gaining knowledge and skills about growing, getting and preparing healthy foods, compared to 85% in Year 2, and 89% in Year 1. In addition, 75% of youth participants reported incorporating more healthy foods into their diets, compared to 89% in Year 2, and 81% in Year 1. Over the three year grant period, 15 adults took on leadership roles in the progress of the garden. 69 youth and young adults participated in our growth cycle curriculum, as they gained experiences, changed behaviors, and achieved competencies. Under Goal 5, throughout the grant period, we completed a number of evaluation activities, including focus groups, a series of interviews about food access led by our apprentice team, and an external evaluation considering adult engagement. All of this input was used to plan educational, growing and marketing activities during the life of the grant, and will continue to shape and guide our programming in the years to come. In 2016, we completed a final analysis of the project to gain insight into the overall project outcomes and best practices. We contracted Dominica McBride of Become, Inc, to complete the final analysis. Dominica visited Rockford to conduct focus groups and collect resident surveys.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The Rockford Urban Training Farm and Enterprise Development project targets residents and neighbors of Blackhawk Courts, a Rockford Housing Authority property. In this past year, the project worked with 92 youth, and 102 adults, primarily from Blackhawk Courts and surrounding neighborhood. An additional 83 residents from 4 other RHA sites participated through mobile markets and educational programs which we piloted this year at their sites. According to RHA reports, the total population of Blackhawk Courts is currently 393 residents, including 209 children. Of the 172 heads of households at Blackhawk Courts, 140 are women and 86% are African American, 13% are White, and 1% are Native American. Officially, most households in Blackhawk Courts consist of an African American woman with one or two children; however, household sizes are often much larger and fluid, as friends and family members move in and out of households. Residents of Blackhawk Courts have very low-income levels and a high rate of unemployment. Rockford Housing Authority data demonstrates that income levels reported at Blackhawk Courts fall within the "very low" income category; residents report an average annual gross income of $5,160 as compared to the U.S. Census area median household income level, currently $38,873. The communities around Blackhawk Courts experienced cumulative higher levels of unemployment, ranging from 16-18%, higher than the general metropolitan area. Changes/Problems:In general, we are on target to meet most goals and outcomes in our project, with some minor adjustments to timeline or approach. As we mentioned in last year's report, we continue to experience low sales to RHA residents through farm-stands on site. RHA residents did not frequently use their LINK/SNAP cards to purchase food. This was partially a response to the availability of free food from the community garden, and the availability of market money that allows residents to conserve LINK/SNAP funds for other uses. We concluded that it is not economically prudent to open a storefront as originally envisioned, as the costs of staffing a storefront far outweigh the income at this stage. We are still exploring low-cost ways establish a more permanent farm-stand market on site that would increase the hours when produce is available to buy. In an affiliated project, we completed a feasibility study on farm enterprises this year, and concluded that sales in the immediate community would need to be balanced by sales to a market with a higher price point outside of the community. Our feasibility study has shown that there are further issues to research and resolve before we have information to make a confident decision to launch a food hub, mobile market or storefront on a major scale. In the meantime, we are looking for other avenues to increase sales, access to food, and employment opportunities for youth and adults, including exploring the possibility of establishing two hoop houses, as mentioned above. These explorations have led to lively discussions among our community leadership about tension between goals of food access and farm business expansion and sustainability. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Internal trainings: This year we held 125 youth trainings, 17 educational cooking/nutrition workshops, 7 community events or educational trainings on site, and 1 field trip off site to expose residents and participants to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. External trainings: A team of 4 youth and 2 adult apprentices attended the Growing Food and Justice for All conference in November 2014. Two apprentices received food handling training and certification; 3 received CPR and first aid certification. Two participated in a Whole Farm Assessment; 2 attended the Good Food Festival. Other participants benefited from opportunities with the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We disseminated results through various public speaking events in Year 2 of the project. Our team of youth and adult leadership presented at the Growing Food and Justice for All conference in November 2014 in Milwaukee. Our youth and adult apprentices were keynote speakers at the Dubuque Sustainability Fair. Community leaders spoke with America in Bloom judges, who gave special mention of the project in their report, and described it as a "project for others to emulate." RHA resident Tia Smith completed a short video about the impacts of working on the farm for apprentice Yatte Moore. This video has been shown at various venues around Rockford. Finally, we were featured as a case study in evaluation for a Community Food Projectsreport to the United States Department of Agriculture. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to offer programs for youth, adults and apprentices in the upcoming year at Blackhawk Courts, expanding the marketing of vegetables in the community. We are focusing on increasing earned income in order to expand the farm business and create more opportunities for employment. This will also reduce dependence on grant funding and create more stability for the project. We are currently consulting with a hoop-house expert to create financial projections, and are exploring a garden installation business through which youth can share their expertise with neighbors and expand healthy food grown in the community.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Rockford Urban Training Farm and Enterprise Development project, led by Angelic Organics Learning Center (AOLC), is making a positive impact in the City of Rockford. We have established a farm at a public housing site to grow and sell fresh produce and incorporate a job-training program for both youth and adults. The project is helping people in the community to gain more reliable access to fresh, healthy produce, and is addressing the unemployment and low-income levels of many area residents. We established an urban farm and harvested 2677 lbs of fresh food in an area in which only 13% of the population is located within ½ mile of a healthy food location. We established an EBT system at the market, as well as a market money system (where volunteers receive coupons redeemable at the market stand), and most community members qualify for SNAP benefits. The project also offered vocational training for adults and youth, helping people to meet their vocational goals and to earn extra income in an area with high unemployment rates and very low income levels. The project offered skills building classes for youth and adults; 89% of participants reported gaining knowledge and skills about growing, getting and preparing healthy foods. We conducted activities, collected data, and worked toward outcomes under each of our 5 goals. Under Goal 1, in fall of 2014 we completed a number of evaluation activities, including four focus groups, a series of interviews about food access led by our apprentice team, and an external evaluation considering adult engagement. All of this input was used to plan educational, growing and marketing activities for 2015. The total footprint of growing spaces is about an acre; actual bed space is 13,041 square feet. From these farm spaces we harvested 2,677 lbs of fresh food to sell at the market in 2015. Residents also accessed additional food, which wasn't weighed, through a sizeable community garden. This is a decrease in harvested food from last year, and is due to changes in crop combinations (we didn't grow sweet potatoes for market, for instance, only for the community garden) and a crop loss with our melons (which totalled 2,406 pounds alone in 2014). Under Goal 2, we increased the availability of fresh food in the neighborhood through a total of 18 farm stands, and 10 weeks of a 30-member CSA. Through the farm enterprises, we aggregated food and farm goods from 6 rural farms and 1 urban grower for sale and use in the community. We continued to utilize our system of volunteer vouchers known as "Market Money." The collective enterprises served 382 customers in 2015 with total sales of $7,792, bumping our two year total to $14,818. In 2015, RHA residents used $1,525 worth of market money to purchase produce, and made $74 of purchases on their LINK cards. Under Goal 3, we developed a training program, including training paths, for 20 apprentices. We provided vocational training for 20-30 weeks (471 to 741 hours) for 3 adult apprentices, and provided vocational training for 14-25 hours per week in the summer for 14 teens; another group of 3 out-of-school youth completed 30-300 hours over short term apprenticeships in spring or summer. We helped apprentices meet their vocational goals. We developed standards for job readiness in urban agriculture and began to assess career paths and job options in the community. Adult apprentices gained an additional income of $3,737 to $7,923 per person; summer youth apprentices earned from $600 to $875 in stipends. Two adult apprentices have identified additional professional training goals, which they have pursued in 2015, in addition to continuing as second year apprentices. Under Goal 4, we helped build agricultural, nutrition and leadership skills for Blackhawk Residents, including 102 adults and 92 youth; an additional 83 adult residents from other RHA sites participated in mobile programming, and 450 non-RHA residents participated in various activities. We held training and workdays for youth and adults in the community garden space, field trips and more. We held 125 youth trainings, 25 community service sessions, 17 educational cooking/nutrition workshops, helped sponsor 16 summer lunch programs, 7 community events or educational trainings on site, and 1 field trip off site to expose residents to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. We held 4 educational events and 4 markets offsite. In our 2015 programming year, 85% of surveyed adults or apprentices (23/27) reported gaining knowledge and skills about growing, getting and preparing healthy foods. 89% of participants reported incorporating more healthy foods into their diets. 13 adults took on leadership roles in the progress of the garden. 37 youth and young adults participated in our growth cycle curriculum, as they gained experiences, changed behaviors, and achieved competencies. Under Goal 5, we evaluated the project to gain insight into outcomes and best practices. Community members conducted video interviews to learn about their neighbor's food needs and interests. Evaluator Ann Williams helped us gather and analyze survey data. We contracted Dominica McBride of Become, Inc, to complete an evaluation on adult engagement in Fall 2014.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14
Outputs
Target Audience: The Rockford Urban Training Farm and Enterprise Development project targets residents and neighbors of Blackhawk Courts, a Rockford Housing Authority property. In this past year, the project worked with 98 youth, and 78 adults, primarily from Blackhawk Courts and surrounding neighborhood. According to RHA reports, the total population of Blackhawk Courts is currently 393 residents, including 209 children. Of the 172 heads of households at Blackhawk Courts, 140 are women and 86% are African American, 13% are White, and 1% are Native American. Officially, most households in Blackhawk Courts consist of an African American woman with one or two children; however, household sizes are often much larger and fluid, as friends and family members move in and out of households. Residents of Blackhawk Courts have very low-income levels and a high rate of unemployment. Rockford Housing Authority data demonstrates that income levels reported at Blackhawk Courts fall within the “very low” income category; residents report an average annual gross income of $5,160 as compared to the U.S. Census area median household income level, currently $38,873. The communities around Blackhawk Courts experienced cumulative higher levels of unemployment, ranging from 16-18%, higher than the general metropolitan area. Changes/Problems: Project circumstances have required minor changes in our timeline and approach in 2014. These changes include: 1. We had planned to expand at the Rockford Housing Authority “garage” site, but are in negotiation with the RHA about some alterative locations that better match the current resources and growing sites of the project. 2. At this stage of the project, we are experiencing very low sales to residents through farm-stands on site, so we are not planning to immediately open a storefront as originally envisioned. Instead, we are evaluating alternative market channels through a feasibility study this winter. Market channel options include: a. Expanded CSA to better meet the food needs of residents b. Mobile market c. In addition, there are conversations in Rockford about opening a natural foods co-op in the neighborhood adjacent to Blackhawk Courts over the next several years. If the co-op moves forward, we are advocating for ways for it to meet the food and employment needs of Housing Authority residents What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? We held 123 youth trainings, 36 educational cooking/nutrition workshops, 42 community events or educational trainings on site, and 13 field trips off site to expose residents and participants to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. Five youth were able to participate as workshop participants and leaders in a two day event at Beloit College with food activist Vandana Shiva thorugh the Weissberg Program in Human Rights. Other participants benefited from opportunities with the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? We disseminated results though public speaking events and exchange programs in Year 1 of the project. Program participants spoke about the program at the Rockford Housing Authority’s Inaugural event, as well as with several visiting funders, with the mayor of Rockford, and with other community leaders. In the summer of 2014, two regional youth and agriculture projects (Merrill Community Garden in Beloit, WI and Freeport High School CSA farm) visited Blackhawk Courts Farm and Garden to work and learn alongside the youth. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? We will continue to offer programs for youth, adults and apprentices in the upcoming year at Blackhawk Courts, expanding the marketing of vegetables in the community. We are assessing options with the Rockford Housing Authority for additional growing spaces, and may install a hoophouse on the site, depending on resources. We have undertaken a feasibility study explore expanded aggregation options, including a mobile market to reach other Rockford Housing Authority sites. We will expand strategies to include youth and adults from other RHA sites in the activities at Blackhawk Courts.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The Rockford Urban Training Farm and Enterprise Development project, led by Angelic Organics Learning Center (AOLC), is making a positive impact in the City of Rockford. We have established a farm at a public housing site to grow and sell fresh produce and incorporate a job-training program for both youth and adults. The project is helping people in the community to gain more reliable access to fresh, healthy produce, and is addressing the unemployment and low-income levels of many area residents. We established an urban farm and harvested 5,253 lbs of fresh food in an area in which only 13% of the population is located within ½ mile of a healthy food location. We established an EBT system at the market, as well as a volunteer vouchers system, as many community members qualify for SNAP benefits. The project also offered vocational training for adults and youth, helping people helped meet their vocational goals and to earn extra income in an area with high unemployment rates and very low income levels. The project offered skills building classes for youth and adults; 89% of participants reported gaining knowledge and skills about growing, getting and preparing healthy foods. Finally, we worked with an external evaluator to refine our survey tools and evaluation materials so that we can more effectively measure our impact. We conducted activities, collected data, and worked toward outcomes under the auspices of each of our 5 goals. Under Goal 1, we increased food self-reliance at Rockford Housing Authority sites by developing a half-acre urban training farm. In late 2013, we convened neighbors for meetings and focus group to get feedback on what they would like from a farm site and related activities, which was incorporated into plans for 2014. We developed physical infrastructure for the project, which now has two storage pods, and a rotational system for vegetable production. The project has placed ¼ acre in production at Blackhawk Courts. 79 residents participated in 10 focus groups in fall of 2013 through winter 2014, and their input was used to plan activities educational activities, growing and marketing activities for 2014. The total footprint of growing spaces is about an acre; actual bed space is 8,815 square feet. We harvested 5,253 lbs of fresh food to sell at the market in 2014. Residents also accessed additional food grown in a community garden. Under Goal 2, we increased the availability of fresh food in the neighborhood through a total of 40 farmstands, and 10 weeks of a 37-member CSA. Through the farm enterprises, we distributed food from 2 CRAFT farms and 2 other local growers. We established an EBT program and system of volunteer vouchers (known as “Market Money”). The collective enterprises served 560 customers in 2014 with total sales of $6,902, a significant increase over 2013’s sales of $2,333. In the first year of the project, RHA residents used $1,233 worth of market money to purchase produce, and made $139 of purchases on their LINK cards. Under Goal 3, we developed a training program, including training paths, for 28 apprentices. We provided vocational training for 12-40 weeks (100-750 hours) for 4 adult apprentices, and provided vocational training for 20 hours per week in the summer for 18 teens; another group of 6 out-of-school youth completed 42 hours over a short term apprenticeship in spring. We helped apprentices meet their vocational goals. We developed standards for job readiness in urban agriculture and began to assess career paths and job options in the community. Adult apprentices gained an additional income of $7,500 per person; summer youth apprentices earned from $200 to $2,500 in stipends. Two adult apprentices received supplemental employment through local farms and have identified additional training goals, which they will pursue in 2015, in addition to continuing as second year apprentices. Under Goal 4, we helped build agricultural, nutrition and leadership skills for 78 adult residents and 98 youth gardeners. We held training and workdays for youth and adults in the community garden space, field trips and more. We held 123 youth trainings, 36 educational cooking/nutrition workshops, 42 community events or educational trainings on site, and 13 field trips off site to expose residents to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. In 2014, 89% of participants reported gaining knowledge and skills about growing, getting and preparing healthy foods (76/85 responses). 81% of participants reported improved diets both due to more availability and due to more skills for using foods. 12 adults took on leadership roles in the progress of the garden. We tracked the progress of youth progress through our growth cycle curriculum, as they gained experiences, changed behaviors, and achieved competencies. Under Goal 5, we evaluated the project to gain insight into outcomes and best practices. External evaluator Ann Williams helped us revise our survey tools for 2014. In winter of 2013 to 2014, we collected information through focus groups and community meetings, to learn about food and nutrition access and knowledge in the community in 2014. In summer of 2014, Yvette Moyo from Real Men Charities visited to observe programs, and to give input into in depth surveys about residents’ food usage, a project, which is currently underway.
Publications
|