THE BUFFALO NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD PROJECT

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1001264
• Grant No.: 2013-33800-21447
• Project No.: NY.W-2013-00691
• Proposal No.: 2013-00691
• Program Code: LN.C
• Project Start Date: Sep 1, 2013
• Project End Date: Aug 31, 2016
• Grant Year: 2013

Project Director
Fratello, M. M.

Recipient Organization
GRASSROOTS GARDENS OF BUFFALO,INC.
65 NIAGARA SQ
BUFFALO,NY 142023313

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
The Buffalo Neighborhood Food Project is a collaborative effort of Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo (GGB) and the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP), neighborhood youth and low-income residents in Buffalo, New York, the nation's third poorest city. The project aims to increase food self-reliance of Buffalo residents, promote comprehensive responses to local food and nutrition issues, build networks and meet the food needs of low-income people through 4 synergistic strategies. These include building the production capacity and sustainability of community gardens, developing a comprehensive school garden program for Buffalo Public Schools, increasing food production and expanding a youth run enterprise through the expansion of a commercial scale aquaponics system at the Growing Green Urban Farm, establishing a Community Kitchen project and influencing municipal policy in support of urban agriculture and local food system development. The Buffalo Neighborhood Food Project is an opportunity to capitalize on GGB's citywide work with community residents and MAP's successful track record improving food security and working with youth, as well as current opportunities to scale-up food production efforts in Buffalo and impact public policy as it relates to urban food production.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

100%

Developmental

(N/A)

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
608	0530	3111	100%

Knowledge Area
608 - Community Resource Planning and Development;

Subject Of Investigation
0530 - Parks and urban green space;

Field Of Science
3111 - Landscape architecture;

Keywords

community

food

Goals / Objectives
Project Goals In recent years Grassroots Gardens of Buffalo (GGB) has seen a growing interest from residents and school communities in starting food producing community gardens, as well as a significant increase in requests for training and education. The number of community gardens supported by GGB increased by 25% in 2011 and 13% in 2012. As the only organization that facilitates and supports community gardens in Buffalo, the demand for GGB's services and expertise continues to increase. Since 2003, the Massachusetts Avenue Project (MAP) has worked to build the foundation of a community food system through its work with low-income residents and youth, mainly on Buffalo's West Side. MAP's success in training youth, increasing access to nutritious, affordable food, and building relationships with residents, farmers and schools has led to opportunities for expanding this work in a more comprehensive way to reach a larger constituency of Buffalo's low-income communities. The Buffalo Neighborhood Food Project is a new project that builds on past successes, complimentary roles, and the partnership of GGB and MAP. This project has four main goals: 1) To increase the self-reliance of our community in providing for our own food needs 2) To meet the food needs of low income youth and families in Buffalo 3) To advocate for policy in support of food system development 4) To create a comprehensive and replicable school garden program connecting students to food More specifically, we will focus on the following objectives while working to meet these goals: Objective #1: Increase the capacity and sustainability of all (GGB) community gardens. Lead gardeners will be trained as trainers to share information, knowledge and resources with other gardeners. Additionally, at least five (5) community gardens will benefit from additional construction and plant materials, resources and trainings to increase food production. Objective #2: Provide members of up to 10 school communities the opportunity to experience the food system through a hands-on learning environment. A comprehensive school garden program that utilizes curriculum-based lessons and increases students' awareness of the strengths and challenges of the food system in their community will be piloted in 3-5 new school communities and 3-5 school communities with existing school garden programs. Objective #3: Improve access and consumption of nutritious food by creating a Community Kitchen program that will provide a structured resource for community members, including youth, to prepare nutritious meals and preserve garden produce. Community-led seasonal food preparation and preservation workshops will be held in the fall and spring. A youth-led cooking club will allow youth to learn new cooking skills and nutrition information, share diverse cultural recipes and build relationships. Objective #4: Provide new opportunities for youth enterprise expansion and food related income generation. MAP's youth enterprise program will expand with the development of a commercial scale aquaponics project, tripling the production of Buffalo's oldest urban farm. Fish and produce grown in this system will be distributed and sold through MAP's Mobile Market to low income communities, allowing youth to be leaders in meeting the community's food needs. Objective #5: Building on an established foundation of food system advocacy work, organize community members, including youth, and work with public and private stakeholders to influence food systems related policy through the creation of a City-County Food Policy Council. This work will include working with the City to develop management plan guidelines for newly drafted urban agriculture land use and zoning regulations. These goals and objectives relate to needs and opportunities identified by community residents including youth, community gardeners and public school stakeholders. Both GGB and MAP are grassroots organizations that have strong ties to the community and complementary expertise that will lead to greater project impacts.

Project Methods
Evaluation Methodology Increase in Food Self-Reliance Metric Unit of measurement Benchmark Data collection Community Garden Network (Objective #1) Scale of food production Number of new community gardens established 3-5 annually Site visits (annual), Staff reports Intensity of food production Increase in square foot dedicated to cultivation of food in existing and new community gardens 25% increase from baseline Site visits (annual), Staff reports Quantity of food harvested Increase in pounds of harvested crops in existing and new community gardens 10% increase from baseline Gardener survey (annual), Staff reports School Garden Network (Objective #2) Scale of food production Number of new school gardens 3-5 established Site visits (annual) Intensity of food production Square footage of food cultivated 10% increase from baseline Site visits (annual) Quantity of food production Pounds of harvested crops 10% increase from baseline School reports (annual); Staff reports (annual) Increase in self-reliant youth Number of students receiving training 5% increase from baseline School reports (annual); Staff reports (annual) MAP Urban Farm (Objective #4) Scale of food production Square foot dedicated to cultivation of food 75% increase of land and greenhouse capacity in production Site visits (annual) Quantity of food raised Pounds of harvested crops and fish Triple food pounds produced from baseline Staff reports (annual) Produce and fish sold Sales revenue ($) 75% increase from baseline by year 3 Sales reports, including EBT sales (annual) Increase in self-reliant residents Number of individuals trained at urban agriculture workshops 10% increase from baseline Training attendance and evaluations (annual) Meet Food Needs of Low-Income Youth and Families Metric Unit of measurement Benchmark Data collection Improve Access and Consumption of Nutritious Food (Objective #3) Increase in direct food access Youth and families served through Mobile Market and community kitchen program 1,500 residents have improved access to fresh, affordable food Staff reports, including pre and post customer surveys (annual) Provide New Opportunities for Youth Enterprise Expansion (Objective #4) Increase in income generation activities Youth employed through Growing Green Works 50 per year Attendance and payroll reports (annual) Educate and Build Capacity of Food Systems Stakeholders Metric Unit of measurement Benchmark Data collection Community-Based Education (Objective #s 1, 2 & 3) Increase in self-reliant residents Number of community gardeners trained 75 community members Staff reports (annual); workshop attendance reports Change in knowledge about food production; change in actual behavior related to growing, cooking, preservation, and eating 20 families and 35 youth will have increased knowledge of nutrition, meal planning and consumption of nutritious foods Survey of community members, community gardeners and youth (pre- and post test survey; annual) Increase in youth self-reliant (school gardeners) Number of youth trained at school gardens 5% increase Staff reports (annual) Satisfaction and change in knowledge about food; change in behavior related to growing, preservation, cooking and eating Statistically significant change before and after participation Survey of students (pre- and post test survey; annual) Development of Comprehensive and Systematic Responses Metric Unit of measurement Benchmark Data collection Build on Established Foundation of Food System Advocacy Work (Objective #5) The degree of engagement of community members and youth in the Green Code process, including the development of urban agriculture management plan guidelines Number of individuals engaged Management plan guidelines established Stakeholder interviews Document analysis of draft and adopted policies The degree to which the revised land use plan and zoning code facilitate urban agriculture in the City of Buffalo Permitted urban agriculture land uses included in adopted plan Adopted land use plan and zoning code supportive of urban agriculture Document analysis of draft and adopted policies The degree of engagement of community members and youth leaders in the creation of and representation on the Food Policy Council Number of individuals engaged Food Policy Council established Stakeholder interviews

Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/16

Outputs
Target Audience:Massachussetts Avenue Project Target Audience: Our target audience includes low-income youth and community members. The ethnic diversity of the youth we have served in the last three years include: 62% African American/ African refugee/immigrants 20% Hispanic 9% Caucasian 7%Asian, 2% Native American 50% of the youth we work with come from immigrant or refugee families and 92% come from low-income households. Grassroots Gardens Target Audience: K-12 Buffalo Public School Communities: In Year Two, nineteen (19) school communities were reached through the Buffalo Sprouts School Gardens program. All created new food-producing school gardens, engaging at least 100 inner city youth at each school, with an estimated total of 1,970 participants. 14 of our 19 school gardens are located within census tracts with high levels of household food insecurity. Low-Income Families/Households through Community Gardens: Over 700 low-income households have participated in food production activities at Grassroots Gardens 75 community gardens throughout the City of Buffalo. Gardeners range in age from 14 to 92, with ethnicities including African refugees/immigrants, Asian refugees/immigrnats, African-American, Hispanic and Caucasian, growing over 130 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?2015- May 2016 the Morten Group out of Chicago consulted with MAP's Board and staff to create a fund development plan and conducted donor development training. In October 2015 MAP Markets Director Danielle Rovillo attended the NYS Farmers Market Certification Program and completed requirements for certification. Several MAP staff and youth attended several food justice regional conferences, as participants and presenters. In April, 16 youth and staff attended the Northeast Youth Food Justice Convening in Hartford CT. In October MAP youth presented a workshop at the Syracuse Food Justice Symposium, alongside Detroit food system leader, Malik Yakini. In November in partnership with UB , GGB and MAPbrought Food /Human Rights Activist and Black Farmer, Shirley Sherrod to Buffalo as keynote for a Just Food, Just Communities Event. Also in November, MAP Youth Education Coordinator Rebekah Williams accompanied 4 youth to the annual Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY. In 2016, Derek Nichols, GGB Director of Education, attended the Center for COmmunity Progress Vacant Lots Conference in Baltimore. In August 2016, GGB sponsored 3 community gardeners to attend the American Community Garden Association Conference in Cleveland, Ohio with GGB staff. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results of the project are disseminated through MAP's monthly newsletter and GGB's quarterly newsletter, through both organizationalwebsites, social media and the MAP youth blog which can be accessed at growinggreenmassave.blogspot.com; through GGB andMAPannual reports, various community events and through press coverage. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective #1: The GGB community garden network grew by an additional10% in the 2016growing season, with the addition of 9new community gardens, allof which are food producing. Resources provided to our network range from hard materials, to technology and training, summarized below. Crop diversification plans are were implemented by5 community gardens. Based on harvest data collected in 2015, it is estimated that over 20,000 lbs of produce was grown in GGB gardens. Material Resources: Over 300cubic yards of soil, 70 cubic yards of mulch, 102new raised beds, 400seed packets and 200flats of vegetables. Training: Community Organizer Training- 54lead gardeners attended, with a second series planned for fall. Spring Lead Gardener Meeting - 88gardeners were in attendance, with special focus on creating efficiencies in material use. Safe Roots: 5 Workshops in 8languages focused on safe and sustainable growing practices. Nutrition Workshops: held at 4garden sites with 50youth at each location, creating healthy snacks with produce from the gardens. Community Gardening 101 training held for all new gardeners. Objective #2: At the end of the 2016 growing season, there were a total of 18 school gardens within the Buffalo Public Schools. Representatives from these garden teams in addition to garden teams at a charter (1) and private school (1) make up the Buffalo Public Schools School Garden Committee. The number of food producing school gardens in district schools has grown from approximately 5 gardens, most in their initial stage, to 16 gardens since the beginning of this grant program. In addition to increasing the number of school gardens within the district, program enhancements resulted in a replicable model for creating a school garden in a Buffalo Public School from completing the application to the first growing season and beyond. This program expansion provided more extensive resources for school garden team leaders and teachers. The School Garden Toolkit was updated to provide schools a more comprehensive guide to starting a school garden. It is available electronically on the Committee's new website. The website was created and allows the Committee to provide information on grants, garden lessons, and upcoming events, as well as, share updates, local news stories, and photos from member school gardens. Last spring a map of school gardens in Buffalo was created and provided to member school gardens and other stakeholders. The map not only provided a visual of where school gardens exist in the city, but also the type of garden at each school. Funding from this grant was used to create a Curriculum Guide of sample lessons for teachers and team leaders. The guide consisted of lessons targeting each grade levels with topics spanning from Seed Saving to Garden Economics to Mapping Your Food. Each participating school garden was provided with a Curriculum Guide. Material resources were provided in the form of Garden Kits which allowed teams to choose the most appropriate materials to meet their garden needs. This model of material procurement by gardens was more successful than previous attempts made to provide materials to gardens. Another model which was developed and is currently being trialled as a resource sharing system and to increase school involvement is the creation of a School Garden Section in the school library. This special area consists of lessons that can be signed out and books both from the library and garden team members willing to donate to the resource center. Tracking the books through the library system and the lessons through simple sign out forms will allow team leaders at each school and the Committee to monitor garden use by teachers for learning in addition to food production. Objective #3: This year 35 low-income teens, ages 14-20, participated in an 8 week nutrition education and food preparation program. Each week, June 20th -August 12th youth participants learned to plan, budget for and prepare a meal for 50-60 people. Each week they inventoried what produce was available at MAP's urban farm to maximize the use of seasonal fruits and vegetables in meal planning. Over 50% of youth participants are new Americans and were encouraged to incorporate foods from their own cultures. Youth also learned to incorporate at least one vegetarian and one vegan option into each meal. Youth participants achieved the following outcomes: 88% Learned new cooking techniques 94% Learned about seasonal availability of produce in Western New York and importance of seasonal eating 70% Learned new meal budgeting skills 92% Gained new nutrition knowledge 85% Learned new information about food from cultures other than my own 72% Learned new information about the history or origins of food We have been challenged by not having access to a year- round commercially licensed kitchen which has limited our capacity to offer food preservation and preparation classes to more participants. MAP is working to establish a commercial kitchen in the next year as part of the construction of a new Farmhouse and Community Food Training Center, due to be completed in the fall of 2017. Objective #4: MAP's commercial Aquaponics greenhouse continues to produce fish and vegetables. Despite the challenging conditions of this year's drought, to date this growing season, youth and staff have produced approximately 15,000 lbs of food at our urban farm, including 54 different varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Food from our farm and 4 other local farms, totaling over 30,000 lbs of food, was sold through our Mobile Market. At 6 Mobile Market sites this year, located in Buffalo's low-income neighborhoods, we have improved access and affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables to over 3,600 households (approximately 9,500 people) to date this season. For the second year MAP's Mobile Market participated in the Double Up Bucks, an incentive program that allows SNAP recipients to double the value of their fruit and vegetable purchases. This increased the number of customers using SNAP at market sites and boosted our sales revenues. We also accept WIC benefits at all our sites. Trained youth help run our Mobile Market sites, harvesting and selling food grown at our farm and other local farms. Youth learn marketing, communications, business and customer service skills as well as experience first- hand the multiple benefits of a social enterprise. Objective #5: Over the past year MAP provided jobs and trained 50 disadvantaged youth and actively engaged 17 youth in food systems advocacy work at the City and County level and with the Buffalo Public Schools. In January 2016, 2 MAP trained youth (Dillon Hill and Lamar Rice) completed a 2 year term on the Buffalo and Erie County Food Policy Council (established in year one of this grant) and one MAP trained youth (Caleb Graham) was elected to a new term. Over the past 2 years, GGB and MAP have supported the Youth Advisory Council (YAC)...recently renamed HYPE (Healthy Youth Positive Energy)...to partner with the School District on a Farm to School project with a goal of improving school meals, increasing local food procurement for those meals and increasing food education within schools. This fall (2015) and spring (2016) GGB and MAP staff and youth helped implement a Harvest of the Month pilot project introducing new menu items made from locally sourced vegetables in 10 schools. This January, MAP helped form the Crossroads Collective, a partnership of grassroots organizations working to reverse decades of fossil fuel dependence, environmental degradation and extractive economics in Buffalo by advancing a new development model for the region rooted in equity and sustainability. The partners of this Collective are committed to sustainable food system development, while providing resources and opportunities for youth organizing and advocacy and have supported several youth-led efforts and events this year.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Machnica, Elizabeth, Subhashni Raj and Samina Raja. (In Preparation). A Trajectory of Quality of Life: Youth Engagement in Urban Agriculture in Buffalo, NY. Prepared for Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Raj, S., et al. (2016). "Beneficial but Constrained: Impact of urban agriculture on consumption of fruits and vegetables among youth." Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Raja, S. and J. Whittaker (In Press). Community Food Infrastructure: A Vital Consideration for Planning Healthy Communities. Healthy Environments, Healing Spaces: Current Practices and Future Directions in Health, City Planning, and Design. T. Beatley, R. Rainey and C. Jones, University of Virginia Press.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Raja, S., et al. (2014). "Rustbelt Radicalism: A Decade of Food Systems Planning in Buffalo, New York." Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development 4(4): 173-189.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Raja, S., et al. (2016). Community-Led Urban Agriculture Policy Making: A View from the United States. Urban Agriculture Magazine. Issue 31: Inclusive Use of Urban Space. [Available on-line]
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Whittaker, J. and S. Raja (2015). How Food Policy Emerges: Research Suggests Community-Led Practice Shapes Policy. Translating Research for Policy Series. S. Raja and J. Leccese, Growing Food Connections Project. [Available on-line]
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Awaiting Publication Year Published: 2016 Citation: Whittaker, J., et al. (Accepted). "Planning for Food Systems: Community University Partnerships for Food Systems Transformation." Metropolitan Universities.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Attard, N. (2016). Improved Student Nutrition in the Buffalo Public Schools: Understanding the Roles of District Food Policy Initiatives and Citizen Advocacy. American Collegiate Schools of Planning. Portland, OR
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Raja, S. (2015). Underinvestment and Over-regulation: The Role of Local Governments in Responding to Problems in the Food System. Keynote Address. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Raja, S. (2016). Integrating Food into the New Urban Agenda. Workshop at United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), New York City, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Machnica, E. (2016). Social Justice and Food Access in Buffalo, NY. Nutrition and Environment. University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY. March 31, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Machnica, E., et al. (2016). A trajectory for improved quality of life: Youth engagement in urban agriculture in Buffalo, New York. American Public Health Association. Annual Conference, Denver, CO, 2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Raja, S. (2016). Planning as if People Eat. Cultural and Intellectual Climate Committee Series, State University of New York at Cortland.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Raja, S., et al. (2015). Growing Community-University Connections for Food Systems Research and Action. Faculty and Community Workshop on Food Justice, Buffalo, NY.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Raja, Samina and Alex Judelsohn. (2016). Planning for Food Systems in Urban Settlements: Lessons and Challenge from North America. United Nations Habitat III Conference, Quito, Ecuador,2016.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Vazquez, Danielle, Gabrielle Cohen and Samina Raja.(2016). The New Victory Gardens: How Community Gardens in Western NY Alleviate Food Insecurity. Celebration of Undergraduate Research Poster Presentation. April 7, 2016
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2016 Citation: Whittaker, J. (2016). Planning Approaches to Preserve Community Gardens. New York State Community Gardens Working Group Inaugural Meeting, Albany, NY.

Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15

Outputs
Target Audience:Target Audiences reached during Year Twoof the Buffalo Neighborhood Food Project include: At-Risk Youth: 43inner city youth, ages 14-20, participated in education and workforce development training around localfood systems and urban agriculture. 30teens completed the Growing Green summer program, and 20teens participated in theYouth Advisory Council.The ethnic diversity of youth served includes 37% African refugee/immigrants, 32% African American, 15% Hispanic, 8%Caucasian, 3% Asian, 2% Native American and 3% mixed ethnicity. 98% are from low income households. K-12 Buffalo Public School Communities: In Year Two, nineteen (19)school communities were reached through the Buffalo Sprouts School Gardensprogram. All created new food-producing school gardens, engaging at least 100 inner city youth at each school, with an estimated total of 1,970 participants. 14 of our 19 school gardens are located within census tracts with high levels of household food insecurity. Low-Income Families/Households through Community Gardens: Over 700 low-income households have participated in foodproduction activities at Grassroots Gardens 75communitygardens throughout the City of Buffalo. Gardeners range in age from 14to92, with ethnicities including African refugees/immigrants, Asian refugees/immigrnats, African-American, Hispanic andCaucasian, growing over 130 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?In addition to the training for community and school gardeners listed above, GGB staff has participated in the followingprofessional development opportunities: Derek Nichols, GGB Program Manager, attended the following conferences: American Community Gardening Association National Conference 2014 and 2015. This conference focuses on best practices in community and school gardening. 2015 Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference: Detroit. This conference, sponsored by the Center for Community Progress, focuses on opportunities and policies around vacant lot reuse, including community gardens and urban agirculture. Melissa Fratello, Executive Director, attended and presented at the Land Trust Alliance Rally. The topic of her presentation was community conservation. The Rally is a national gathering of conservation organizations, focused on policy and practice for preserving land, including the long term preservation of community gardens. Rebekah Williams, MAP's Youth Education Director and 3 Growing Green youth attended the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (NESAWG) Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY in October 2014. The conference focused on regional and national policy efforts in support of sustainable food systems. MAP-s Farm Staff attended a NOFA-NY training on post- harvest handling and packaging in November 2014 In April 2015, MAP staff and 12 youth attended the Northeast Youth Food Conference in Hartford Connecticut which allowed them to share their work with and learn from other teens doing food system work in New England. 2 Growing Green youth leaders attended Close Up DC program at the end of June 2014, a week long training in Washington, DC exposing young people of color from across the country to the workings of our federal government and how to make change through policy. MAP's Youth Education Director also attended Community Health Worker Training this month (Aug 2015) How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?GGB has shared project results through the print and web publishing of an annual community report (January 2015), and through various social media, quarterly newsletters, and at spring and fall lead gardener meetings. Our work, and more speicifcally the work of our gardenrers,has also been featured on televised newscasts, and in the Buffalo News, and Buffalo Rising (blog). The results of MAP's work are disseminated on a regular basis through monthly newsletters, youth blog, and through various social media. The work youth leaders has recently been featured in a Buffalo News and Buffalo Business First article. 30 trained youth did on-going door to door canvassing for 6 weeks this summer to disseminate information about farm stand and Mobile Market sites to community residents. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?GGB: Continue to develop resources for Community and School Gardens, both material and educational. Continue to utilize annual assessment/feedback tools to determine specific needs and challenges faced by urban gardens, and design/secure resources to address them. Offer free, hands on educational opportunities for community and school garden participants focused on food systems, safe growing practices and sustainability. Offer 2nd phase of Community Organizing training with train the trainer component. Continue our advocacy role in the Western New York Environmental Alliance, with GGB staff to Chair the Growing Committee, representing urban agriculture organizations region wide. Continue to offer opportunities for expansion of the community and school garden network. Publish the School Garden Resource Guide and distribute to all school garden leaders. Continue to develop crop diversifcation plans with community garden leaders. Continue to target refugee and immigrant communities with the Safe Roots initiative. MAP: Maintain aquaponics greenhouses and growing spaces to maximize production and farm enterprise activities Continue to train and involve 50 youth in food production and enterprise development, year round. Continue to advocate for adoption of City's Green Code with broad allowances for urban food production, distribution and marketing Hold food preservation and preparation workshops for community members and youth Begin construction on Community Food Training and Resource Center at MAP's urban farm. This will increase our capacity to do food-based education training with community members and youth. Participate in Buffalo and Erie County Food Policy Council Working Groups Continue to train and support Youth Advisory Council (YAC) in their work to create healthy and locally sourced meals in Buffalo schools

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective #1: The GGB community garden network grew by 23% in the 2015 growing season, with the addition of 16 new community gardens, 15 of which are food producing. Resources provided to our network range from hard materials, to technology and training, summarized below. Crop diversification plans are being designed for 5 community gardens. Based on harvest data collected in 2014, it is estimated that over 16,000 lbs of vegetables and fruits was grown in GGB gardens. Material Resources: Over 250 cubic yards of soil, 60 cubic yards of mulch, 98 new raised beds, 240 seed packets and 114 flats of vegetables. Training: Community Organizer Training- 26 lead gardeners attended, with a second series planned for fall. Spring Lead Gardener Meeting - 76 gardeners were in attendance, with special focus on creating efficienciesin material use. Safe Roots: 5 Workshops in 7 languages focused on safe and sustainable growing practices. Nutrition Workshops: held at 2 garden sites with50 youth at each location, creatinghealthy snackswith produce from the gardens. Community Gardening 101 training held for all new gardeners. Objective #2 From 2014 - 2015, the school garden program was expanded in many directions. Nine (9) new gardens were welcomed into the GGB network for the 2015 growing season in response to unprecedented demand. The expansion included elementary and high schools, as well as a GED program site.In 2015, streamlined School Garden Kits were created in an effort to create efficiencies in the material ordering and distribution process. All new gardens were supported with these kits, which include lumber, soil, compost, mulch, and plant materials.A comprehensive resource guide has been created by GGB staff, which is under final review and will be published at the start of the 2015 - 2016 school year. Harvests at five of the nine school gardens were observed and recorded by garden leaders in 2014. Thirty-two different types of fruits and vegetables were planted at the five gardens surveyed, producing an estimated 940 lbs of food in the 1,140 square feet of growing space cultivated. On average, each school surveyed produced roughly 188 lbs of food. Conservative estimates suggest that the current network of 19 total school gardens will raise approximatley 3,572 lbs of food by the conclusion of the 2015 growing season. Other activities include: A Raised Bed Building Workshop;a School Garden Month awareness campaign;a fall survey of students to determine baseline regarding foods grown in gardens and overall interest in garden activity; seed starting activities in 5 school communties;a Grow and Tell campaign; completed website upgrades and updates;received approval from Buffalo PublicSchools for 14 paid teacher hours for curriculum development and adoptedSchool Garden Team requirements. Objective #3: In year 2, 30 youth, ages 14-20, participated in a 6 week cooking club led by 2 trained youth culinary specialists. The youth culinary specialists completed the cooking program in the prior year and received additional training in food safety, nutrition and food preparation. They then led a group of 6-8 youth, weekly in planning and preparing a meal for all Growing Green youth participants and staff. Teams of youth rotated each week. Youth learned to transform some of their favorite foods into healthier options by using whole foods, fresh produce and healthier cooking methods. Youth also incorporated cultural traditions and recipes from African, Burmese and Muslim traditions. An evaluation of the 30 youth participants yielded the following results: 90% learned new cooking techniques 80% learned new meal budgeting skills 95% learned new information about nutrition 98% learned new information about food from cultures other than my own 90% learned new ways to prepare food grown at the farm 86% learned new information about the history or origins of food MAP is also in the midst of a Capital Campaign to build a new Farmhouse and Community Food Training and Resource Center that will include a licensed commercial and teaching kitchen. This new space located at our urban farm will expand our capacity for year round food preparation, and preservation classes for youth and adults. Construction on the project is slated to begin in the Spring of 2016. Objective #4: In year two of this grant MAP successfully employed and trained 43 disadvantaged teens in sustainable agriculture, food systems, micro-enterprise development, civic engagement and leadership development through our Growing Green program. We organized and trained an additional 20 youth through their participation in a city-wide Youth Advisory Council to advocate for changes they wanted to see in school meals. In the spring on 2015, MAP purchased 4 additional city lots, a block from MAP's urban farm, increasing food production by half an acre. MAP's aquaponics system returned to full production in early 2015 and we produced just over 18,000 lbs of produce, fish and eggs for sale and distribution, a 33% increase over year one. In addition to food grown at MAP's urban farm, we sourced food from 4 additional regional farms and one local food wholesaler, distributing and selling just over 24,000lbs of produce at 6 Mobile Market sites in Buffalo's food desert neighborhoods. In 2014 we improved healthy, affordable food access to approximately 10,565 low-income individuals in 3,085 households through MAP's Mobile Market sites. In 2015, we have added 2 new sites and expect to serve 3,500 households by the end of the year. In addition to accepting SNAP benefits, we accept WIC FMNP checks. This year we also began participating in the Double Up Bucks Program, an incentive program for SNAP participants. To date this season, Double Up has had a direct impact on increasing sales and customers at market sites. We have also piloted a market-based CSA using Credibles software this season. This allows for low income customers to receive pre-pay incentives on purchases but the flexibility to purchase shares as their budget allows. We will have compiled data on this new market-share CSA component at the end of 2015. 4 youth apprentices were trained to run market sites, share recipes and nutrition information with customers during this grant period. Youth apprentices also helped train new youth participants about the goals and operations of MAP's Mobile Market Objective #5: GGB and MAP continue to partner with others to educate the public and effect policy change towards creating a more sustainable food system. 2 MAP trained youth and MAP's Executive Director continue to serve on the Buffalo and Erie County Food Policy Council (BECFPC) which was established in year one of this grant. GGB staff chair the Growing Group of the Western NY Environmental Alliance (WNYEA). This year both the BECFPC and the Growing Group of the WNYEA co-sponsored events and activities to assess community priorities for food system policy change and identify additional community leaders interested in leading advocacy efforts. A community stakeholder meeting held in May 2015 and a People's Food Justice Forum held in June 2015 identified 3 main areas of concern: 1)food access issues, 2)a need for greater public education about local food systems and 3) a need to identify, prioritize and promote policies to support local food system growth and sustainability. Examples of specific projects of interest that were identified included a healthy corner store initiative and creating local food PSA's. Working groups will be formed in the coming months to involve a broader, more diverse base of stakeholders and others in planning specific projects and identifying policy priorities. GGB is an Advisory Group member for the City of Buffalo's Green Code rezoning process. The updated zoning code, which includes community and market garden policies influenced by GGB and MAP, is expected to be adopted in the fall of 2015.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Rustbelt Radical Brief: "How Food Policy Emerges". Based on Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development. Fall 2014.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Article, Buffalo Business First. Focus on Growing Green Youth Activities.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Other Year Published: 2015 Citation: "The People's Food Movement". Conference and citizen engagement activity held in partnership with Youth Advisory Council.

Progress 09/01/13 to 08/31/14

Outputs
Target Audience: Target Audiences reached during Year One of the Buffalo Neighborhood Food Project include: At-Risk Youth: 46 inner city youth, ages 14-20, participated in education and workforce development training around local food systems and urban agriculture. 28 teens completed the Growing Green summer program, 18 teens participated in the Youth Advisory Council The ethnic diversity of youth served includes 37% African refugee/immigrants, 32% African American, 15% Hispanic, 8% Caucasian, 3% Asian, 2% Native American and 3% mixed ethnicity. 98% are from low income households. K-12 Buffalo Public School Communities: 5 school communities were reached through the Buffalo Sprouts School Gardens program. All created new food-producing school gardens, engaging at least 100 inner city youth at each school. Low-Income Families/Households through Community Gardens: Over 500 low-income households have participated in food production activities at Grassroots Gardens 70+ garedns throughout the City of Buffalo. Gardeners range in age from 17 to 87, with ethnicities including African refugees/immigrants, Asian refugees/immigrnats, African-American,Hispanic and Caucasian, growing over 130 varieties of fruits, vegetables and herbs. Changes/Problems: GGB is restructuring its approach to the train-the-trainer initiative for lead gardeners. The training will be available to ALL interested lead gardeners rather than choosing only 6 and providing a financial incentive only to those 6. Alternatively, we will offer a small stipend to every lead gardener who completes the train the trainer curriculum. Stipends will be given in the form of a credit to one of our approved vendors for the purpose of purchasing materials for the gardens, including signage, compost bins, rain barrels,or other items as needed. We feel that our network and their respective communitiescan only benefit from increased participation in this program, and do not want to limit this asset to just a fraction of our network of lead gardeners. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? GGB Program Manager Derek Nichols attended the American Community Gardening Association Conference in August 2014, and completed the ACGA Growing Communities Curriculum. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? MAP: The results of our work are disseminated on a regular basis through monthly newsletters, youth blog, and various social media. THe work of one of our youth leaders was recently featured in a Buffalo News article and inthe past 2 months we have been featured on local radio and television programs. 26 trained youth did ongoing door to door canvassing this summer to disseminate information about farm stand and Mobile Market sites to the community. GGB: Our work is disseminated on a regular basis through frequent updates to social media and our website, as well as through a monthly newsletter. We will issue an Annual Report this coming November, which will be posted for download on our website, as well as in print form at our annual meeting and lead gardener meeting. A limited mailing will be sent to key stakeholders. Our work with school gardens was featured on the front page of the Buffalo News on August 19th, and our work in community gardens was featured on August 17th. In the past 2 months, our work has been featured twice on Buffalo Rising, a prominent blog, and twice through television appearances. We also share information on advocacy initiatives through the GrowWNY blog community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? MAP: - Have aquaponics greenhouses operating at full capacity by the end of 2014 - Continue to train and involve 50 youth in food production and food enterprise development, year round. - Continue to advocate for adoptionof City's Green Code with broad allowances for food production, distribution and marketing - Hold food preservation and preparation workshops for community members and youth - Conduct Capital Campaign to establish Community Food Training and Resource Center at MAP's urban farm. This will increase our capacity to do food-based education training with community members and youth. GGB: - Implement succession planning training with all lead gardeners in fall/winter 2014/2015 - Continue expanding vegetable varieties, specifically for refugee gardeners - Continue seed starting efforts in partnership with local greenhouse and school communities - Continue providing resources to expand food production at existing community gardens and establishing new gardens as community demands - Continue to provide workshops to enhance food production - Implement Growing Community curriculum in train-the-trainer sessions - Provide technical and materialassistance for up to 6 additional school communities - Continue developeing School Garden Toolkit/Resource Guide - Continue to develop opportuntiies/lessons for K-12 students around food systems - SUccessfully complete the lease negotiation process to secure gardens through the growing season, protecting from rising development pressure

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1: Lead Gardener Gerldine WIlson and Program Manager Derek Nichols co-presented the Community Gardens 101 workshop at the MAP FIeld Days Urban Ag Training in May 2014. 26 Lead gardeners from 25 community gardens participated in trainings designed to increase sustainability and food production in their gardens. Over 1,400 plants and 1,000 seed packets were distributed to nearly 70 gardens. 8 gardens received lumber to build 38 new raised beds for food production. Annual garden plans were completed by 68 lead gardeners, informing Grassroots Gardens of what varieties gardeners would like to add to diversify their crops. These requests will be met, based upon availability, in the SPring 2015 distribution with a goal of doubling crop diversity. We are also working with a local vendor to source and purchase varieties that are culturally appropriate for our refugee and immigrant communities. A train the trainer program is currently being developed for implementation in Fall of 2014. 4 new community gardens were added to the GGB network in the 2014 growing season. 3 of these are food-producing gardens. 2 are located in on the grounds of large low-income municipal housing developments. Objective 2: 3 Common Core-compliant lesson plans have been created and distributed to 5 new school garden communities, and more curriculum is being developed through a partnership with COrnell COoperative Extension. A School Garden Toolkit has been developed, as well as a streamlined application process for new school gardens through the Buffalo Public School's Health and Wellness commitee. Lumber for 16 new raised beds, soil, compost and plant material was distributed to 3 school gardens. 20 classrooms were led through a seed starting exercise with GGB's Program Manager, and harvest days were coordinated to allow for students to enjoy the fruits of their labor. Objective 3: A total of 28 low-income teens ages 14-18 participated in a 6-week nutrition education and food preparation program. Each week, from July 7th-Aug 15th 2014, Growing Green youth inventoried what was ripe at our urban farm and planned and prepared a meal that incorporated several vegetables they had grown at the farm. The team was given a weekly budget to purchase other ingredients and youth were encouraged to incorporate foods from their own cultures as well as to use ingredients that were in season. Youth learned to incorporate at least one vegetarian option into their meals. Our stated outcomes for the Cooking and Nutrition Component of the program were as follows: At the end of 6 weeks, 35 Youth participants will have: • Gained meal planning, budgeting and preparation skills • Gained new knowledge of nutrition • Learned the geographic and historical origins of various foods • Learned to prepare some of the foods they grow at our farm, some of which may be new to them, and healthier techniques for cooking some of the foods they regularly enjoy • Shared recipes and knowledge from various cultures • Improved public speaking and presentation skills, by presenting an overview of what they have learned to the rest of the group Although, in the first year of the grant we did not reach our target of 35 youth, the 26 youth participants reported the following: 88% learned new cooking techniques 85% learned new meal budgeting skills 98% learned new information about nutrition 86% learned new information about food from cultures other than my own 90% learned new ways to prepare food grown at the farm 94% learned new information about the history or origins of food Objective 4: In year one of this grant MAP successfully employed and trained 42 disadvantaged teens insustainable agriculture, food systems, micro-enterprise development, civic engagement andleadership development through our Growing Green program. We organized and trained an additional 14 youth through their participation in a city-wide Youth Advisory Council to advocatefor changes they wanted to see in school meals We were able to increase our land in production by 1.5 acres due to a partnership with afamily farm in Lancaster just outside Buffalo's city limits, and completed construction of a newhoophouse at our urban farm. In November of 2013, a violent wind storm ripped off the roof of our large aquaponics greenhouseand because of the cold temperatures we lost several thousand tilapia. Most of the repairshave now been made and we took the opportunity to redesign parts of the system to improveefficiency. We expect to have the system running at full capacity this fall. Although we did not meet our fish production goals in 2014, this season youth have helped produce 10,208 lbs of food (to date), including 104 varieties of fruits, vegetables, herbs, andchicken. This is a 28% increase in our food production capacity over prior years. Youth wereinvolved in marketing 22,400 lbs of food (to date) sourced from our urban farm and other local farms through our 6 Mobile Market sites located in low income communities on Buffalo’s East andWest Sides. Some of this food was also distributed through our 20-member CSA share program. In 2013 we improved healthy, affordable food access to 2,385 low-income individuals through our4Mobile Market sites and farmstand. In 2014, we have added 2 more sites and expect to serve2,500 by the end of the year. In addition to accepting SNAP benefits, we accept WIC FMNPchecks and participate in NYS Fresh Connect check program. This program provides customers$2 extra for every $5 they spent in SNAP benefits. Objective 5: After much advocacy work by GGB, MAP and other community members, the Buffalo-ErieCounty Food Policy Council was established in 2013 and 2 youth representatives were elected to the Council last November. MAP’s ExecutiveDirector also serves on the Food Policy Council. As members of the new Council, they havebeen actively involved in strategic planning, establishing an operational framework, as well asplanning community stakeholder assessment and education events to take place in the fall of2014. In July 2013, they submitted comments and recommendations on the City’s draft land useplan and zoning code (Green Code Unified Development Ordinance) regarding food system andagriculture related aspects of draft ordinance. The new Code which is expected to be approvedat the end of 2014, does include new and favorable allowances for urban agriculture, community gardens and the marketing of fresh produce. GGB is negotiating a lease with the City of Buffalothat will provide protection to city-owned community gardens throughout the growing season from March 1st through Novemebr 1st. Lead gardeners are acting as advocates through the process.

Publications

• Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2014 Citation: Buffalo-Erie County Food Policy Council submitted comments on Draft Buffalo Green Code: Land Use Plan and Zoning Code
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: CDC Publication: A Practitioners Guide for Advancing Health Equity: Community Strategies for preventing Chronic Disease" featuring work advocating for food access through new City Zoning and Land Use
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: July 1, 2014 Buffalo News Blog article featuring the work of MAP teen and his work with the Youth Advisory Council to improve school lunches.
• Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: August 19, 2014 Buffalo News front page article highlighting work of Grassroots Gardens' Buffalo Sprouts School Gardens program.
• Type: Websites Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Buffalo Rising blog article highlighting Grassroots Gardens work with Buffalo Sprouts School Gardens program and community garden efforts.