Recipient Organization
FAIRBANKS NATIVE ASSOCIATION
605 HUGHES AVE STE 100
FAIRBANKS,AK 99701
Performing Department
Elders Program
Non Technical Summary
The Fairbanks Native Association (FNA) Fairbanks Elders & Youth Community Garden Enterprise will create a local food distribution system to provide hard-to-access fresh vegetables to at least 500 Elders and low-income individuals in the urban community of Fairbanks, Alaska. FNA will include low-income Elders, youth and families at all phases of planning the garden project, community outreach, educational workshops/classes and volunteer coordination. The project will teach gardening to low-income Elders/Youth and facilitate harvesting, distributing and selling of vegetables in a hands-on entrepreneurial project. Outputs of the project will be locally grown fresh vegetables, youth job creation, community involvement, exercise and social activities for elders and applied knowledge about gardening and food preparation. Changes that will occur as a results of this project are: increased access to fresh vegetables by low-income populations that face barriers to access, lowered cost vegetables, vibrant volunteer community, safer more nutritious food, increased entrepreneurial skills, increased consumption of vegetables and increased food security/independence by low-income populations in downtown urban Fairbanks, Alaska. The Fairbanks Native Association Fairbanks Elders & Youth Community Garden Enterprise aims to reach at least 500 low-income residents of downtown Fairbanks each year of the project, either through volunteerism and/or as customers who are buying vegetables.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Goal: Create an Elder-Youth Garden in downtown Fairbanks which will link gardening activities, elders, youth and create new distribution channels to increase vegetable access by low-income Elders and families.Year 1: Objectives: FNA Planning and Development department will assist with setting up a tracking system to ensure progress/success/data collection; Program coordinator will begin implementing garden project; First gardening education workshop; First community garden meeting; Program coordinator and 2 Youth Garden Coordinators will recruit volunteer gardeners; Harvesting, distribution, sales of vegetables; Host a nutrition education food preparation class with UAF Cooperative Extension. Year 2: Objectives: First Community garden meeting, year 2; Project staff and volunteers start seeds for 2nd year; First community garden meeting (held monthly); Host a nutrition education food preparation class; Program coordinator and 2 Youth Garden Coordinators will recruit volunteer gardeners; Harvesting, distribution, sales of vegetables
Project Methods
The Fairbanks Elders and Youth Community Garden Enterprise will evaluate project processes and project progress with the project's Logic Model submitted with the grant application. All evaluations/surveys will be geared toward tracking the outcomes and outputs in the logic model.The process evaluation methods will include: Common Output Tracking Form (required for USDA Community Food Project grantees); Program Satisfaction and Quality Surveys; Project Participant and Non-Participants Focus Groups; Training and Technical Assistance Survey; and Community Stakeholder Surveys.The folliwng project level evaluations will be utilized throughout the project: Maket Customer Survey; Customer Survey Refusal Tracking Form; Gardening Education Class Survey; Market Overview Tracking Form (counting); Adult Community Garden Survey; Youth Community Garden Survey; Tracking for Attendance and Participation; Tracking for Produce (number of pounds produced); Tracking for Garden Characteristics.At the end of the two-year project a manual will be published to share the lesson learned and best practices for a sustainable community garden.