Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:Throughout the project the target audience was elementary, middle, and high school students, teachers and staff at partner schools, community members, and community partners. The audiences engaged live, work, and go to school in the diverse neighborhoods of the West Side and Frogtown in St. Paul, and Hawthorne in Minneapolis. The Project aimed to engage youth that otherwise would not have access to quality youth programming and access to food and that have assets to contribute to their communities that need support to be realized. As a youth development organization, our primary focus was to collect demographic data on the youth engaged at partner schools. Partner schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul had an average free and reduced lunch rate of 73%. Significantly higher than District averages. The demographic breakdown of students at partner schools is as follows: African American 25% Native 1% White 21% Asian American 26% Hispanic 20% Two or more 7% Pacific Islander . 3% In order to create system wide impact we also collected data on the number of people engaged throughout the length of the project. Through the project we engaged: Elementary school students - 1000 students High school students and young adults- 20 Families- 200 families engaged Teachers and staff at partner schools - 30 teachers engaged at 8 partner schools engaged Community members- over 900 community members engaged at community events and community harvest days Community partners- 5 community partners engaged Finally, a number of departments within Saint Paul Public Schools including staff from the following departments: Wellness Career and Technical Development Office and Teaching and Learning Nutrition Services Changes/Problems:Major challenges for Youth Farm were related to working with institutional level partners. Youth Farm has worked with school partners in Minneapolis Public Schools and Saint Paul Public Schools since the inception of our organization in 1995. Our work has focused on partnering with teacher and students at schools in the neighborhoods we serve to provide experiential learning opportunities in school and community gardens and kitchens that complement classroom curricululum. Through this project, we aimed to build off our established school and community partnerships and our youth development model to create a system that connected the community, cafeteria, classroom, and school gardens. At the onset of the project, we aimed to work with Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS). Over the years we had established partnerships with individual schools within MPS and had begun to work with their Nutrition Service Department. The Nutrition Services Department was a emerging as a national leader in Farm to School efforts and they wanted to incorporate a District Farm to provide hands on nutrition education to students. Youth Farm engaged with MPS Nutrition Services and teachers and staff at one of Youth Farm's partner schools to develop a comprehensive plan to build a District Farm and corresponding education model that would engage students, teachers, and the community in growing food and building food skills.As our work to expand the partner with MPS began, we ran across a number of systematic road blocks. Including: Numerous changes in leadership at MPS, including the Superintedent Leadership of the The Project shifting from Nutrition Services to District Level. These systematic roadblocks led us to shift focus from MPS to Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS). Our focus to continue to shift fromengagingat the individual school level to theDistrict level was an approach we hoped would have the biggest impact. Our expanded partnership with SPPS resulted in a number of successes that moved the project foward including the creating of expanded learning opportunities for students at partnership schools. Youth Farm's programs focus on engaging youth that experience barriers to accessing quality youth programming by focusing on community organizing best practices and relationship development to identify what programs to offer and where to offer these programs directly addressing racial, economic, and cultural inequities. We are people centered, focused on relationships over outputs, knowing that this approach leads to increased impact for youth and communities. Throughout the course of the grant period, Youth Farm experienced and identified systems of inequity that were being upheld by Saint Paul Public Schools as well as a focus on outputs over outcomes. After extensive work by our staff to name behaviors and provide feedback, which did not result in change, Youth Farm shifted our approach to focus on individual schools, deepening relationships with teachers and staff, to achieve goals. This shift ensured that the leadership and work of all our staff was honored and respected, and that programs in schools and communities are equitable, people centered, and community centered. This shift alsoallowed Youth Farm to address the unique needs of each partnership thus increasing outcomes for young people. The change in the projectthat shfited Youth Farm's efforts from working at a District Level to working within communities at individual schools and with community partners has been the best approach to achieve the project goals. Utilizing the community organizing approach that is part of our organization model, we have been able to create systems of support for young people within a neighborhood and served as a connector between schools, community partners, and neighbors. We have developed a partnership model that is rooted in our organization values and works to center equity. While we work to survive and thrive throughout a pandemic andcivil unrest and in systems that are set up inequitably we see theimpacts onour physical, emotional, and mental health. Creating spaces where young people and our communities are safe is our priority. Our approach allows us to take the time to listen, to collaborate, to explore all posibilities, and to lift up a voices, needs, and skills of youth and communities that are often left out. Additionally, COVID related challenges (closure of schools ) forced a shift in our approach. To respond to COVID, Youth Farm shifted our work from hosting in person classes to a focus on food access, growing and distributing food utilizing our greenhouse and school and community garden spaces. Additionally we focused on staying connected to teachers and staff at partner schools. As a result, Youth Farm was able to directly meet the needs of students and families and meet a larger. We are now the host of a growing community space that connects youth experience to year round learning and wellness. The space is a learning campus for agriculture connections with our school partners, a community gathering space where youth are stewards of decisions, and a place wherea network of like-minded partners are engaged. We holistically care for youth in this community created space (physical garden and green area) and place(belonging, bonding,and healing). What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Conferences: Minnnesota Food Justice Summit (2019) National Farm to Cafeteria Conference (2019) Minnesota Schoolyard Garden Conference (2018, 2019) Trainings: Farming and food safety trainings through a partnership with the University of Minnesota Extension Professional Development: Participation in State wide Farm to School Leadership Cohort Participation in MInnesota Schoolyard Garden Coalition Leadership Team Participation in STEM Justice Research Project as training partner with Science Museum of Minnesota Participation in Youth Equity Learning Cohort in partnership with Amherst Wilder Foundation How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Community events- Youth Farm worked with partners to execute a series of events using produce grown by students and community members. The events celebrated community and healthy food and also served as a bridge between school and community and a place for project staff to connect with the broader community and report on and get feedback on the project. Partnership meetings- Youth Farm connected annually with school and commuity partners to report progress on project and gain input 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:Increase understanding of food production and nutrition among youth and teachers through agricultural education, classroom lessons and school meals and; Obejctive 2:Increase community understanding of food production, purchasing and prepartion through nutrition education and engagement in project to support community health and self-reliance. Accomplishments and Data Collected: 1000 students engagedin classroom and lunchroom food, nutrition, youth development, and agriculture education opportunities including field trips to community farm sites, outdoor gardening classes, indoor cooking classes, and greenhouse classes High school internship program and young adult employement program focused on farm skills, leadership development, and community organizing expanded- 20 students engaged Greenhouse managed- 20,000 plant starts grown + greenhouse youth programming established in partnership with 3 schools. Community farm sites and school gardens established and managed- 10 spaces managed Objective 3: Increase access to diverse, healthy food option in order to support healthy Minneapolis communities. New food distribution model developed and executed. The modelintegratesYouth Farm's greenhouse work with school partnerships. Youth Farm developed this model to directly meet a community need- the need for plant starts so youth and community could grow food in community gardens and their own homes. Providing this resource along with learning opportunities for students and adults in community and school gardens eliminateda barrier to accessing food that was identified by partners at school and in the community- 20 partners engaged + 20,000 plant starts distributed + 2000 pounds of food distributed. Hosted community events to connect schools to the community including school workdays on farms Community events- Youth Farm worked with partners to execute a series of events using produce grown by students and community members. The events celebrated community and healthy food and also served as a bridge between school and community and a place for project staff to connect with the broader community and get feedback on the project. Data collected related to community events: Number of community events -25 Number of meals served - 1400 Number of surveys on healthy eating and community safety administered- 1100 Number of community members engaged 900 Objective 4: Create a scalable and replicable partnership model for supporting school communities in food, nutrition, youth development, and agriculture education Accomplishments: Developed a School Garden Handbook- development of handbook included contributions from: 50 people from 5 different Saint Paul Public School Departments 10 teacher from Saint Paul Public Schools 15 people from partner nonprofits Developed a School Garden Status map Established of an organization partnership model that centers equity and focuses on meeting the needs of teachers and students through relationship development, curriculum developlemt, and training of youth and young adults interns. Hired 2 staff to engage with school partnerships-School Partnerships Program Specialist and Greenhouse and Gardens Program Specialist Impacts: These activities had both impacts on the local food system as well as social, emotional, and academic outcomesforyouth involved.All of the activities listedincreased understanding of basic food skills such as food production, preparation and knowledge of the food system both with a school district and a community. Additionally, through these activities, the two food systems are better integrated- for example, school gardens grow food for community members leading to increased healthy food options for youth and adults. Using youth development strategieswhile engaging young people to grow, prepare, and distribute food led to an increase in social emotional learning outcomes. Through experiential learning opportunities, students increase their knowledge of food production which leads to an increase in willingness to try new foods. Using an equity lens for our work, we were also able to increase access to STEM education for students that experience barriers to these opportunities. We are now the host of a growing community space that connects youth experience to year round learning and wellness. The space is a learning campus for agriculture connections with our school partners, a community gathering space where youth are stewards of decisions, and a place wherea network of like-minded partners are engaged. We holistically care for youth in this community createdspace(physical garden and green area) andplace(belonging, bonding,and healing).
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/19 to 08/31/20
Outputs
Target Audience:During the reporting period our target audience included: Elementary school students (100 students engaged) Families of elementary school students (50 families engaged) Teachers and staff at partner schools (4 partner schools engaged) Additionally, we began to engage a number of new partners including other nonprofits, the University of Minnesota Extension, and neighborhood organizations. These audiences engaged live in the diverse neighborhoods of Frogtown and the West Side of St. Paul and are connected to the Saint Paul Public Schools. The population engaged during this reporting period breaks down demographically as follows: African American/Black 30% American Indian 2% Asian American/Pacific Islander 33% Caucasion/White 21% Latino/Latina/Hispanic 14% Changes/Problems:Major challenges for Youth Farm were related to working with institutional level partners. Youth Farm's programs focus on engaging youth that experience barriers to accessing quality youth programming by focusing on community organizing best practices and relationship development to identify what programs to offer and where to offer these programs directly addressing racial, economic, and cultural inequities. We are people centered, focused on relationships over outputs, knowing that this approach leads to increased impact for youth and communities. Throughout the course of the grant period, Youth Farm experienced and identified systems of inequity that were being upheld by Saint Paul Public Schools as well as a focus on outputs over outcomes. After extensive work by our staff to name behaviors and provide feedback, which did not result in change, Youth Farm shifted our approach to focus on individual schools, deepening relationships with teachers and staff, to achieve goals. This shift will ensure that the leadership and work of all our staff is honored and respected, will ensure that programs in schools and communities are equitable, people centered, and community centered and will allow Youth Farm to address the unique needs of each partnership thus increasing outcomes for young people. Additionally, COVID related challenges (closure of schools ) forced a shift in our approach. To respond to COVID, Youth Farm shifted our work from hosting in person classes to a focus on food access, growing and distributing food utilizing our greenhouse and school and community garden spaces. Additionally we focused on staying connected to teachers and staff at partner schools. As a result, Youth Farm was able to directly meet the needs of students and families and meet a larger community need. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This reporting period project staff were able to participate in farming and food safety trainings through a partnership with the University of MinnesotaExtension. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In this next reporting period, we plan to scale up by engaging youth-led neighborhood networks that leverage partnerships with schools and community organizations to increase healthy food consumption/behavior and access to diverse, healthy food options to support healthy, resilient communities in St. Paul. Over the course of the next three years, this scale up will focus on: Developing culturally responsive, hands-on, seed to plate nutrition education programs and/or curriculum for children ages 8-12 which includes: Food, nutrition, youth development, and agricultural education opportunities in garden spaces and SPPS elementary classrooms at partner schools; and hosting community cooking, greenhouse, and gardening classes; Growing and distributing food to Early Care providers, cafeterias, and youth and families through CSAs, Garden to Cafeteria programs, and program opportunities; Developing new partnerships with schools, community organizations, and institutions; Developing and executing trainings that focus on farm and food safety, youth development, and food justice; and Leading and co-managing a large farm space that serves as a learning center and community resource for food education and access. In the next 12 months we plan to engage two additional community partners, develop relationships with an additional two schools, and begin to manage a large farm space.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
During this reporting period Youth Farm was able to focus on increasing understanding of food production and nutrition among youth and teachers through agricultural education and classroom lessonswhile continuing to build a partnership model. The focus on delivering programs while refining a partnership model led to increase equitable access to STEM education opporunities for students. This focus on equitable access to STEM education opportunities via schools gardents, community gardens andgreenhouses not only resulted in learning outcomes for students but also resulted in addressing food access issues by creating a culture of learners engaged in every part of the food system. There were several milestones achieved during this period which resulted in the above named outcomes including: The establishment of an Organization Partnership Model that centers equity and focuses on meeting the needs of teachers and students through relationship development, curriculum development, and training of youth and young adult interns. This partnership model resulted in the deepening of existing partnerships with schools and establishing a new partnership that allowed Youth Farm to deliver farming and food programming (nutrition programming) to over 100 students and 50 families despite the closure of schools due to COVID. The development and execution of a new food distribution model and integrating Youth Farm's greenhouse work with school partnerships. Youth Farm developed this model to directly meet a community need. Throughout the season, Youth Farm was able distribute over 10,000 plants from our greenhouse. These plants were planted in our Youth Farm garden spaces, in school gardens, and in the gardens of dozens of families and backyard gardeners across the Twin Cities. During the growing season, young people were responsible for managing garden spaces, developing distribution plans, and supplying produce to community members while practicing food safety and social distancing measures.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/18 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for efforts in the past year were nonprofit professionals, administrative staff, leadership, and teachers at Saint Paul Public Schools, and students at Saint Paul Public Schools. The following Departments and administrative staff were engaged at Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS): SPPS Wellnes Department SPPS Career and Technical Department SPPS Office of Teaching and Learning SPPS Facilitaties Department SPPS Nutrition Services Department The following demographic breakdownrepresents the target populationof students that were engaged atSaint Paul Public Schools (SPPS): Asian American 33% African American 30% Caucasian 21 % Latino/Hispanic 14% American Indian 2% Additionally 70% of students are eligible for free or reduced-prie lunch Changes/Problems:As partners came together and started to put the work in to transform our vision to reality, the differing nature of our organizations was very apparent. Differences is size, decision making processes, protocol, ways of talking, and organizational processes and considerations are real and impactful, but so too are the amazing breadth of skills and resources we collectively bring to the table, and the gardens. We have pushed each other individually and organizationally as we continue to shape the nature of the GROW partnership - a process that we knew coming into the project would be a big part of our work and would be difficult at times. Within that work though, we have made great strides in actualizing an authentic partnership and ways to best move our work forward. From establishing a routine meeting structure and working on shared leadership, to taking time to understand each others work through immersive program experiences, we have started to develop a team mentality in our processes and partnership that is fundamental to the success of GROW. Challenges facing school garden sustainability is burnout, full teaching schedules, competingschool-wide initiatives, and need for better education and experiences for staff within the District. It is not unreasonable to expect that a school focus could shift over the summer with new administration or key leaders. With these things in mind, sustainability and success of this project relies upon an educational system that utilizes curriculum it can rely on and depend upon to help students learn how to read, write and do math. These curricula need to be evidence- based and vetted. Additional factors such as poverty, neighborhood safety, very full teaching schedules and numerous teaching standards a teacher is required to meet, make it that much harder to incorporate school gardens and food related experiential learning opportunities into in-school curriculum. Saint Paul Public Schools already has great infrastructure in place to make moves in greater farmto school work (including school-based agriculture), as it has three robust AgEd programs athigh schools located in different areas of the District, with a fourth potentially emerging. Given these factors a shift in the activities of the project is necessary to achieve the goals- building strong partnerships both within the District and with key community partners, developing and testing curriculum across the District, improving greenhouse and gardening practicing, community organizing, and developing systems and procedures with less of a focus on delivering activities and programming is the shift in focus of the work. We define this work as creating a Collective Impact Model. Collective Impact is the commitment of a group of actors from different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem, using a structured form of collaboration. While the goals of the project and key partners have not changed it is important to highlight this shift in focus. We feel that by focusing on these things in order to create a Collective Impact Model that the project will have long term sustainability and that every student within SPPS will have a robust food related experience in elementary school, middle school, and highschool. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Youth Farm Program staff participated in Minnesota Food Justice Summit. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Expand work to an additional 2 partners schools Finalize Partnership and Collective Impact Model- add an additional 2 community partners IntegrateHealth and Wellness Curriculum that connects school garden to state wide education standards into partner school work Develop connections with Career and Technical Education Department Test and Implement School Garden Handbook Continue Technical Assistance for school gardens across SPPS
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
GROW is a project that aims to increase the nutrition and agriculture educational opportunities for all students within the district by connecting school gardens, the cafeteria, the community, and the classroom. GROW started as a partnership between Saint Paul Public Schools and Youth. One key accomplishment under the goals of the project was adding an additional partner, Renewing the Countryside (RTC),and making progress towards establishing a shared partnership and Collective Impact model. This accomplishment is a key step towards achieving the goal ofCreating a scalable and replicable partnership model for supporting school communities in food, nutrition, youth development, and agricultural education.Working towards accomplishing this goal was the key focus of the work over the past year and included:piloting new programming, activities, and classes, professional development for project staff, and continuing to build infrastructure for long term systems level change through the creation of systems and protocals both within SPPS and within Youth Farm. The following informationoutlines key accomplishments within the goals of the project: Outcome:Create a scalable and replicable partnership model for supporting school communities in food, nutrition, youth development and agricultural education Major Activities completed: Developed partnership model between 2 small nonprofits and a large District 3 organizations engaged Met with partner organizations and schools to determine interest in project Development of systems and protocals, research, and creation of project documents including: School Garden status map School Garden Handbook-contributions from: 50 people from 5 different SPPS Departments 10SPPS teachers 15 people from partner nonprofits Hired 2 program staff to engage in partnership (School Partnerships Program Specialist and Greenhouse and Gardens Program Specialist) Additional funding secured: Cargill Foundation $600,000 over 2 years from specific to partnership with SPPS, RTC, and Youth Farm USDA Farm to School Grant $100,000 over 2 years Communities Charitable Trust $20,000 Impact: The creation of the project documents served as a tool to engage necessary stakeholders in the project including Departments with SPPS, community partners and teachers.Overall, the process of pulling together the handbook has fostered district wide conversation and alignment between departments that connect with the gardens and inspiring curricular connections with gardens and opportunities for extended learning. Outcome: Increase understanding of food production and nutrition among youth and teachers through agricultural education andclassroom lessons at Youth Farm's greenhouse and farm spaces Major Activities completed: Built off of previous years success in engaging teachers and students at Youth Farm Greenhouse and Farm space through hands on learning growing plants during the school day 30 students and 4 teachers engaged Grew greenhouse plants starts for school partners, community partners, and Youth Farm garden Grew 5,500 plants Impact: Through experiential learning opportunities, students increase their knowledge of food production which leads to an increase in willingness to try new foods. Additionally, the lesson learned and enthusiasm for experiential learningwill be applied to multiple school locations this year.
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached during this reporting period includes: Students at Saint Paul Public Schools Partner Schools Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) in one of Minnesota's largest school districts with more than 37,000 students. SPPS also has one of the most diverse student populations in Minneasota, the demographics of the student population are as follows: 33% Asian American 30% African American 21% Caucasian American 14% Latino American 2% American Indian SPPS students speak more than 100 languages and dialects. Approximately 31% of students are English Langauge Learners, 15% of students require special education services, and 70% of students are eligible for free and reduced-price lunch. School lunch participation is 74.8% for the entire district on average. Through this project Youth Farm partnered with 5 total schools within the Saint Paul Public Schools District to reach over 150 students in grades k-12through the facilitation of garden, greenhouse, and nutrition lessons and through hosting service learning activitiesin classrooms, gardens, kitchens, and Youth Farm's Greenhouse Staff at Saint Paul Public Schools Through this project, Youth Farm has reached staff at the following departments within Saint Paul Public Schools Nutrition Services Facilitaties Management Wellness Office of teaching and learning The staff within these departments along with staff from Youth Farm formed a School Garden Task Force. The School Garden task force meets on a regular basis to development resources to support school gardens across the District (a School Garden Handbook) and integrate classroom curriculum with the school garden and the cafeteria Teachers at Saint Paul Public Schools Teachers at SPPS were reached through a newly developed website, an email list, and several teacher specific meet-ups focused on sharing best practices for school gardens Nonprofit Partners As part of this project, additional Nonprofit partners were identified and a series of partner meetings have begun with the goal of creating a Collective Impact vision aimed at providing tailored support to every school within the SPPS District within the next 5 years. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional Development Attend National Farm to Cafeteria Conference Participation in State Wide Farm to School Leadership Cohort Participation in Minnesota Schoolyard Garden Coalition Leadership Cohort How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Finalize and Publish School Garden Handbook Implement School Garden Handbook Pilot Garden to Cafeteria Program within SPPS Begin Curriculum integration work Integrate Youth Farm's high school internship program with needs of SPPS and develop school garden maitenance and leadership program Add 2-3 additional partner schools Integrate salad bar taste masters with school garden activities Develop Communicatio Strategy and Brand Identity Conduct Stakeholder Analysis for an SPPS Urban Farm and Education Center
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Summary Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) is one of Minnesota's largest school districts with more than 37,000 students. SPPS also has one of the most diverse student populations in Minnesota. As of 2013, 22.3% of St. Paul residents had an income below poverty level, compared to 10.2% poverty statewide. Income creates access to economic resources which in turn influences the opportunities people have to purchse nutritious food. There are several low-income neighborhoods in St. Paul and two are statistically classified as "food deserts". Food insecure households in Minneapolis and St. Paul report more barriers to accessing fruits and vegetable. They also report higher rate of obesity, less healthy foods served at meals, and higher rates of binge eating (Bruening et al. 2012). Students at SPPS are offered unlimited amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables each day at lunch yet a production record audit shows that students are choosing only slightly more than the required 1/2 cup of fruit and vegetables. Over the last year, SPPS Facilities Deparment and Nutrition Services collaboarated to develop a list of schools with existing school gardens. Finding 32 school gardens, the team discovered that most are not documented within the District or supported through community partnerships. They are supported by families and the community surrounding the schools. School garden exist despite the lack of clarity and communication on policies, procedures, coordinated community partnership, curriculum, evaluation, and professional development. Without a curriculum and connection to District learning objectives, existing school gardens are not sustainable or fully-utilized and the school District lacks connections to the broader community. Yet, research has shown that garden-based nutrition education positively affects fruit and vegetable consumption in children (McAleese JD, Rankin LL, 2007). Because 70% of SPPS students qualify for free and reducted price meals, Nutrition Services must acknowledge that the food choices students make at school have a critical impact in their lives. Food and farming have the ability to change the way we educate and engage students in k-12 education. SPPS Nutrition Services and Youth Farm have come together to form a revolutionary partnership called GROW (GRow Our Own) to put food and agriculture education at the forefront of the student experience. While a multitude of "school garden" curriculum and projects exist throughout the country, GROW is much more than a school garden program. It is a systems based approach to large scale educational and nutritional impacts. This is being done through the creation of a model partnership between a large urban school district (SPPS), and a youth development organization that is skilled in youth and community engagement (Youth Farm). Since 2017, Youth Farm and SPPS have worked together to lay the foundation for system wide change within SPPS by hiring a shared consultant who is working to build institutional structure and support at SPPS through the creation of a School Garden Handbook and curriculum integrations. Recently, Renewing the Countryside (RTC), a sustainable food and farming organization with a deep understanding of Farm to School and early childhood nutrition through the leds of Farm to Early Care & Education programs joined the collaboration. The innovative nature of GROW lies in our goal to create a model through partnership that has systems level impacts and changes at SPPS and, because of the community centered work of Youth Farm, RTC, and other partners throughout St. Paul. Ultimately, the impact and potential in our partnership lie in the creation of a model that can influence and be replicated in other districts and communities across Minnesota and beyond. Major Goals of Project 1) Increase understanding of food production and nutrition among youth and teachers through agricultural education, classroom lessons and school meals. 2) Increase community understanding of food production, purchasing, and preparation through nutrition education and engagement in the project to support community health and self-reliance. 3) Increase access to diverse, healthy food options in order to support healthy communities 4) Create a scalable and replicable partnership model for supporting school communities in food, nutrition, youth development and agricultural education Accomplishments within these goals Increase understanding of food production and nutrition among youth and teachers through agriculture education, classroom lessons, and school meals. 1) Major activities completed/experiment conducted; Teacher support through teacher meet-ups and school garden email list Maintained and established partnerships with schools in St. Paul Developed and facilitated classroom and farm activitie during school, after school, and during summer? Developed and facilitated greenhouse fieldtrips and activities 2) Dta Collected Number of youth served at SPPS- 150 Number of schools partnered with- 8 total 5 within SPPS Number of schools partnered with- 8 total 5 within SPPS Number of farm and food education opportunities 100 Number of greenhouse education opportunities 15 Number of teachers reached 20 3) Summary stastics and discussion of results NA 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized Increased understanding of basic food skills such as production preparation, and knowledge of food systems among students and teachers Increased social and emotional skills among students Create a scalable and replicatable partnership model for supporting school communities in food, nutrition, youth development, and agriculture education. 1) Major Activities Completed Within SPPS, in addition to having the Superintendent sign and formalize a MOU between SPPS and Youth Farm, we have brought in a number of key departments within the district to contribute to systemic change efforts, including: Nutrition Services Facilities Management Wellness Office of Teaching and Learning In addtion to RTC, Youth Farm has started building a network of community-based organizations that work throughout St. Paul that have expressed interest in contributing to and connecting their work with GROW, including: Urban Roots MN -an East Side St Paul Youth Development and Environmental based organization Midwest Food Connection -brings educational adventures in food, cooking, and gardening to children and their families Spark-y -a nonprofit that empowers youth with hands-on education rooted in sustainability and entrepreneurship Development of SPPS School Garden Inventory Creation of project documents including: Partner Communications Protocol for project and Urban Farm Scenarios and feasability Resource Guide for School gardens developed and published on website Webpage for project created that includes: inventory of funding opportunities for school gardens, inventory of training opportunities related to school gardens, list to current SPPS District Policies as they relate to school gardens Additional funding secured for GROW project 2) Dta Collected NA 3) Summary stastics and discussion of results NA 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized Project team is well connected to food, nutrition, youth development, and agriculture education
Publications
|
Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached by efforts during this reporting period includes: Residents of North Minneapolis including the Hawthorne neighborhood-The poverty rate for households in the Hawthorne neighborhood at 44% is almost double the rate of Minneapolis as a whole (23%). Over 40% of households receive SNAP benefits. Residents were reached through community events focused on creating a bridge between the school district and the community in order to: Increase community understanding of food production, purchasing, and prepartion through nutrition education and engagement to support health and self reliance. Increase leadership, communication, and facilitation skills among youth Increaseaccess to and consumption of fruit and vegetables among community members Students at Nellie Stone Johnson School (NSJ)- NSJ is a microcosm of the neighborhood, located almost directly at its center. The population of the school includes: 55% African American students 37% Latino/Hispanic students 3% white students 92% of students receiving free or reduced meals. Students were reached through the facilitation of garden and nutrition lessons Students at partner schools in Minneapolis and St. Paul- Through this project, Youth Farm partnered with 8 total schools to reach over 500 students through the facilitation of garden and nutrition lessons. Changes/Problems:We are really excited about where we are at today with our project, although we would not have expected to be here 12 months ago. We want to clearly state that we feel we are very much on course to meet the large scale outcomes and goals of this projectwith an expanded key partner in the Saint Paul Public Schools. We have changed key partners from Minneapolis Public School (MPS) to Saint Paul Public Schools (SSPS). While our work to expand ourpartnership with MPS will continue, we have run across a number of systematic road blocks specific to MPS that have changed our confidence in our ability to achieve the project outcomes with just MPS including: numerous changes in leadership at MPS, including Superintendent. leadership of The Farm Project at MPS being shifted from Nutrition Services to District level Additionally, as we have started to work with SPPS, we have found that our assets as an organization align better with their leadership, systems, and the Districts needs and assets than at MPS. We know that one of the areas of importance for CFP grants is the connections between both small (Youth Farm) and large (MPS) systems to affect positive change around food access in urban areas. While we will continue our work to try and push this partnership with MPS further, we made the decision to explore other larger districts as major partners that allow us to work towards the same stated outcomes in our proposal. It is from this position that we are excited to move forward with our work with SPPS. Our work done with SPPS to date includes: the formation of an informal partnerships with SPPS nutrition services leadership completion ofa signed MOU with SPPS and Superintendent, formalizing our partnership and commitment to goals and outcomes of the Project Hiringadditionalstaff to execute plan as stated in original proposal in partnership with SPPS In summary, while shifting the focus ofour efforts to SPPS may seem like a major changes, it keeps the work of this project within the same metro area, still working with low income students and families in the Twin Cities metro area, and within the goals and outcomes that we originally laid out in our proposal- to increase knowledge and skill, increase access and build a model partnership with a large urban school district. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Theactivities for the next reporting period will focus on expanding our established partnership with Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS)and building a system within SPPS to support school gardens in order to achieve the project goals. The workwill include: Activities: Assess the status of school gardens within Saint Paul Develop communication protocol for communicating publicly about the project, and internally about project's progress Identify key stakeholders to be involved in a District-wide program and potential facility which support school-based agriculture Coordinate development of the Saint Paul Public Schools School Garden Handbook including policies and procedures to implement classroom and lunchroom food, nutrition, youth development, and agriculture education opportunities District wide Recruit Saint Paul Public Schools Department representatives, educators, families, partner organizations, and community members for Handbook Task Force. Youth Farm and SPPS Nutrition Services both serve on the taskforce. Identify opportunities for publication, training and communications of Handbook Increase number of classroom and farm activities for current partner schools Establish partnerships with 3-5 new schools in Saint Paul Develop a network of organizations and align goals for supporting school gardens Facilitate classrooma and lunchroom food, nutrition, youth development, and agriculture education opportunities at partner schools Evaluate and document impact Continue to explore opportunities for partnership with Minneapolis Public Schools Anticipated Outputs: School Garden status report with online map School Garden Handbook Project Documents Communications protocol for project Stakeholder analysis for an SPPS District Farm Site Analysis for a Farm and Educational Center Recommendations for Next Steps
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Minnesota is known for high rates of employment and lower than average obesity rates comparative to other states and Minneapolis has been hailed nationally for its high quality of life, growing economy and low unemployment rates. That being said, Minnesota (and Minneapolis in particular) has some of the most prevalent disparities in the country when it comes to graduation rates, health outcomes, and economic opportunity that fall along racial and socioeconomic lines. Many of these inequalities play out in the Hawthorne Neighborhood of North Minneapols where the work of this project has taken place for the last year. Poverty and inequality create barriers to healthy eating, living and engagement for many in this community. The poverty rate for households in the Hawthorne neighborhood (44%) is almost double the rate of Minneapolis as a whole (23%), and with over 40% of households receiving SNAP benefits, food insecurity is a reality for many. Categorized as a "Food Desert" by the USDA Food Access Research Atlas, the neighborhood is known for its lack of access to fresh produce and healthy food outlets. Additionally, the recently completed Minnesota Food Charter emphasizes the lack of food skills in youth and adults as a key challenge for the state. Even with these daunting numbers and struggles, this is not a doomful situation, but one of hope, power and collaboration. Through community events, partnership development, opportunities for over 500 students at Nellie Stone Johnson and schools throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul to experience farming and cooking, and distribution of fresh produce to students, families, and community members, this project has increased understanding of basic food skills among youth and adults, created access to healthy food choices for community members, and developed social emotional and leadership skills among youth for over 1200 youth and community members.The development of these skillsalong with creating avenues for community members to receive fresh produce begins to elliminate barriers that impact health outcomes and quality of life. Increase understanding of food production and nutrition among youth and teachers through agricultural education, classroom lessons and school meals. 1) Major activities completed Hawthorne Community Organizer hired School Partnerships Coordinator hired Partnership Developed at new school Maintained or reestablished partnerships withschools in St. Paul and Minneapolis Grew partnership with Green Central through hoophouse Developed and facilitated clasroom and farm activities during school, after school, and during summer 2) Data collected Number of youth served- 500 Number of schools partnered with- 8 New Gardens/Farms built - 2 (1 garden, 1 hoophouse) Number of farm and food education opportunities- 100 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results -NA 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized Increased understanding of basic food skills such as production, preparation, and knowledge of the food system among youth Increased social, emotional, and academic skills among youth Increase community understanding of food production, purchasing and preparation through nutrition education and engagement in the farm project to support community health and self-reliance.- did not work on this goal in first year Increase access to diverse, healthy food options in order to support healthy Minneapolis communities. 1) Major activities completed Hosted community events to connect schools to the community School workdays on farms Project based learning opportunities in Greenhouse BIG Dinner Party - Youth Farm and community partners Appetite for Change, Northside Fresh, and West Broadway Busines and Area Coaltion, combined resources and talent to organize a series of 8 community events. These events were an inclusive Dinner event series using produce grown by students at Nellie Stone Johnson School and surrounding gardens and produce grown by local gardeners.The events celebrated community, healthy food and active living in North Minneapolis and created a bridge from the school to the community. 2) Data collected Number of community events- 20 Number of meals served-1400 Number of surveys on healthy eating and community safety administered- 1100 Number of community liaison volunteers-35 Number of community members engaged -700 Number of students engaged in community -65 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results-NA 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized Increased community understanding of food production, purchasing, and prepartion through nutrition education and engagement to support health and self reliance. Gained leadership, communication, and facilitation skills among youth Increased access to and consumption of fruit and vegetables among community members Create a scalable and replicable partnership model for supporting school communities in food, nutrition, youth development and agricultural education 1) Major activities completed Built network partnerships Attended annual School Yard Garden Conference Became part of MN Schoolyard Garden Coalition Leadership team Participated as 1 of 3 nonprofits in the Minneapolis District Farm visioning process Did outreach to new partner schools Maintained partnership with 8 current partner schools through meetings and the facilitation of classroom and garden lessons. Established Partnership with Saint Paul Public Schools 2) Data collected; Signed Memorandum of Understanding with Saint Paul Public Schools (formalized November 20, 2017) 3) Summary statistics and discussion of results (NA) 4) Key outcomes or other accomplishments realized. Project team is well connected to food, nutrition, youth development, and agricultural education community of practice
Publications
|
|