Growing Local: Supporting Southeast Louisiana Veterans in Agriculture

GROWING LOCAL: SUPPORTING SOUTHEAST LOUISIANA VETERANS IN AGRICULTURE

Sponsoring Institution

National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Project Status

COMPLETE

Funding Source

OTHER GRANTS

Reporting Frequency

Annual

Accession No.

1024014

Grant No.

2020-77028-32891

Cumulative Award Amt.

$299,990.00

Proposal No.

2020-08066

Multistate No.

(N/A)

Project Start Date

Sep 1, 2020

Project End Date

Aug 31, 2023

Grant Year

2020

Program Code

[AGVET]- Enhancing Agricultural Opportunities for Military Veterans (Ag-Vets) Competitive Grants Program

Recipient Organization
Recirculating Farms Coalition
7117 Benjamin St
New Orleans,LA 70118

Performing Department
(N/A)

Non Technical Summary
Southeast Louisiana suffers from food and economic insecurity. Nearly 1/3 of Louisiana's Veterans reside here, and lack access to fresh food and meaningful work opportunities. To provide more accessible fresh food for Veterans and broader community, and create job/volunteer opportunities in food/farming businesses for Veterans, community-based non-governmental organizations, with public and private partners, and our regional Veterans Affairs (VA) will host 6 outreach meetings, 29 2-hour classes and 12 6-hour weekend-day classes, over 3-years at various locations, including the VA, and provide: farming education, training, internships and mentoring to Veterans. Variety in days/times/sites allows participation of Veterans from assorted ethnic/religious/social backgrounds. Additionally, the project supports expansion of the VA growing program, using various agricultural practices, offering Veterans immersive training in a familiar/comfortable setting. The Southeast Louisiana VA in New Orleans has 66,000 registered users from 23 parishes (counties), and offers direct connections to Veterans who come for treatment and recreation; some reside on-site. The primary goal is to increase the number of southeast Louisiana Veterans gaining knowledge/skills through comprehensive, hands-on/immersive farm programs, leading to successful careers in food/agricultural, to meet needs of Veterans and broader community. Our target audience includes Veterans, student-Veterans, active military transitioning to Veterans, women-Veterans and those from socially/economically disadvantaged populations. All sessions will be video-recorded. Some may be virtual, COVID19 dependent, for those unable to attend in-person, and to use as a refresher, and ongoing future training. Participants will be offered internships at working farms and the VA, and matched with local mentor-farmers for long-term support on future endeavors.

Animal Health Component

50%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

(N/A)

Applied

50%

Developmental

50%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
102	0199	3020	10%
111	0210	3020	10%
216	1499	3020	10%
604	6030	3020	10%
608	6099	3020	10%
131	0120	3020	10%
602	6030	3020	10%
610	6030	3050	10%
403	7410	3020	10%
605	0440	3020	10%

Keywords

Goals / Objectives
Long Term GoalIncrease the number of military Veterans in southeast Louisiana gaining knowledge and skills through comprehensive, hands-on (as possible, COVID19 dependent) and immersive model farm programs that will lead to successful careers in the food and agricultural sector to meet the needs of Veterans, and broader community need for fresh, accessible food. Objectives1. Reach out to community partners, leaders, and potential program participants through 6 community information and outreach meetings, social media and other means; connect them to the project team to collect ideas, feelings, interests and hopes for the program. 2. Research, review and collect existing materials from others who worked on similar projects and also create and disseminate other culturally and socio-economically appropriate learning materials on selected priority topics, based on information from outreach. 3. Implement classroom style discussions with question and answer opportunities on selected priority topics, including various USDA farm/farmer support programs, based on information from outreach. Specifically, up to 29 weekday (2-hour) individual topic sessions (once monthly following start-up and information and outreach meetings, excluding the laast month of the project) and 12 single day (6-hour) cmprehensive weekend day events (one per quarter) - some of these will be on-the-farm activities (as possible, COVID dependent) - see #4 below.4. Conduct on-the-farm, hands-on activity opportunities (as possible, COVID19 dependent) or virtual with socially-distanced individual learning, on selected priority topics, based on information from outreach. 5. Coordinate real world training through internship opportunities on local working farms, or working with experienced growers on site at the VA. 6. Connect participants to long-term mentoring support with local experienced farmers (and increasingly, Veteran farmers). 7. Video record sessions to provide an online learning option for those unable to attend trainings in person, or to use as refresher materials, so the trainings can be used past the time of the grant; post on various partner websites for widespread accessibility. 8. Capture changes in attitudes, interests, beliefs, practices and knowledge, particularly about employment, education and entrepreneurship opportunities, how to contribute and benefit from food and agricultural sectors, and awareness of USDA programs and incentives, through detailed monitoring and assessment methods. 9. Maintain a photo journal for a sampling of participants to document knowledge and practices and expansion, changes or establishment of farms following program participation.

Project Methods
Approach:1. Reach out to community partners, leaders, and potential program participants through community information and outreach meetings, social media and other means; connect them to the project team to collect ideas, feelings, interests and hopes for the program. Activities: meet with core team; plan information and outreach meetings - select locations, create media/outreach plan; utilize culturally and otherwise appropriate language in developing unique materials for outreach; check in with USDA programs (FSA, NRCS, RD) for input and advice; implement outreach plan, and host outreach meetings; disseminate and collect surveys; compile names and contact information.2. Research, review and collect existing materials from others who worked on similar projects and also create and disseminate culturally and socio-economically appropriate learning materials on selected priority topics, based on information from outreach. Activities: research and review existing materials from others who worked on similar projects; meet with core team; review surveys from outreach meetings; collect pertinent information from surveys and other reliable sources on priority topics; check in with USDA and other government programs for input; reach out to other AgVet project leaders for any relevant materials; utilize culturally and socio-economically appropriate language in developing unique materials on select priority topics as necessary; organize a training binder of materials to supplement discussions and hands-on trainings; include notepaper and pens.3. Implement classroom style discussions with question and answer opportunities on selected priority topics, including various USDA and other farm/farmer support programs, based on information from outreach. Activities: meet with core team; determine location and priority topics for each session; determine what expertise are needed to effectively communicate important information on topic areas to participants; check in with USDA programs for input/participation; retain special experts as necessary; create session plans, presentations, discussion questions, learning objectives, and corresponding surveys and monitoring exercises with specific discussion and thought-provoking questions.4. Conduct on-the-farm, hands-on activity opportunities on selected priority topics, based on information from outreach. Activities: meet with core team; determine locations and priority topics for each session; determine what expertise are needed to effectively train participants on topics; check in with USDA programs for input/participation; retain special experts as necessary; create hands-on session plans, surveys and monitoring exercises with specific discussion and thought-provoking questions.5. Coordinate real world training through internship opportunities on working farms or working with experienced growers in expanding on-site farming activities at the VA. Activities: meet with core project team; determine internship locations on existing, operating farms and meet with (in person or virtually) experienced growers who will be assisting with design and training of interns on new VA farm; review internship locations for appropriateness; meet with internship farmers to coordinate expectations, monitoring and review of interns; create checklist and review documents for internship farmers and participants and corresponding surveys. Finalize plan for new farm site, acquire materials, prepare site for construction.6. Connect participants to long-term mentoring support with local experienced farmers (and increasingly, Veteran farmers). Activities: meet with core team; update list of local mentors; meet with local mentors to discuss expectations, support, monitoring and review of mentees; provide contact information for assigned mentees to mentors; create checklist and review documents for mentors and participants and corresponding surveys.7. Video record sessions to provide an online learning option for those unable to attend trainings in person, or to use as refresher materials, so the trainings can be used past the time of the grant; post on various partner websites for widespread accessibility. Activities: meet with core team; determine needs for distance-learning option, including retaining a videographer professional; purchase proper recording equipment; meet with videographer to discuss expectations and needs, and timelines for recording, editing and posting videos; create appropriate corresponding self-evaluation tools for those unable to attend in person trainings to monitor progress.8. Capture changes in attitudes, interests, beliefs, practices and knowledge, particularly about employment, education and entrepreneurship opportunities, how to contribute and benefit from food and agricultural sectors, and awareness of USDA programs and incentives, through detailed monitoring and assessment methods. Activities: meet with core team; discuss appropriate content, language and approach for monitoring and assessment of sessions, speakers, materials, staff, participants and program as a whole; design culturally and socio-economically appropriate surveys, reflection sheets, discussion and follow-up questions for sessions, speakers, materials, staff, participants and program as a whole.9. Maintain a photo journal for a sampling of participants to document knowledge and practices and expansion, changes or establishment of farms following program participation. Activities: meet with core project team; discuss needs, intent and content of photo journals; discuss which participants to "follow"; obtain consent from participants; review equipment and professional needs; purchase appropriate equipment; discuss timeline, expectations and final products with photographers and subjects; create any necessary liability releases and other documentation.Plan for Outcome Based Reporting:Proper evaluation is part of the project, including means to analyze, assess, and interpret outcomes annually and at project end. Our evaluation plan includes multi-level evaluations before, during and after trainings, each designed to measure certain aspects of the project:1. Collecting Baseline Data - At the beginning of each session, prior to any information, discussion or training, each participant will complete a questionnaire (baseline survey) that contains both forced choice and open-ended questions to gauge attitude, experience, practices, and interests of each participant at the start. Responses will be maintained in a database to serve as baseline information to compare with future evaluations throughout and after the program.2. Reflection Sheets - Participants will be given reflection sheets which will be used to record their impressions of the trainings. In addition to open reflection space for participants to write general impressions, reflection sheets will also include 1-2 focus questions for participants to ponder and answer.3. Evaluation of Sessions - Participants will fill out a simple one-page Likert scale rating system questionnaire designed to evaluate both content and delivery of information. Staff will also evaluate sessions.4. Evaluation of Program - Participants will complete a second questionnaire (end-line survey) with forced answer questions and open-ended questions to compare to baseline data collected from initial evaluations before trainings. Questionnaire design will be aligned to the first survey to gauge changes in attitudes, experience and new interests about farming. We will also use the "Carousel" technique, and staff will also evaluate the program.5. Evaluation of Internships and Mentorships - Various methods, including surveys and reports, by interns and supervisors and mentors and mentees, will be used to evaluate internships and mentorships.6. Evaluation of Successful Application of Training - Follow-up surveys will be conducted to gauge the successful application of the training.

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/23

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is Veterans, student-Veterans, and active military transitioning to Veterans in southeast Louisiana, especially those from limited-resource, diverse, underserved communities and women. In particular, we are partnered with the local regional Veterans healthcare system, which also houses the VA. We are also reaching out to other local Veterans organizations, like the VFW and Bastion, an intentional Veterans community. Changes/Problems:One of the challenges this year and throughout the project has been that some Veterans are uncomfortabel with regular check-ins and reporting, stemming from previous experiences. Some also prefer not to be photographed. We understand these concerns and so have figured out ways to collect information without being intrusive or disrespectful. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project wasall about training and development for Veterans. We held lectures, discussions, hands-on on-farm learning opportunities, field trips to other local farms, and more. We also maintain online resources, including videos. We connected Veterans to each other, and to existing growers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We regularly share our stories with the Greater New Orleans community through social media, bi-weekly community newsletters, quarterly updates, tabling at events, and sharing at conferences and more What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the final year of this project, we held the lasttwo of the six community information and outreach meetings. Wecollected final endline surveys from regular program participants, collected and analyzed all of the information obtained over the years of the project, and created pathways forward to continue the program on into the future past the grant period. We strengthened our relationshipswith Bastion, an intentional Veterans community, and the VFW, and we are excited about future possibilities together. In the third year, we had experiencedVeteran growers teaching clases, both at the VA farm and off-site, sharing their knowledge with a wide range of people. We continued our weekly Veterans classes, plus other special events, and in Year Three we hosted 26events.We continued recording select sessions, for use as a review and to share with those who are unable to participate in-person or real-time. We wrapped up our project monitoring and analyzed the results, includingchanges in attitudes, interests, beliefs, practices, and knowledge.

Publications

Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is Veterans, student-Veterans, and active military transitioning to Veterans in southeast Louisiana, especially those from limited-resource, diverse, underserved communities and women. In particular, we are partnered with the local regional Veterans healthcare system, which also houses the VA. We are also reaching out to other local Veterans organizations, like the VFW and Bastion, an intentional Veterans community. Changes/Problems:We again did not have any major changes in the project, especially now that we have moved past the peak of the Covid pandemic. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project is all about training and development for Veterans. We hold lectures, discussions, hands-on on-farm learning opportunities, field trips to other local farms, and more. We also maintain online resources, including videos. We connect Veterans to each other, and to existing growers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We regularly share our stories with the Greater New Orleans community through social media, bi-weekly community newsletters, quarterly updates, tabling at events, and sharing at conferences and more. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Given the ongoing success, despite Covid challenges, we plan to continue with the program and reach out to and work with even more community partners in Year Three. We have already made a connection with the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and look forward to including them in our AgVets program next year.We also expect to continue developing our VA urban farm, so that we can host even more Veterans in classes and for hands-on opportunities. We will continue to connect Veteran growerswith existing local farms for additional and more one-on-one experiences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the secondyear of this project, we held another two of the six community information and outreach meetings - over the course of the project so far, a total of four.We have continued to engage with Bastion, an intentional Veterans community, and successfully connected them to the project at the VA. We have hosted some classes with the VA Veterans and Bastion Veterans together, and several classes on-site at Bastion. One challenge is that for the Bastion Veterans to join in at the VA farm, they must be registered through the VA, and some of the Bastion Veterans are uncomfortable doing so, so we are pursuing alternative ways to include them in agriculture programming.We've continued conversations with local Veteran growers, and some are now teaching Veterans classes as guest speakers.In Year Two, we continued to create and disseminatevarious culturally and socio-economically appropriate learning materials on selected priority topics. This past year, we continued our weekly Veterans classes, plus other special events, and in Year Two we hosted 31events.As previously planned, this year weadded a shed, power, rain catchments,irrigation, and hydroponics to the VA farm site. We continued recording select sessions, for use as a review and to share with those who are unable to participate in-person or real-time. We sill use various evaluation and monitoring methods to capture changes in attitudes, interests, beliefs, practices, and knowledge. We also continued the photo journal of the development of the VA site. In Year Two, we had a few Veterans who are growingin their own spaces, and we have asked them to also take photos as they expand.

Publications

Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21

Outputs
Target Audience:Our target audience is Veterans, student-Veterans, and active military transitioning to Veterans in southeast Louisiana, especially those from limited-resource, diverse, underserved communities and women. In particular, we are partnered with the local regional Veterans healthcare system, which also houses the VA. Changes/Problems:We did not have any major changes in the project, as we were aware of and anticipated the Covid-related challenges. Because we have taught virtual classes in the past, we easily pivoted from in-person to online options, and were able to still offer socially distanced, carefully planned in-person opportunities for Veterans on our own farm sites and elsewhere. While these took additional time and planning, we were able to meet the goals of our project. The biggest challenge has been creating the additional Covid protocols, obtaining enough gear and materials so Veterans did not have to share items, and developing efficient methods to distribute materials for virtual learning. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project is all about training and development for Veterans. We hold lectures, discussions, hands-on on-farm learning opportunities, field trips to other local farms, and more. We also maintain online resources, including videos. We connect Veterans to each other, and to existing growers. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We regularly share our stories with the Greater New Orleans community through social media, bi-weekly community newsletters, quarterly updates, tabling at events and sharing at conferences and more. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Given the success in the last year, despite Covid challenges, we plan to continue with the program and reach out to and work with even more community partners. We also expect to continue developing our VA urban farm, so that we can host even more Veterans in classes and for hands-on opportunities. As we train Veteran growers, we will also connect them with existing local farms for additional and more one-on-one experiences.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? During the first year of this project, we held two of the six community information and outreach meetings. We connected with a number of community partners, including an intentional Veterans community that is now joining in classes at the VA, and we hope to expand classes on-site in that community as well. We researched and collected materials from others who worked on similar projects; notably, we've spoken with several local existing Veteran farmers. Through these processes, we created and disseminated various culturally and socio-economically appropriate learning materials on selected priority topics, such as how to start seeds, even without a significant amount of outdoor space. We also decided to increase the classroom component of the program to one regular class per week, following program initiation, plus other special classes, which means we hosted 30 classes for Veterans on a wide variety of agriculatral and related topics in the first year. During the times that the VA stopped in-person classes, we shifted to hold virtual trainings for the Veterans, and we distributed materials that they could use at home to participate in hands-on exercises. Despite the challenges of Covid, we were able to safely distance outdoors and held a number of on-the-farm training sessions, including initiating development of a new urban farm space on-site at the local VA, with raised garden beds, hydroponic beds, and in-ground growing. We have plans next year to add a shed, dedicated power, rain catchments, and irrigation and other systems. We have been video recording select sessions, for use as a review and to share with those who are unable to participate in-person or real-time. We continue to use various evaluation and monitoring methods to capture changes in attitudes, interests, beliefs, practices, and knowledge. As a number of the Veterans we work with are currently investing in development of the farm at the VA, we have been maintaining a photo journal of development of that site. Additionally, we plan to ask several other Veterans who are developing their own farms to collect images as they grow and expand.

Publications