Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:As part of our target audience, over the three year project 58% of the youth participating in Urban Roots programs were from economically disadvantaged households.. Youth ranged in age from 14 to 23 years old. Of those youth, 48% of identified as female, 39% male, 11% non-binary, and 2% did not identify. Regarding race and ethnicity, 51% of youth identified as Latinx, 19% White, 9% Black, 5% Asian, 3% American Indian or Alaska Native, 1% Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, 10% identified as belonging to two or more races, and 2% did not identify a race. Urban Roots youth programs aim to provide leadership skills development to youth ages 14-23 who have limited access to out of school programs due to a lack of transportation or financial resources. Youth in low-income areas are also limited in their ability to participate in training/learning opportunities or internships that do not pay. All youth participating in Urban Roots programs receive both produce shares and financial compensation. Past youth survey data has also demonstrated that youth among our target audience seek programs that provide opportunities to explore identity and self-awareness, to build healthy relationship skills, to practice leadership skills, and to establish meaningful connections to their community through civic engagement. We partner with Austin Independent School District and provide engaging in-person recruitment presentations to recruit high school students, and many youth are referred to us through the parent volunteers whose children have participated in our programs. To recruit older youth, ages 17-23, for the Food & Leadership Fellowship we rely primarily on word of mouth referrals, and we partner with other nonprofit agencies that serve a similar population to get the word out. Changes/Problems:The biggest challenge over the course of this grant period was navigating the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Even as safety precautions were lifted, it took a minimum of another year for both volunteer and youth leadership development program recruitment to return to pre-pandemic numbers. As an organization that depends on our volunteers and program participants, hosting fewer people in those programs made it more difficult to meet our food access goals. Additionally, a major leadership transition and other staffing challenges created capacity challenges, which directly impacted our objectives, specifically our plans to share SNAP benefits information to those receiving our produce. We navigated staffing challenges on our Programs team, which provides direct service to youth participating in our programs. While we managed to keep all programs active with the Programs Director filling in and other staff stepping in, to avoid those challenges in the future, we added a Senior Manager for Youth Programs, whose role will be to support the Programs team that provides direct services, and collaborate with the Programs Director regarding youth curriculum development and execution. A challenging economy also impacted our ability to recruit youth participants who were supporting themselves and/or their family. Recruiting older youth for our Food & Leadership Fellowship was especially challenging, as many were forced to take higher paying, longer term positions than our leadership development programs offered. To remain competitive with other jobs, we increased wages across all programs. The last year of the program we saw recruitment increase from the year before, and we believe the higher wages contributed to that. We had a record number of applicants for summer 2023's Farm Internship Program, with many youth citing the fact that we pay for them to participate as one of the draws of our program over other opportunities. While the Intergenerational Storytelling Project supported the community engagement aspect of our F2F work, navigating a variety of additional initiatives, especially with sometimes limited staff and the lingering effects of the pandemic, made meeting our goals for that project all the more difficult. While we have extended the project an additional 6 months, we have found creative ways to provide leadership opportunities for alumni to return as leaders of the current cohort as we move into the final stages of the project. Additionally, delayed permitting for the Southeast farm site has kept us from installing infrastructure and without utilities we have been unable to increase the amount of crops that we can grow there. Significant weather events, from two major winter storms to extremely high and extended summer temperatures, a diseased crop of transplants, and managing a hungry deer population decimating our crops due to encroaching development all negatively impacted the amount of food we were able to grow and distribute. To meet our food distribution goals, we pivoted to increase the amount of food that we grew on our flagship farm; we repaired and installed greenhouses that would allow us to grow our own transplants; we installed deer fencing; and we increased our regenerative agriculture practices to help mitigate the negative impacts of climate change. The Farm Operations Manager has improved workflow among the farm team, youth participants, and community volunteers, and overall, developed more intentional, formal systems than we have had in the past. We have also added some sustainability practices including increasing crop diversity, planting flowers as natural pollinators among food crops, incorporating more compost into the soil, and growing more in raised beds to sequester nitrogen into the soil rather than disturbing the soil from tilling. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The F2F project opportunities, activities, and goals have been disseminated to residents of Dove Springs through direct community engagement efforts such as block walking, during which SAI youth pass out fliers featuring information about the project, the farm, and upcoming activities or events. During youth program recruitment season interns distribute fliers to any and all internal or external events they attend. To recruit youth for our programs we partner with Austin Independent School District to disseminate information about the program and application process; post on social media; talk connect with alumni to support word-of-mouth efforts or to receive recommendations. Program Managers partner with teachers and provide engaging presentations for students in their classrooms, sharing about the leadership development programs and they offer youth an opportunity to earn wages while they make a critical contribution to their community by growing food on our farms for the community. Residents that receive our produce are invited to events on the farm, including farm tours and Community Lunches, when youth partner with a local chef to prepare a meal that is then served on the farm. At all events, youth practice their developing leadership skills by sharing their experience participating in the programs and growing food for their community, and how the community can stay involved with Urban Roots. F2F project updates, opportunities, and activities are featured on all social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Urban Roots also sends out a monthly newsletter by email to all supporters, posts it on all social media platforms, and our website. Additionally, several youth have created Instagram and Tik Tok pages specific to their cohort, where they feature stories about their experiences on the farm. This peer-to-peer communication, or "word of mouth," has been the most effective in recruiting youth for our programs. 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 site plan for our Southeast farm site has been submitted to the City, and we anticipate approval and the installation of water and electricity by summer 2024. We installed temporary fencing around our crops to deter area wildlife that have been known to decimate an entire crop overnight and to damage our irrigation; and unfortunately, we have had to deal with some on-site theft of supplies. In fall 2023 we partnered with TreeFolks, who, along with youth program participants, replaced 57 fruit trees that were damaged during last winter's freeze. Up to 2 acres of land continues to be included in our annual crop plans. On our flagship East side farm, the city installed a new utility pole that provides additional lighting and more reliable internet. We upgraded two greenhouses, where we now grow our own transplants. We replaced a high tunnel that was destroyed during last year's winter storm. Over the course of the grant period, we distributed a grand total of 20,850 pounds to Dove Springs residents. Objective 2: Over the course of the grant period we hosted 1,841 volunteers, including 238 from Dove Springs. Volunteers completed 6,248 hours that supported the food access. As a result of volunteering with Urban Roots, 80% of volunteers reported being interested in growing their own food, 67% intend to grow their own food, and 71% feel confident in their competence to grow their own food. Objective 3: For this project we served 203 youth, ages 14-23 years old through four youth programs, Farm Internship Program (FIP), Advanced Leadership Internship (ALI), Food & Leadership Fellowship (FLF), and South Austin Internship Program (SAI). Across all programs over the 3 years 69% of youth reported in focus groups that they felt more confident and competent to address food justice issues and increase food access in their neighborhoods. FIP - 84 youth participated in the Food Internship Program (FIP) over the 3 years of the project. Program highlights include a post-pandemic return of the weekly farmers market and our Community Lunch events. FIP youth partnered with local chefs to prepare recipes featuring ingredients that youth grew on the farm. Youth practiced their public speaking skills by leading guests on a tour and sharing their program experience. 99% of youth reported feeling an overall improvement in the social-emotional skills needed for success in leadership, relationships, and professional careers, including social- and self-awareness, social responsibility, and decision-making. 96% reported feeling more like a leader, and 98% planned to volunteer for organizations that work to increase food access in their communities. FLF- We hosted 63 FLF interns. Upon completion of the program 97% of Fellows reported an overall improvement in their social-emotional skills, 79% saw themselves as more of a leader, and 57% reported that they felt more confident and competent to address food injustice and to increase food access issues in their communities. Fellows engaged in all phases of food production, including planting seedlings and transplanting, crop maintenance, harvesting, and building produce shares to be distributed by GAVA. Fellows also planted fruit trees on the Southeast farm. Workshop highlights included practicing their cooking and food preservation skills, and engaging with guest speakers such as by Raj Patel, award-winning author, film-maker and Research Professor in the Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin; Dr. Ashanté Reese, Associate Professor of African and African Diaspora Studies at University of Texas, Austin; and Community Activist and Leader Erica Reyes, from Go Austin / Vamos Austin. Speakers focused on the connections among sustainable agriculture, healthy food access, food justice, and capitalism. Fellows provided community service at partner agencies such as Farmshare Austin farm and Capital Area Food Bank. ALI: In fall 2022 we brought back the 9-month pre-pandemic youth program Advanced Leadership Internship, which provides scaffolded leadership opportunities for youth that previously participated in the summer Farm Internship Program. We hosted 13 youth, with 100% of youth feeling more like a leader as a result of their participation, and 100% feeling confident and competent to address food access issues in their communities. Youth spent Saturdays participating in all phases of food production, cooking workshops, volunteering at partner agencies, and leading volunteers through farm tasks. SAI - We hosted 41 SAI youth, 21 of which were alumni and 20 were new to the program. 75% reported feeling more like a leader as a result of their participation in the program, 64% feel more confident to address food justice issues in their community, and 86% plan to stay engaged in addressing these issues after the program. Specific SAI activities are directly related to Objective 4 of the grant. Please find details about those activities below. Objective 4: We engaged 2,780 South Austin residents in a variety of activities designed to increase intergenerational awareness and a better understanding of families' resilience. 685 volunteers engaged in farm tasks that contributed to our food access program. Over the three years SAI youth distributed 1571 bilingual informational fliers during block walks, and engaged personally with 205 of those residents. We reached 140 residents through a bilingual Southeast Austin newsletter. 113 residents engaged through special projects, including the Intergenerational Storytelling Project and the PhotoVoice Project. Other activity highlights include seasonal tours of the East farm where families harvested food to take home, and intergenerational workshops focused on recipe-development and cooking. Due to an extended medical leave of a Program Manager, the most recent SAI cohort partnered with ALI, which is more of a farm-based program than a community engagement one. In surveys, youth expressed that they gained a more holistic, deeper understanding of the Urban Roots mission by seeing how the two programs work together. It was such a success that going forward we look to intentionally partner these two programs, which we anticipate will increase understanding of the work, and support recruitment for each program. Objective 5: We supported 66 Neighborhood Food Equity Leaders by hosting meetings, where youth presented information about Urban Roots' mission, programs, and their personal experiences. In the final year of the grant period we moved into a support role around this objective, as we learned that Dove Springs Community Leaders were already active participants in the Go Austin / Vamos Austin (GAVA) Co-op and the GAVA neighborhood distribution project, and in the City of Austin Food Plan. Rather than duplicate this work, we supported the community in their efforts through check-ins. As a result of connecting Dove Springs residents to city leaders, some now contribute their perspectives and ideas on various Issue Area Groups that will ultimately inform the final Food Plan. Objective 6: During the F2F project we promoted SNAP, Summer Feeding Programs, and Double Dollars to 600 people during each block walk in Dove Springs. In spring of 2023 a Farmshare representative met with youth about SNAP incentives so that youth feel empowered and better equipped to talk through these assistance opportunities with residents.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/21 to 08/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the Farm 2 Family/Family 2 Farm (F2F) project includes Travis County residents living in zip codes with limited access to healthy foods, with a specific focus in the 78744 zip code, known as Dove Springs. In this federally named food desert, 37% of residents are food insecure, 52% are non-English speaking, 85% rely on public transportation, and 85% of the households have children. In Travis County, 46% of people that are income eligible to receive SNAP benefits have not enrolled. Finally, of 47 zip codes in Travis County 18 do not have reliable access to a grocery store and less than 1% of food is consumed locally. The F2F project has reached our target audience during this reporting period through the delivery of fresh vegetables grown on Urban Roots farms by youth participating in our programs, and with the support of our partner organization, Go Austin / Vamos Austin. Youth participating in the South Austin Internship program have reached Dove Springs residents through block walks, flier distribution, virtual meetings and workshops, and in-person meetings. Residents have also volunteered on our farms, partnered with youth to lead intergenerational workshops, and participated in our PhotoVoice Project. As part of our target audience, 57% of the youth participating in Urban Roots programs during this reporting period were from economically disadvantaged households, as defined by their eligibility to participate in the National Free & Reduced Lunch Program. Youth ranged in age from 14 to 23 years old. Of those youth, 45% of identified as female, 42% male, 10% non-binary, and 3% did not identify. Regarding race and ethnicity, 57% of youth identified as Latinx, 25% White, 3% Black, 7% Asian, and 8% identified as mixed race. Urban Roots youth programs aim to provide leadership skills building to youth ages 14-23 who have limited access to out of school programs due to a lack of transportation or financial resources. Youth in low-income areas are also limited in their ability to participate in training/learning opportunities or internships that do not pay. All youth participating in Urban Roots programs receive both produce shares and financial compensation. Past youth survey data has also demonstrated that youth among our target audience seek programs that provide opportunities to explore identity and self-awareness, to build healthy relationship skills, to practice leadership skills, and to establish meaningful connections to their community through civic engagement. Changes/Problems:Because obtaining city permits to install infrastructure on the Southeast farm is taking longer than anticipated, we will hold steady with growing on 2 acres rather than expand. Without a wash station or cooler to store freshly harvested vegetables, we will continue to grow what we call "one-cut" or "one-pull" varieties such as cabbage, beats, and carrots. These heartier vegetables can be harvested and transported to our East Austin farm to wash and store before distributing. To make up the difference we are honing our systems in order to grow more efficiently on the East farm. To very directly and immediately impact production we have installed deer fencing around each quarter of growing space to prevent wildlife from feasting on crops; and we are using a walk-behind tractor more than a large tractor, which allows more members of the farm team to complete that task, along of course with the benefit of the walk-behind tractor causing less soil disturbance. The Farm Operations Manager is also improving workflow among the farm team, youth participants, and community volunteers, and overall, developing more intentional, formal systems than we have had in the past. We have also added some sustainability practices including increasing crop diversity, planting flowers as natural pollinators among food crops, incorporating more compost into the soil, and to sequester more nitrogen into the soil we are growing in raised beds rather than disturbing the soil from tilling. We will continue collaborating with food distribution partners such as GAVA and Farmshare Austin, we have also forged a new partnership with Foundation Communities. We will contribute produce for their pop-up market at one Southeast Austin property. As we learn and adapt, we hope to supply food for markets at additional locations. We also aim to develop a system that helps us determine which partners are a best fit moving forward, including a survey that will help guide our crop plans going forward. While our Community Crew volunteer program was a big success during the pandemic, as people returned to work and in-person routines, participation became increasingly inconsistent. Hosting Community Crew proved that there are volunteers seeking long term, deeper experiences, and survey results demonstrated that those experiences have a meaningful impact. We redesigned the program to appeal to people able to commit to volunteering 2-3 days a week for an entire season, and increased opportunities for leadership during their tenure. Community Ambassadors support all aspects of food production, from seeding to preparing the harvest for distribution. Additionally, they have the opportunity to lead other volunteer groups on the farm, to work alongside Food & Leadership Fellows, and to volunteer at special events hosted on the farm. Ultimately we look forward to providing Lunch and Learn events for Community Ambassadors looking to increase their knowledge of everything from sustainable farming methods to food justice issues. Finally, and importantly, we have increased our youth participant goal. We have also brought back our Advanced Leadership Internship, a program offered to youth that have previously participated and wish to further develop their leadership skills and deepen their knowledge of sustainable farming practices and food justice issues. With the additional 10 ALI youth, we aim to provide leadership development programming for 80 youth (unduplicated). Because our programs often compete with higher wage jobs that are often necessary for the youth we serve, and because we highly value the perspective and work that youth bring to their experience, we have secured funding from another source that allows us to put a 3 year plan in place to steadily increase youth wages each year for those in FLF, SAI, and ALI, with wages ultimately being $11/ hour for our high school programs and $15/hour for FLF. We have also increased youth wages for those participating in FLF, SAI, and ALI. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The F2F project opportunities, activities, and goals have been disseminated to residents of Dove Springs through direct community engagement efforts such as block walking, during which SAI youth pass out fliers featuring information about the project, the farm, and about upcoming activities or events. During recruitment season interns distribute fliers atall internal or external events they attend, for example, the Dove Springs Easter Eggstravaganza in April. F2F project updates, opportunities, and activities are featured on all social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Urban Roots also sends out a monthly newsletter by email to all supporters, posts it on all social media platforms, and our website. We also write blogs for our website that regularly highlight F2F-related activities, from youth volunteering at hunger relief organizations to farm progress and harvest updates. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To accomplish these goals during the next reporting period we will continue our work on the Southeast farm to harvest 5,000 pounds of vegetables for our youth and food access programs. We have submitted infrastructure site plans to the city, and anticipate a response during the next reporting period. Assuming we are approved, we will begin the installation of water and electricity on the site, which will eventually allow us to grow more and a bigger variety of vegetables on this site, as well as increase volunteer and youth program opportunities. We will continue regularly scheduled meetings with our design team in an effort to arrive at a final plan. Our partnership with GAVA will continue as we work to harvest and donate 5,000 pounds of vegetables harvested on the new and existing farm to Dove Springs residents.We will employ, train, and educate 80 youth in our programs. With the additional staff and a new perspective based on the recruitment challenges we encountered this last year, we will re-establish key contacts at schools and nonprofits where previous contacts have left, and we will develop an updated recruitment strategy that takes our previous challenges into account. Youth participants in all programs will continue to engage in food justice workshops, provide community service at local hunger relief partner organizations and farms, lead volunteer groups through farm work and food justice educational games and activities, and grow food on our two farms that will be donated to Dove Springs residents and other hunger relief partners. In addition to the Community Lunch series that FIP youth host each summer, we will host two additional lunches, one in the fall and one in the spring. This will provide an opportunity for FLF and ALI interns to participate in these impactful events. Similarly, in addition to FIP youth selling the vegetables they grow at the summer farmers market, both the fall and spring cohorts of FLF fellows will also manage the Urban Roots booth at the Sunset Valley Farmers Market. The Program team will continue to evolve the SAI curriculum specifically in order to meet the goals around community engagement with Dove Springs residents. We will continue to collaborate with GAVA as they provide workshops for youth that feature strategies for effective community engagement. Based on last year's success, we will host additional recipe developing and cooking workshops between youth and residents. We also look forward to hosting additional feedback sessions with residents so we are attuned to the needs of the community and what they see as the most impactful way to engage with the farm and the youth. We will also engage residents in our annual PhotoVoice Project. Through these events and projects we will engage 1,500 residents. Additionally, we will move from the planning stage of the Intergenerational Storytelling Project to the action stage, which will include training youth in storytelling collection techniques and the technology we will use for the project, complete 60 interviews with older residents, and disseminate stories through events, social media, and partner organizations. Self-selected Dove Springs residents applied to participate in the City of Austin's Office of Sustainability Food Plan advisory council. While we do not currently know the results of those applications, we plan to connect 15 additional community leaders with those on the council in addition to supporters such as Edwin Marty and other members of the Office of Sustainability. We will also engage and train 500 volunteers, 65% from Dove Springs, in production and maintenance of our farms. We will recruit volunteers through SAI community engagement efforts, at all events, and through our established volunteer sign-up on our website. We will conduct pre- and post-surveys in which 80% of volunteers will report feeling more confident, competent, and inclined to grow, purchase and prepare healthy food as a result of their Urban Roots experience.We will collaborate with Farmshare Austin to host a workshop for youth to better understand SNAP and other food access incentives so youth feel better equipped and more empowered to share these opportunities with residents during block walks and residents. We will also look for natural ways to incorporate the sharing of food access incentives like SNAP more frequently in order to reach our goal, including working with our food access partners to learn more about the barriers that families experience when opting in to these programs and finding ways to overcome those barriers.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The F2F project aims to increase healthy food access to our target audience, to provide education in growing, purchasing, and preparing fresh food, and to educate and train our target audience to advocate for healthy food equity. Those most impacted by the project include residents and their families living in food insecure zip codes, specifically 78744, also known as Dove Springs, as well as youth participating in our programs, and community volunteers. To increase healthy food access we continued our work on the Southeast farm site. Unfortunately the year began mitigating an encroaching deer population that continued to eat our crops. We installed a deer fence around the perimeter of the field, which had an immediate positive impact. We also installed a shipping container as a temporary storage for the safekeeping of tools and small equipment. Due to a longer wait for permit approval to install permanent water and electricity we maintained our 3 acre growing space rather than expand. We donated 7,832 pounds of produce to Dove Springs residents. Wehosted 756 volunteers (unduplicated) on both the East and Southeast farms, including 83 from Dove Springs residents and surrounding neighborhoods. Volunteers completed 3,229 hours of farm workthat supported our food access and youth programs. For every measure except purchasing, more than 70% agreed or strongly agreed that their time volunteering with Urban Roots resulted in beneficial increases in intention, knowledge and confidence to grow vegetables, as well as increases in the amount and variety of fresh fruits and vegetables they cook and eat. A notable exception to these increases was found for buying a larger variety or a larger amount of vegetables, and this may be due to the fresh produce the volunteers received as part of their incentives. In other words, the Urban Roots volunteers may not have reported increasing the amount or variety of fresh fruits and vegetables they purchased because they were receiving fresh produce for free from Urban Roots as a thank you for their time. This reporting period we served 67 youth, ages 14-23 years old through Farm Internship Program (FIP), Food & Leadership Fellowship (FLF), and South Austin Internship Program (SAI). FIP - 29 youth participated in FIP. Program highlights include the return of the weekly farmers market and our Community Lunch series, 3 lunches on the farm, partnering with local chefs to prepare recipes featuring ingredients that youth grew on the farm. Youth led guests on a farm tour and shared their program experience and its impact on them. Several Dove Springs residents attended our first bilingual Community Lunch event. 94% of youth reported feeling an overall improvement in the social-emotional skills needed for success in leadership, relationships, and professional careers, including social- and self-awareness, social responsibility, and decision-making. 100% reported feeling more like a leader as a result of the program, and 96% planned to volunteer for organizations that work to increase food access in their communities. In those 6 short weeks youth harvested 9,260 pounds of food, and dedicated 6,189 pounds to our food access program. FLF- We hosted 20 FLF interns. 91% of Fellows reported an overall improvement in their social-emotional skills, 81% saw themselves as more of a leader, and 81% reported that they felt more confident and competent to address food injustice and to increase food access issues in their communities. Fellows engaged in all phases of food production, planted fruit trees on the Southeast farm, and participated in workshops. Workshop highlights included practicing their cooking skills, learning to pickle vegetables, and a special presentation by Raj Patel that focused on the connections among sustainable agriculture, healthy food access, food justice, and capitalism. Fellows provided community service on the Farmshare Austin farm and at Capital Area Food Bank. SAI - We hosted 14 SAI youth, 10 of which were alumni. 69% reported feeling more like a leader as a result of their participation in the program, 61% feel more confident to address food justice issues in their community, and 84% plan to stay engaged in addressing these issues after the program. We engaged 1,450 South Austin residents in a variety of activities designed to increase intergenerational awareness and a better understanding of families' resilience. 296 volunteers that engaged in farm tasks that contributed to our food access program. SAI youth completed 3 block walks, during which they distributed 900 bilingual informational fliers, and spoke with 82 of those residents. We reached 73 residents through a bilingual Southeast Austin newsletter. 60 residents engaged through special projects, including the Intergenerational Storytelling Project and the PhotoVoice Project. SAI also hosted two tours of theEast farm where residents harvested herbs and vegetables; and in May SAI cooked with Dove Springs residents at the Southeast farm; finally, For our Intergenerational Stortelling project we are set to meet with residents one time per month from November 2022 - May 2023. We have purchased recording equipment, and youth will practice with the equipment as they record one another's personal food stories. These will be used to create an inspiration sheet, a tool that helps youth determine the interview questions they plan to ask residents. We completed a PhotoVoice project with youth and residents. PhotoVoice is an innovative approach to Community-Based Participatory Research that recruits community members to use photography, and stories about those photos, to narrate their lived experience. The Urban Roots team deployed this method to explore issues of equity, health, food systems, and justice. Two groups engaged in this process: youth (n=13) and community members (n=7). The two groups worked independently of each other, but collaborated amongst themselves. The youth group convened first to choose a theme for the project. After a brainstorming session and a group discussion of priorities, two themes were chosen: opportunity and freedom. Once these themes were chosen, both the youth and the community member groups were trained on photovoice techniques via a video, and tasked with taking photos of their surroundings that were relevant to their understanding of what opportunity and/or freedom meant to them, in their community. The participants took up to 10 photos each. Then the groups met again to allow each participant to choose their favorite photos (up to three photos per person), and to narrate the circumstances of the photo and how the image connected to the themes. Because the community member group was primarily Spanish speaking, a bilingual team led the discussions, and a recording of the meeting was transcribed and translated. We supported 39 Neighborhood Food Equity Leaders by hosting 5 meetings, where youth presented information about Urban Roots' mission, programs, and their personal experiences. We also hosted a food stories workshop. Divided into small groups, youth and residents shared their food stories and worked together to create recipes that were used during the cooking event. The Program Manager facilitated a feedback session between the Leaders and the Urban Roots Farm Team. Community Leaders also attended one of our Community Lunches on the East side farm this summer, during which they also received a youth-led tour of the farm. For each one of these events, Community Leaders receive a $25 HEB gift card for their participation and feedback. This reporting period we promoted SNAP, Summer Feeding Programs, and Double Dollars to 400 people during each of 3 block walks. We met with Farmshare Austin to plan a workshop in spring of 2023, at which a Farmshare representative will teach youth about each of the incentives so that youth feel empowered and better equipped to talk through the incentives with residents.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/20 to 08/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience for the Farm 2 Family/Family 2 Farm (F2F) project includes Travis County residents living in zip codes with limited access to healthy foods, with a specific focus in the 78744 zip code, known as Dove Springs. In this federally named food desert, 37% of residents are food insecure, 52% are non-English speaking, 85% rely on public transportation, and 85% of the households have children. In Travis County, 42% of people that are income eligible to receive SNAP benefits have not enrolled. Finally, 13 zip codes in Travis County do not have reliable access to a grocery store and less than 1% of food is consumed locally. The F2F project has reached our target audience during this reporting period through the delivery of fresh vegetables grown on Urban Roots farms by youth participating in our programs, and with the support of our partner organization, Go Austin! Vamos Austin¡. Youth participating in the South Austin Internship program have reached Dove Springs residents through block walks, flyer distribution, virtual meetings and workshops, and safely distanced, masked, outdoor meetings in-person. Residents have also volunteered on our farms, partnered with youth to lead intergenerational workshops, and participated in community engagement meetings with University of Texas students seeking feedback on nature trails in the Dove Springs area. As part of our target audience, 58% of the youth participating in Urban Roots programs during this reporting period were from economically disadvantaged households, as defined by their eligibility to participate in the National Free & Reduced Lunch Program. Youth ranged in age from 14 to 23 years old. Of those youth, 50% of identified as female, 35% male, 10% non-binary, 4% transgender, and 4% did not identify. Regarding race and ethnicity, 58% of youth identified as Latinx, 13% White, 4% Black, 4% Asian, 4% Native American or Pacific Islander, 13% identified as mixed race, and 2% did not identify. Urban Roots youth programs aim to provide leadership skills building to youth ages 14-23 who have limited access to out of school programs due to a lack of transportation or financial resources. Youth in low-income areas are also limited in their ability to participate in training/learning opportunities or internships that do not pay. All youth participating in Urban Roots programs receive both produce shares and financial compensation. Past youth survey data has also demonstrated that youth among our target audience seek programs that provide opportunities to explore identity and self-awareness, to build healthy relationship skills, to practice leadership skills, and to establish meaningful connections to their community through civic engagement. Changes/Problems:The following changes or problems in approach were due to following COVID-19 safety requirements and CDC recommendations. Once the realities of the pandemic set in, the Urban Roots team determined two priorities: 1) support youth virtually as authentically as possible ; 2) increase crop production and distribution to feed those most food insecure. In the early months of the pandemic we closed the farm to the public and the Program Team shifted to farming full-time, except for a few hours of providing virtual programming. We revived our Community Supported Agriculture program as a substitute for revenue lost from farmers' market sales during the summer FIP session, and as a way to provide food safely to the community. Additionally, we doubled our food access partnerships from 9 to 18 to support Austin's most vulnerable populations. As restrictions lifted and produce distribution intensified, we contacted experienced, longtime volunteers who could be trained quickly on our new safety protocols. This group became known as the Community Crew. This approach both to meet the increased demand for labor and to stay connected to the community proved a great success, and we have committed to maintaining the program. Community Crew members have reported an increase in their understanding of food access barriers and a closer connection to the farm and to their community overall. The peak of increased food production aligned with the kick-off of the F2F project and our collaboration with Go Austin! Vamos Austin¡ (GAVA) to deliver food weekly to Dove Springs residents. We began the reporting period for the F2F project in a better place in spite of the ever-shifting COVID-19 safety requirements. In September of 2020 we were thrilled to welcome the Food & Leadership Fellowship (FLF) youth back to the farm, masked and distanced, and with workshops led by community professionals or volunteers hosted virtually. The South Austin Internship (SAI) started the grant period with a hybrid program, meeting virtually on Wednesdays and in person on Saturdays. Summer of 2021, we also welcomed our high school youth in-person for the Fall Internship Program (FIP), however, we held off on returning to produce sales at the downtown farmers market. To meet safety protocols, no youth program participants volunteered at off-site, indoor hunger relief organizations; community service was rare and limited to outdoor support only. For example, FLF youth volunteered at Serafina HOPE food pantry, helping with garden cleanup and planting new crops. Corporate volunteer groups were difficult to book, as many workplaces had not yet returned to in-person work and activities; educational tours also proved challenging as most schools had not resumed field trips. To introduce the farm to community and educational groups, we created a virtual tour featuring our Farm Manager, Montana Stovall, walking the farm as he described and showed the vegetables we were growing and introduced youth and other staff members. We hosted virtual farm tours and a Q&A session for Whole Foods and Texas A&M students. The lack of in-person volunteer and educational tour opportunities meant a lack of opportunities for FLF and FIP youth to practice their growing leadership skills or to share their knowledge of food access challenges. It also meant fewer opportunities to engage the community around local food and farms, and purchasing and preparing fresh food. To mitigate these losses, we created Let's Get Cooking, a 3-week cooking video series in which a local celebrity chef used vegetables from the farm to demonstrate an original recipe. Participants would purchase the vegetables and other special ingredients and cook along with the chef. While we used this as a source of revenue, we posted the videos and recipes on our social media and website. The chefs were introduced virtually by youth and each video featured youth sharing their personal journey with Urban Roots. All meetings with Dove Springs residents were held virtually or outdoors, masked and distanced; and block walking was limited to passing out flyers, with in-person interaction only on the off-chance residents were outdoors when youth approached. As an organization we hosted only one fundraising event; otherwise, all events or large community gatherings were postponed during the grant reporting period. Virtual meetings and the cancellation of events made it extremely difficult to forge meaningful relationships with youth and Dove Springs residents. We made strides, but confirmed what we already knew - nothing can replace the bonds that are formed from in-person experiences, whether that bond is with the land itself, an intergenerational bond between youth and adults in Dove Springs, or a bond between people and the food justice information we share. By summer of 2021 we re-evaluated the cost-benefits of maintaining our produce box sales for the larger community. We found that the revenue generated by the sales did not outweigh the increase in labor and effort of both our staff and of FLF fellows, who pack the produce for distribution each week. In spite of the extra effort and fewer labor hours, we exceeded our planned food access distribution goals named in the grant. Still, the need for safe distribution of food had lessened for the general public, and we decided to concentrate our efforts on those whose healthy food access barriers had become even more insurmountable due to the pandemic. One final change in our approach to growing food was one of the most welcome. Our efforts to revitalize the soil using regenerative agriculture practices on the Southeast farm proved successful. We had not anticipated growing food on that land for distribution until the final year of the project; however, by the end of year one, we are growing food on two acres. Because we do not yet have a wash station or cooler to store freshly harvested vegetables, we currently grow what is called "one-cut" or "one-pull" varieties such as cabbage, beats, and carrots. These heartier vegetables can be harvested and transported to our East Austin farm to wash and store before distributing. This new planting timeline has definitely increased the urgency to get permitting for water and electricity and to install the infrastructure required to plant a bigger variety of vegetables. And once more food is growing, our youth and volunteer programs will need to keep pace, as the most unique and inspiring part of our program is that it is the youth and our volunteers that grow the food that is donated to those in the community with limited access to fresh, nutrient-dense produce. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?
Nothing Reported
How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The F2F project opportunities, activities, and goals have been disseminated to residents of Dove Springs through direct community engagement efforts such as blockwalking, during which SAI youth pass out flyers featuring information about the project, the farm, and upcoming activities or events. Due to COVID-19 safety measures youth engaged personally only if the resident happened to be outside, rather than approaching the door. In partnership with GAVA, we hosted bilingual, virtual informational meetings facilitated by SAI youth. A newsletter featuring information about the F2F project was created and distributed in both English and Spanish to Dove Springs residents. To recruit youth for our programs we partner with Austin Independent School District to disseminate information about the program and application process; post on social media; talk connect with alumni to support word-of-mouth efforts or to receive recommendations. Program Manager Teresa Orduno shared program opportunities when delivering a presentation to Environmental Science students at St. Edward's University. At the Food Resilience, Equity and Access conference, Ms. Orduno sat on a panel to discuss how private and public organizations can work together to get food in the hands of people who need it, both during the pandemic and beyond. All F2F project updates, opportunities, and activities are featured on all social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. While we do not routinely engage on TikTok as an organization, one youth participant was so inspired by her experience developing recipes from the food she was growing that she created a cooking channel. Urban Roots also sends out a monthly newsletter by email to all supporters, posts it on all social media platforms, and our website. We also write blogs for our website that regularly highlight F2F-related activities, from youth volunteering at hunger relief organizations to farm progress and harvest updates. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period we will take the following steps to further establish the Southeast farm: We will install safety fencing and/or gates for the property; design for facilities so we can begin the permitting process for permanent water and electricity, vehicle access; and continue to plant and maintain seasonal crops, expanding our planting area on the Southeast farm from 2 to 3 acres. Our collaboration with GAVA will continue as we work to harvest and donate a minimum of 5,000 pounds of vegetables harvested on the new and existing farms to Dove Springs residents. We will employ, train, and educate 74 youth in our programs. Youth participants in all programs will continue to engage in food justice workshops, provide community service at local hunger relief partner organizations and farms, lead volunteer groups through farm work and food justice educational games and activities, and grow food on our two farms that will be donated to Dove Springs residents and other hunger relief partners. FIP youth will set up and manage a weekly farmers market stand in the summer, where they will sell a portion of the food they grow, share informational flyers about food access challenges in our city, our work in Dove Springs, and how to volunteer with Urban Roots or participate in upcoming events. The Program team will continue to evolve the SAI curriculum specifically in order to meet the goals around community engagement with Dove Springs residents. Program Managers will take lessons learned and information collected from youth interactions with residents and confirm facilitators that offer educational opportunities and interactive workshops featuring topics such as healthy eating and cooking in which residents, youth, and facilitators can exchange ideas, histories with food, cultural influences on food and more. We will engage 1500 families through these workshops and events. We will identify 15 key community leaders that have expressed interest in food access advocacy and connect them to lead food system brokers and decision-makers, including supporters such as Edwin Marty and other members of the Office of Sustainability. Opportunities will include participating in community engagement for the new City of Austin Food Planning process recently approved by City Council. We will host or participate in 15 events at which we will promote SNAP, Summer Feeding, and/or Double Dollar benefits. We will partner with Farmshare Austin to promote SNAP and their Fresh For Less mobile markets and curbside vegetable service. Finally, as we continue to follow CDC recommendations for COVID-19 safety, we will engage and train 500 volunteers, 65% from Dove Springs, in production and maintenance of the farm. We will recruit volunteers through SAI community engagement efforts, at all events, and through our established volunteer sign-up on our website. We will conduct pre- and post-surveys in which 80% of volunteers will report feeling more confident, competent, and inclined to grow, purchase and prepare healthy food as a result of their Urban Roots experience.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
With the F2F project Urban Roots aims to increase healthy food access to our target audience, to provide education in growing, purchasing, and preparing fresh food, and to educate and train our target audience to advocate for healthy food equity. Those most impacted by the project include residents and their families living in food insecure zip codes, specifically 78744, also known as Dove Springs, as well as youth participating in our programs, and community volunteers. Objective 1: To increase healthy food access, we worked to get our second farm site, adjacent to the Dove Springs neighborhood, ready for growing food. Fifty years ago this land was cow pasture and was once considered a possible landfill site. In just one year, the soil has been revitalized, food is growing and being shared with Dove Springs residents via our partnership with Go Austin! Vamos Austin¡ (GAVA). At the beginning of this reporting period, we cleared the land, installed temporary signage, and planted cover crops in an effort to regenerate the soil. We coordinated with the City of Austin to install temporary irrigation using hoses connected to a nearby fire hydrant. Our use of regenerative farming practices such as planting nitrogen-fixing cover crops and little to lightly invasive tillage proved successful. Ahead of schedule we are producing food for distribution to Dove Springs and other hunger relief partners on approximately 2 acres at the Southeast farm and 3.5 acres on the East Austin farm. Through our partnership with GAVA, we harvested and donated 5,306 pounds of produce to Dove Springs residents this reporting period. Objective 2: We did not set a volunteer goal for year 1 of the grant period for two reasons: 1) While we look forward to Dove Springs residents volunteering on the Southeast farm, our focus in the first year was solely to establish trust with residents and to learn from them; and 2) We were concerned that fluctuating COVID-19 safety regulations would prevent opening the farm to new volunteers. Objective 3: Through our three youth programs, Farm Internship Program (FIP), Food & Leadership Fellowship (FLF), and South Austin Internship Program (SAI), we served 54 youth ages, 14-23. FIP youth practiced their growing leadership skills by leading volunteers from the Young Men's Service League through farm tasks and educational food access activities. They participated in interactive, discussion groups with topics such as food equity, and the difference between charity and social change. This cohort was especially engaged in the cooking workshops in which they worked in teams to cook what they grew. A weekly activity challenged youth to learn more about a featured vegetable growing on the farm, develop or follow a recipe at home using the vegetable, and return with their recipe for taste tests and to share their experience. Youth lit up when it was time to cook. Each of them was fully engaged, even the quietest among them. Program Leaders finished off the FIP season with a cooking competition inspired by the reality show Chopped, which proved to be such a joyful learning and bonding experience, many youth named it the highlight of their experience. During this grant period, 20 FLF fellows completed the following activities: Youth provided community service at Serafina HOPE Food Pantry by helping with garden cleanup and planting fall crops; led volunteers from HEB through farm tasks and food justice educational activities; participated in workshops led by Rachel Cooper and Carolina Mueller on food policy and agriculture and additional food justice and advocacy workshops led by Raj Patel and Erica Reyes; they took a virtual tour of an aquaponic farm as part of a discussion on sustainability in agriculture; and performed farm tasks most days of the week, maintaining crops, harvesting, and packing produce shares for Dove Springs residents and other hunger relief partner organizations. SAI activities are directly related to Objective 4 of the grant. Please find details about their work and its impact below. In a focus group, 69% of SAI and FIP youth said they felt more confident and competent to address food justice issues and to increase food access in their neighborhoods; 91% said they plan to volunteer or work in their neighborhood to increase food access in the future. FLF participants completed a different survey in which 100% reported that they plan to volunteer or work to increase food security in their community, and 100% reported that they increased their knowledge of sustainable agriculture. Going forward, focus group questions will be consistent across all youth programs. Objective 4: We provided educational opportunities in growing, purchasing, and preparing healthy food through our engagement with 563 Dove Springs residents. 14 SAI youth participated in grassroots organizing activities such as block walks throughout Dove Springs, where they distributed 371 informational flyers and spoke with 87 residents. We also reached 67 residents through the electronic distribution of a Southeast Austin Newsletter. Alongside SAI youth, 38 Dove Springs residents participated in special projects including forums hosted by University of Texas students meant to develop a community-informed design for a greenbelt entrance in Dove Springs, to provide feedback on the Williamson Creek trail project, and to share effective community engagement tactics that may help move the projects forward. We considered these critical opportunities for youth to work side-by-side with residents, building trust between each other and with Urban Roots as an organization that seeks to support the Dove Springs neighborhood in a variety of ways. This teamwork proved fruitful in that SAI youth used the connection to garner resident feedback on our food distribution partnership with GAVA. In one of these meetings residents expressed a desire for fruit trees on the farm. To meet that request, SAI youth planted an orchard of more than 100 fruit trees. Another meaningful opportunity for youth and residents to work together creatively was our Photovoice Project, an innovative approach to community-based participatory research that recruits participants to use photography and stories to narrate their lived experiences. We used this research method to explore issues of equity, health, food systems, and food justice. Youth determined two themes to explore for the project: opportunity and freedom. Youth and adult participants were trained on photovoice techniques via a narrated video, and were tasked with taking photos within their neighborhood that expressed opportunity and freedom in ways that were most meaningful to them. With 10 photos collected, the groups met to share a select three photos that best expressed the themes. Because the adult group was primarily Spanish-speaking, a bilingual team led discussions, and a recording of the meeting was transcribed and translated. The photovoice project was displayed and featured in a presentation at Urban Roots' annual fundraising event, Tour de Farm. Objective 5: SAI youth partnered with GAVA's Food Justice Lead Organizer Erica Reyes to facilitate virtual monthly meetings with 27 Dove Springs residents. Youth interviewed residents about their food histories and their cultural connections to food, and learned more about residents' barriers to accessing healthy food. Reyes presented workshops on what food access advocacy can look like within a neighborhood, along with the ways residents can become leaders in their community. Objective 6: While we are building a plan with Farmshare Austin to promote healthy food access benefits such as SNAP, we did not conduct activities to meet this objective this year. With the pivot away from in-person meetings due to COVID-19 safety precautions we did not host events where we plan to promote these benefits programs.
Publications
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