Progress 11/01/23 to 10/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:The Village Exchange Center (VEC) is located at 1609 Havana St. in Aurora, Colorado. The surrounding neighborhood is called Northwest Aurora and Census records indicate the demographics are about 83% BIPOC and 48% foreign-born. VEC sits on the border of Adams, Arapahoe and Denver Counties and serves residents of all three counties in almost equal numbers. VEC's Village Farm is located at the Stanley Marketplace, about a mile from VEC's main building. The address for the property is 2501 N Dallas Street, Aurora, CO 80010 and it is within the neighborhood boundary of Northwest Aurora. The Northwest Aurora neighborhood is considered a food desert with the majority of residents living more than a half mile from a major grocery store. This is also one of the lowest income neighborhoods in the Denver metropolitan area, with a median household income of $40,000 which is well below the poverty line, and the median income of $68,000 for the greater Denver Metro Area. The Village Exchange Center's Village Farm primarily serves the immigrant and refugee communities in Northwest Aurora, Colorado. These communities are served through our Urban Farming Immersion program (UFI), produce disseminated through the farm to local immigrant owned grocery stores, restaurants, partner non-profits, and community engagement activities. Our 2024 Urban Farming Immersion program included 10 participants. 9 of whom are refugees from Afghanistan, Malaysia, Thailand and Haiti, and one immigrant participant from Mexico. Half of the produce grown at the farm is distributed through the Village Exchange Center's Village Pantry to primarily immigrants and refugees, including members of the following cultural organization partners: Bhutanese Nepali Networking Ministry, the Korean Association of Colorado, Colorado Kachin Baptist Church, The Oromo Community of Colorado, Casa de Restauracion, Hope Community Afghan and Ethiopian groups. Additionally, we host a weekly in-person food pantry open to the community. We are currently serving an average of 600-800 individuals per week, predominately immigrants and refugees from the following countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, South Korea, Mexico, and Venezuela. The other half of the produce grown at the farm is distributed to four local businesses: Makola African Market, Annette restaurant, Pinemelon, and the Stanly Summer Series market, which reach a large immigrant population as well as residents of Aurora at large. Farm outreach events, including volunteer days and community workshops serve many local residents as well as a broader audience from across the Denver Metropolitan Area. Changes/Problems:We found that our participants have many completing life priorities like childcare, appointments, and other jobs. This isn't surprising given the nature of their new arrival to the United States and the various challenges of resettlement. We are continuing to look for ways to support the folks in our program and to offer various ways to meet their needs. Our farmers come from a variety of work backgrounds, education levels, and countries. This can make teaching and training a challenge as we work to overcome several education barriers such as basic literacy, digital literacy, and a range of English language proficiency. Our program staff teaches in English, offering an opportunity for English immersion. At the same time, we focus on plain language instruction, that is very image driven and hands-on. In 2024, we were able to offer Dari and French interpreters for our folks by inviting participants into the program who are also able to serve this dual role of learner and translator. Scheduling was an issue we found in 2024. Many of our participants asked to come on different days to make up their hours, which we did our best to accommodate. Still, this put strain on our program staff and resulted in dissimilar learning experiences between our participants. We are adjusting for a more flexible schedule with more work shift options for our participants to choose from in the 2025 program-year. There are always lessons to be learned from every growing season. 2024 was a great season for tomatoes, okra, and eggplant. We saw success in new intercropping pairs which enabled us to grow more food in our raised beds. Including onions and okra, radishes and cucumbers, leeks and peppers. Our cucumbers, spinach, and romaine struggled in the heat of the season. We will continue to modify our crop plan to reflect the changing and warming nature of our growing conditions. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through the UFI program, participants received training on core competencies in sustainable agriculture practices and workforce development through a combination of hands-on work on the farm, classroom-based lessons, and field trips to local businesses and organizations in the agriculture sector. Our post-program surveys revealed that 100% of participants strongly agreed or agreed that their knowledge of growing food using sustainable practices increased since the beginning of the program. Additionally, 100% of participants strongly agreed or agreed that their readiness for a job increased since the beginning of the program. On reflecting on the impact of the program, participants shared the following: "With the experiences I've gained, I am now able to prepare the organic and healthy foods for myself and my family. I will also use what I learned in my little back-yard garden and live happily." "I will have carry on is making bouquet because soon I'll do flower bouquet business" "I would like to have a personal farm. I like to be useful for the society" "I will be starting a home garden next year to grow yummy food and flowers. I plan on using the flowers for art projects. I will also add this certificate to my resume!" How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The Village Exchange Center is creating a 2024 organizational annual report which will be distributed to community partners and members. The report will include a section on the Village Farm and the Urban Farming Immersion, illustrating the impact and outcomes of the farm and the UFI program. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Recruit and enroll 10 participants in our 22-week 2025 UFI program. We will recruit program participants through partnerships with local refugee agencies and service providers, partner non-profits, and through community outreach efforts. 90% of program participants will be ORR-RAPP eligible (I.e., refugees or asylees) 90% of program participants will graduate from the program. Participants will be paid at an hourly rate of $20.00. Implement the Village Farm curriculum (Including New Entry and Job Readiness lessons) Schedule and conduct 12 field trips to local businesses and organizations in the agriculture sector. Implement a cut flower subscription program training participants on cut flower production, floral bouquet making, and business management. Develop additional cut flower distribution outlets, including a local flower wholesaler. Conduct additional focus groups and surveys with key community partners to identify culturally relevant produce to grow in the 2026 season. Develop and implement monthly workshops on sustainable agriculture topics and host community events to foster cross-cultural exchange. Host weekly potlucks with UFI program participants to foster cross-cultural exchange.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
VEC graduated 10 participants from the Urban Farming Immersion program in 2024. 90% of the participants were refugees, with 6 participants from Afghanistan, 1 from Mexico, 1 from Haiti, 1 from Thailand and 1 from Malaysia. To ensure all participants, regardless of English language proficiency, had an equal experience in the program, we recruited two individuals who served a dual role as participant and interpreter for those who required interpretation. The 2024 program was implemented 05/09/24-10/04/24on Thursdays and Fridays from 9am-2pm. Participants were paid $20/hr, with interpreter participants paid $25/hr. Participants received training on sustainable agriculture practices and workforce development through a combination of hands-on work on the farm, classroom-based lessons, field trips to local businesses and organizations in the agriculture sector. Goal 1: UFI Experimental Learning · Half of UFIis dedicated to hands-on learning with participants working on the farm. Through experiential learning, participants received training on regenerative agriculture practices such as planting techniques, integrated pest management, applying amendments, soil health, crop planning, nutrients, cover crops, harvesting, and food safety. Participants greatly enjoyed working on the farm, and according to our survey, participants ranked fieldwork as the activity that they both enjoyed the most and was the most beneficial to their learning. · Continued our cut-flower social enterprise as part of the program. Participants received training on growing, harvesting and preparing cut flower bouquets for customers. We expanded our social enterprise to include wholesale accounts and a flower stand at the farm in addition to individual subscription customers. Every Thursday a participant designed a bouquetand on Friday all participants would collect the flowers necessary to replicate that bouquet design for customers. This process provided participants with business and workforce skills and exposure to career opportunities in the cut flower industry. Participants loved making bouquets and according to our survey, making bouquets was the 2nd highest ranked activity participants enjoyedmost. One participant is now interested in starting her own cut flower farm. · Implemented personal plots for participants for the 2nd year as a method of applied experiential learning and to provide participants with direct access to fresh, culturally appropriate produce. Participants learned about crop planning through classroom instruction and applied that knowledge to develop their own crop plans for the season. Participants received 30 minutes/week to work in their plots planting, amending, weeding, harvesting, observing, asking questions and learning from one another. We found that this was a great way for participants to apply what they were learning, experiment, and ask questions. Formal Instruction ?· Shifted our curriculum to align better with the goals of the program and participant needs. We replaced the Roots of Success curriculum from2023 with two new curricula:Tufts University's New Entry lessons for New Americans and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service's Job Readiness. Both were designed forimmigrant and refugee audiences and are written for English language learners. We used the New Entry lessons to cover core competencies in sustainable agriculture including: plant basics, crop planning, irrigation, soil health, integrated pest management, farmers markets, food safety and harvesting. The job readiness curriculum was developed in partnership with ORR to cover essential job readiness topics for refugees including,working in the U.S. and traditional first jobs, identifying skills and resume creation, professional networking, interviewing, financial literacy, applying for jobs, documents and ID cards, workers' rights, and succeeding in the workplace. We foundthese lessons were more aligned withprogram goals and easier to implement due to the plain English format. We will continue to use these curriculamoving forward. · Implemented participant goal setting and skill and knowledge self-assessments to enable us to track participants' acquisition of horticultural and job readiness skills and knowledge. At the beginning, midpoint, and end of the program participants completed a self-assessment form ranking their level of confidence with agricultural and job readiness core competencies. All participants indicated a significant increase in competency for each skill, and according to our post-program survey, 100% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that their knowledge of farming using sustainable agriculture practices, and their readiness for obtaining a job, increased due to the program. · Participants learned about different methods of farming, local career opportunities, and were connected to resources and individuals in the local agriculture sector via 12 guest speakers and field trips. Guest speakers included: a panel of 3 local farmers, a vericomposting workshop, a beekeeping workshop, an integrated pest management workshop, and a food preservation workshop. Field trips included, 5 trips to local farms, 1trip to a local workforce center, 1 trip to a local college's horticulture program. Participants rankedtrips as the 3rd most enjoyed and useful activity of the program. Goal 2: Crop plan · Increased access to culturally relevant, organic produce by producing and distributing 1770 lbs and 39 varieties of culturally relevant produce with the help of UFI participants. We conducted focus groups withkey cultural organization partners and vendors to identify theproduce desired by their constituents to shape our 2024 crop plan. We were proud to grow ganada leeks for the Afghan community, bitter melon for the Nepali and Burmese communities, collard greens for the Oromo community, white garden eggplant, okra and habanero peppers for the Ghanian community, and aji dulce pepper for the Venezuelan community. · Half the produce grown was disseminated at no cost via ourVillage Pantry to immigrants, refugees, and cultural organizations. The other half was sold to 4 locally owned businesses - Makola African Market, Annette Restaurant, the Stanley Marketplace farmers markets, and Pinemelon. Pinemelon is a local food delivery service and was a new vendor for us, replacing our vendor partnership with the Aurora Economic Opportunity Coalition. Goal 3: Community Building · Hosted 14 community events/workshops reaching approximately 275 peopleand 22 weekly potlucks with UFI participants to facilitate cross-cultural celebration. Events included: 2 UFI alumni events, 1 pick-your own bouquet fundraiser, 4 Lunch and Learn workshops open to the community, 2 flower workshops, 4 farmers markets, 1 Harvest Festival. · 100% of UFI participants agreed or strongly agreed that their connection to the community increased since the beginning of the program. · Launched aUFIalumni network to stay connected with former participants. Launcheda monthly newsletter with farm updates, ways to get involved, and local job/education opportunities. The newsletter is professionally translated into Spanish, the primary language spoken by former participants. We hosted two eventsfor alumni to gather on the farm, reconnect with one another and our current participants. We are excited to continue to build on this engagement and will launcha data collection effort at the end of 2024 to formally gather information on alumni, where they are now, and how we can continue to support them. · Hosted a number of volunteers and volunteer groups throughout the season. Volunteers engaged with UFI participants onfarm projects, including harvesting, small construction projects, soil building efforts, integrated pest management, and general plant maintenance. 191 volunteers gave a total of 2102 hours to support the farm.
Publications
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Progress 11/01/22 to 10/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience: The Village Exchange Center (VEC) is located at 1609 Havana St. in Aurora, Colorado. The surrounding neighborhood is called Northwest Aurora and Census records indicate the demographics are about 83% BIPOC and 48% foreign-born. VEC sits on the border of Adams, Arapahoe and Denver Counties and serves residents of all three counties in almost equal numbers. The Village Farm is located at the Stanley Marketplace, about a mile from VEC's main building. The address for the property is 2501 N Dallas Street, Aurora, CO 80010 and is within the neighborhood boundary of Northwest Aurora. The Northwest Aurora neighborhood is considered a food desert with the majority of residents living more than a half mile from a major grocery store. This is also one of the lowest income neighborhoods in the Denver metropolitan area, with a median household income of $40,000 which is well below the poverty line, and the median income of $68,000 for the greater Denver Metro Area. The Village Farm primarily serves the immigrant and refugee communities in Northwest Aurora, Colorado. These communities are served through our Urban Farming Immersion program (UFI), produce disseminated through the farm to local immigrant-owned grocery stores, restaurants, partner non-profits, and community engagement activities. Our 2023 Urban Farming Immersion program included 7 participants who are all refugees from Burma, Thailand, Iraq, and Ethiopia. Half of the produce grown at the farm is distributed through the Village Pantry to primarily immigrants and refugees, including members of the following cultural organization partners: Bhutanese Nepali Networking Ministry, the Korean Association of Colorado, Colorado Kachin Baptist Church, The Oromo Community of Colorado, Lansing Elementary School, Casa de Restauracion, Veronica's Village, Hope Community Afghan and Ethiopian groups. Additionally, this summer we re-opened our pantry to in-person shopping and are serving predominately immigrants and refugees from the following countries: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Korea, Mexico, and Venezuela. The other half of the produce grown at the farm is distributed to four local businesses: Makola African Market, Aurora Economic Opportunity Coalition, Annette restaurant, and the Stanely Summer Series market, which serve a large immigrant population as well as residents of Aurora at large. Farm outreach events, including volunteer days and workshops serve, many local residents as well as a broader audience from across the Denver Metropolitan Area. Changes/Problems:Due to a wet, cold spring and several hailstorms, our food production was less than anticipated. We produced 2,500 pounds of food this season compared to our anticipated production of 3,000 pounds. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through the UFI program, participants received training on sustainable agriculture practices and workforce development through a combination of hands-on work on the farm, formalized workforce development curricula, field trips to local businesses and organizations in the agriculture sector and participating in outreach events. Through experiential learning on the farm, participants received training on regenerative agriculture practices such as planting techniques, integrated pest management, applying amendments, soil health, crop planning, nutrients, cover crops, harvesting, and food safety. This year we also established a cut flower subscription as part of the UFI program. Participants learned business management skills through planting and harvesting cut flowers and arranging bouquets for 10 subscribers weekly. This year, we implemented the Roots of Success environmental literacy and job training curriculum within our UFI program. Roots of Success is a Department of Labor registered Pre-Apprenticeship program where participants learn environmental literacy, academic skills, professional development and about job opportunities in the green sector. After completing the curriculum, our UFI participants received "Environmental Specialist" certificates. We supplemented this program with our own professional development curriculum where participants received training on professional etiquette, email etiquette, how to write resumes and cover letters, and how to find and apply for jobs. Participants learned about local career opportunities in the agriculture sector through participating in 12 field trips to local businesses and organizations. Participants also learned business, communication and leadership skills through working at our booth at the Stanley Summer Series farmers market and running educational stations and activities at our Fall Harvest Festival and an immersive field dayfrom a local high school. Immediately upon completing the UFI program, our participants are: 1 participant has decided to continue their education and has enrolled in a small farm business program through a partner non-profit, GoFarm. 1 participant will continue to engage with Village Farm through our youth story time program with our partner, Bella Charitable Foundation. 1 participant is actively looking for land to expand their current goat farm operations into a viable business. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The UFI program and our 2023 growing season have just finished for the year. We will create and disseminate a 1-pager report to showcase the impact of the farm and UFI program. The report will be distributed by the end of the calendar year. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Recruit and enroll 10 participants in our 22-week 2024 UFI program. We will recruit program participants through partnerships with local refugee agencies and service providers, partner non-profits, and through community outreach efforts. 90% of program participants will be ORR-RAPP eligible (I.e., refugees or asylees) 90% of program participants will graduate from the program. Participants will be paid at an hourly rate of $20.00. Implement the Roots of Success curriculum. Design and implement the farm's horticulture and professional development curriculum. Schedule and conduct 12 field trips to local businesses and organizations in the agriculture sector. Implement a cut flower subscription program in 2024 training participants on cut flower production, floral bouquet making, and business management. Conduct additional focus groups and surveys with key community partners to identify culturally relevant produce to grow in the 2024 season. Develop and implement workshops on sustainable agriculture topics and host community events to foster cross-cultural exchange during the 2024 season. Host weekly potlucks with UFI program participants and community members to foster cross-cultural exchange during the 2024 season.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Trained and graduated 100% of the participants (n=7) from the 22-week Urban Farming Immersion (UFI) program. Participants received training on regenerative agriculture practices, environmental literacy, and workforce development. Implemented the Roots of Success workforce development curriculum, a federally recognized and credited environmental literacy program. Designed and implemented a professional development curriculum within the UFI program. Conducted focus groups with key cultural organization partners to identify produce desired by their constituents. The results of the focus groups shaped our crop plan and produce grown during the 2023 growing season. Conducted seven community events and workshops on the farm, reaching approximately 400 people. Conducted interviews and pre- and post-surveys with UFI participants to understand their goals, knowledge and skills, and the impact of the program. Hosted 96 volunteers who completed 538 hours from May through October 2023. Grew 2,500 pounds of culturally relevant produce. Grew 35 varieties of culturally relevant produce. Distributed produce to 5 key partners: Village Pantry, Makola African Market, Aurora Economic Opportunity Coalition, Stanley Marketplace Summer Series, and Annette Restaurant. Conducted weekly potlucks with UFI program participants. Purchased and built out a classroom, event, and office space on the farm.
Publications
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