Performing Department
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Non Technical Summary
To build thriving, resilient social and ecological communities, we must design food and farming systems that foster ecosystem health, adapt to climate change, and demonstrate that attainment of sustainable production, equity, and justice are synergistic goals. In this project, the University of California, Santa Cruz, California State University Monterey Bay, Hartnell College, and the Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association will join forces to train a diverse generation of leaders in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human (FANH) sciences. These collaborating institutions have a demonstrated, successful record of FANH education, training; have long supported innovative agroecology instruction, and recruitment and retention of underserved students with skills development, job preparation, mentoring, and building belonging; as well as a history of placing students in federal, industry, non-profit, and academic positions. Yet, the ongoing lack of a diverse FANH workforce nationally needs further addressing. Our overall project goals are to: (1) provide underserved students with culturally-relevant, inclusive mentoring, and experiential learning programming that result in improved belonging, leadership skills, and successful pursuit of FANH careers; (2) provide significant material support through scholarships, fellowships, and student employment to facilitate academic success and career development; and (3) establish a replicable, regional educational hub that forms a learning community among multiple educational levels and institutions.We will build on our past accomplishments at UCSC and partner institutions, and will meet pressing challenges through three project objectives: (1) create meaningful Experiential Learning Projects (ELP) that will train students and others in FANH and community-engaged research, organic agricultural production, distribution, culinary arts, and agricultural technologies, providing them with practical job skills; (2) provide Student Scholarship Projects (SSP) to support students with jobs, paid internships, fellowships, scholarships, housing, emergency support, culturally-relevant mentoring, and career coaching to facilitate participation in FANH activities; and (3) create Outreach and Engagement Projects (OEP) through youth engagement, diverse learning communities, and FAHN career education. To achieve project Objective 1, we will support student and participant research opportunities and internships. We will support research programs for graduate and undergraduate students, will provide training in sustainable agriculture production, food distribution and marketing for undergraduate students and for limited-resource, immigrant farmworkers, and will support students in community-based research and in youth leadership academies that connect undergraduates with farmworker families to address issues of environmental sustainability and health and environmental racism. We will train undergraduates, MS, and PhD students in technical skills with drone technology and with Geographic Information Systems. To achieve project Objective 2, we will financially support students to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation and will provide mentoring, career counseling, and student support services. We will support new PhD students with fellowships, will support community college students with transfer scholarships, will create a scholarship program for undergraduates, and will provide housing scholarships and emergency cost scholarships for room and board, books, and class supplies. We will also provide robust career counseling, student-centered, culturally-responsive mentoring, counseling, and support services, and will position students to succeed in careers. To address Objective 3, we will focus on enhancing youth understanding and awareness of FANH careers and will involve youth and others in the design, execution, and evaluation of our project activities. Our projects will connect students with professionals through research, production, distribution, culinary activities, community-engaged work, and agricultural technologies, thus exposing students to multiple careers.We expect that our projects will provide underserved students and participants at our institutions with technical and soft skills needed for advancing their careers, will boost student sense of belonging and support, will provide greater financial stability and confidence, and will boost the numbers of students interested in pursuing careers in FANH fields, especially with government agencies. In sum, our project will support FANH training that is disciplinarily diverse, community-engaged, equitable, and just, thereby better attracting and supporting the diverse future agricultural workforce that society needs in order to transform our FAHN sectors and improve the sustainability of our agricultural systems.
Animal Health Component
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Research Effort Categories
Basic
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Applied
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Developmental
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Goals / Objectives
To build thriving, resilient social and ecological communities, we must design food and farming systems that foster ecosystem function, adapt to climate change, and demonstrate that attainment of sustainable production, equity, and justice are synergistic goals. The U. of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and partners California State U. Monterey Bay (CSUMB), Hartnell College (Hartnell), and the Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association (ALBA), are at the vanguard of training a diverse generation of leaders in Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Human (FANH) sciences. Collaborating institutions have a demonstrated, successful record of FANH education, training, and job placement for students in federal, industry, non-profit, and academic positions. We will provide the next generation of scholars and practitioners with interdisciplinary FANH training with an equity-centered approach in environmental and social justice.Together, our institutions provide dynamic, innovative agroecology instruction and have long supported recruitment and retention of underserved students with skills development, job preparation, mentoring, and fostering belonging. Yet, there is an imperative to support educational equity with excellence to prepare a diverse, national FANH workforce poised to meet contemporary challenges. Our overall project goals are to: (1) provide underserved students with culturally-relevant, inclusive mentoring, and experiential learning programming that result in improved belonging, leadership skills, and successful pursuit of FANH careers; (2) provide significant material support through scholarships, fellowships, and student employment to facilitate academic success and career development; and (3) establish a replicable, regional educational hub that forms a learning community among multiple educational levels and institutions.We will build on our past accomplishments at UCSC and partner institutions, and will meet pressing challenges through three project objectives: (1) create meaningful Experiential Learning Projects (ELP) that will train students and others in FANH and community-engaged research, organic agricultural production, distribution, culinary arts, and agricultural technologies, providing them with practical job skills; (2) provide Student Scholarship Projects (SSP) to support students with jobs, paid internships, fellowships, scholarships, housing, emergency support, culturally-relevant mentoring, and career coaching to facilitate participation in FANH activities; and (3) create Outreach and Engagement Projects (OEP) through youth engagement, diverse learning communities, and FAHN career education. Our cross-institutional, community-engaged model will support students in building community and in reflecting about how their experiences connect to their values, beliefs, and home communities. Our project will address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion and align with USDA priorities. We will frame project activities through equity and justice-oriented methods, and use a culturally sustaining approach that integrates natural science training with critical perspectives. We will support student academic success with material support and by fostering identity formation, and communities of practice, thereby preparing our students to tackle complex FAHN problems and transform FAHN sectors.The project strongly aligns with institutional and USDA goals. UCSC's vision is to, 'promote academic excellence within a diverse community of scholars and learners. An uncommon dedication to diversity, social responsibility, and environmental stewardship pervades all that we do'. Our project supports UCSC's 2022-2023 Strategic Planning 'pillars': unparalleled undergraduate student education & experience; graduate education for the future; distinction in research, scholarly & creative activities; inclusive, thriving campus community; and climate change, sustainability, & resilience. Our project will engage students in climate change and sustainability research, and will improve educational experiences, leading to a diverse, skilled, educated FANH workforce. Focusing on the education and workforce development needs of communities in the Salinas Valley, Hartnell's mission is to strengthen communities by providing opportunities for students to reach career and academic goals in an environment committed to student learning, success, and achievement. We will support Hartnell's strategic goals - increasing student competition; increasing transfer to four-year institutions; and improving employment subsequent to training or completion - by providing transfer scholarships and training that supports future FANH employment. CSUMB's mission is to serve diverse people of California, especially working class, historically undereducated, and low-income populations. Our project aligns with CSUMB's Strategic & Academic Affairs Plan, which aims to (i) increase student degree completion, (ii) sustain a high quality curricular and co-curricular student experience, (iii) create educational pathways to careers, and (iv) enhance academic and cultural involvement through curricular and co-curricular programs. ALBA creates opportunities for limited-resource farmers through land-based training in organic farm management. ALBA mainly supports immigrant and first-generation Latino farmers trapped in low-income field labor, despite having valuable farming experience and an incredible work ethic. ALBA recognizes this talent and invests in skills to advance careers and farm business ownership. Our regional partnerships will empower FANH career development, build institutional and community capacity, and establish cultural pathways that integrate curriculum with student support services.
Project Methods
This project will expand on the successes of current and previously funded USDA projects at our institutions by delivering holistic student support through integrated student services, culturally-relevant curricular programming, and expanding capacity for cross-institutional recruitment and retention. While elements of the project have been successfully piloted in previous grants, this project will transform the breadth of FANH offerings, the quality and quantity of material resources, and career development and other services available to underserved students, bringing a level of programming that has not yet been seen on our campuses.Sustainable food systems and agroecology education is most powerful when employing interdisciplinary systems thinking in ways that bridge agronomy, plant, soil sciences, and ecology with critical social sciences, and center social justice issues and student identities. Student ELP and SSP will support interdisciplinary exploration of FAHN through the lens of equity and justice focusing on ways students can critically analyze social and institutional structures that perpetuate environmental and societal harm, and solutions that center repair and restoration.A whole student approach ensures that students who may feel disconnected and marginalized from higher education may come to see FANH occupations as viable, meaningful, and empowering career paths. A whole student approach anchors culturally-relevant academic study with hands-on ELP (Objective #1), SSP (Objective #2), and OEP (Objective #3). Our learning communities build on a 'communities of practice' framework, designed to strengthen student sense of belonging, intergenerational FANH identities, and confidence as future FAHN experts. Student support (housing, jobs, mentoring, and paid internships) will address drivers of low college completion rates among underserved students. Our students must not only be told that they belong but also experience it.Our FANH teaching, research, and experiential learning will occur in relevant community contexts and contend with real world environmental and social challenges, thereby promoting student retention. Our region hosts a nationally important agriculture industry, is socio-culturally diverse, and faces compounding environmental (groundwater loss, heat, drought, wildfires) and social challenges (exposures to pesticides, worker exploitation) exacerbated by climate change. Students will approach these multi-issue challenges through an integrated knowledge-based approach that recognizes non-dominant communities' knowledge and expertise as pivotal for food system innovations. Students from underserved communities often feel connected to such innovations because they are keenly motivated to find solutions that will make food systems more resilient and just for communities similar to their own.These innovations in FANH education and career development will lead to impactful agricultural sciences and environmental outcomes because they will draw from a wider and more diverse knowledge base. Diversifying FANH is not only about diversifying bodies. People with different cultural orientations provide new perspectives, leading to more effective science and better science education. We will include diverse teachers (and learners) to our collective knowledge and experiences. We will expose students to USDA and federal careers in workshops and career panels, allowing us to translate scientific diversification from curricular experiences into careers. While many proposed activities exist on our campuses, our new positions and partnerships will enable us to profoundly improve the integration of student services and FANH educational programs on and off our campuses. In sum, our project will support FANH training that is epistemologically diverse, community-engaged, equitable, and just, thereby better attracting and supporting a diverse agricultural workforce for the future.Our SSP and ELP activities will foster career development by providing PhD, MS, and undergraduate students and others with skills in FANH research, organic production, distribution, business management, culinary arts, community-engagement, and technological training. Students will shadow FANH professionals, work with faculty, agency, or student mentors, and will form connections that will boost retention and graduation, belonging and confidence, and will advance knowledge of FANH careers. SSP and ELP activities will support leadership development through workshops on scientific and professional communication, ethics, writing, and culturally-relevant mentoring. Our near-peer mentoring model will build student supervisory, team work, and interpersonal skills.Outcome Evaluation PlanThe evaluation will identify student centered outcomes and organizational capacity building outcomes, as well as formative components to ensure effective implementation for recruitment, retention and organizational capacity building.Methodology: We will assess student centered outcomes quantitatively and qualitatively. For quantitative outcomes, the project evaluator will use a yearly, short, online survey that will broadly assess development of FAHN knowledge and skills, professional skills, professional network creation, and increases in feelings of support and belonging. This survey will ensure we are moving towards project goals and objectives, achieving student learning outcomes, and preparing for USDA reporting. We will assess qualitative gains through stories of success and the Most Significant Change technique. These methods will highlight student accomplishments and reveal potential unintended outcomes for students and other learners. The methods will build on evaluation techniques used for past grants. Institutional capacity building outcomes will be explored through a qualitative assessment. Interviews with students and project staff will explore how well the project and processes are working, and what can be improved to build capacity and ensure desired outcomes. For capacity building, the project evaluator will look at increased trust and communication among participants, automation in recruitment and applications, and development of institutional policies to support underserved students. To identify improvements in student centered outcomes, we will explore how well the programs are meeting our desired outcomes. Since new programming is best served by formative evaluation, we will conduct qualitative and observational assessments.Timeline: Y1: refine evaluation plan with partners; develop participant tracking system; create qualitative yearly instrument; implement first instrument at end of Y1; identify data collection plan. Y2: Y1 reporting; implement yearly survey, qualitative assessment of recruitment process (for refinement and improvement). Y3: implement and report on yearly survey; conduct qualitative assessment of student outcomes for program improvement. Y4: implement yearly survey; qualitative assessment of organizational capacity building. Y5: implement yearly survey, conduct qualitative assessment of student-centered outcomes, reporting to stakeholders.Plan of Operation: The evaluator will lead the evaluation process and will co-develop a participatory evaluation plan with the PD, co-PDs and student evaluation assistants. The evaluator will supervise and mentor student evaluation assistants, and conduct data collection, analysis and reporting. The evaluation assistants will participate in instrument design, data analysis, interpretation and reporting. They will implement much of the qualitative data collection. The evaluator will set up a student tracking system with the Project Coordinator, provide contact info for evaluation efforts, and provide reporting metrics for outputs.Expected Products and Results. We will report project evaluation results to the USDA and in conference presentations as appropriate.