Source: RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY submitted to NRP
PREPARING THE NEXT GENERATION OF URBAN FOOD AND AGRICULTURE CHANGEMAKERS
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
3D GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1031197
Grant No.
2023-41520-41011
Cumulative Award Amt.
$233,500.00
Proposal No.
2023-03731
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Aug 15, 2023
Project End Date
Nov 20, 2024
Grant Year
2024
Program Code
[MC]- Youth at Risk
Recipient Organization
RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY
3 RUTGERS PLZA
NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ 08901-8559
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Needs* Improved access to healthy foods in lowincome areas, to increase the health and well-being of residents, and create new opportunities to grow food through local community projects.* Positive youth development programs in Camden and Jersey City due to high rates of poverty, crime, unemployment, and a lack of opportunity.• Both Camden and Jersey City qualify as food deserts.* Camden has 29% of residents under the age of 18 with 33% of residents living in poverty. 100% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch* Jersey City has more than 20% of the population under 18 with 16% of residents living in poverty. More than 42% of Jersey City students qualify for free or reduced lunch.Short-Term* Teens will demonstrate an increased interest in social justice issues in their community.* Teens will complete training and develop skills in basic plant science, crop planning, and urban agriculture.* Teens will begin participating in county and state 4-H program events and activities. (opportunities to belong)* Long-Term* Teens will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of urban agriculture and sustainable local food systems.* Teens will practice collective leadership to enable change in their community by expanding food access/ addressing food insecurity.* Teens will be integrated into the 4-H program, exhibit increased leadership and personal development skills.
Animal Health Component
90%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
90%
Developmental
10%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
80600013020100%
Knowledge Area
806 - Youth Development;

Subject Of Investigation
0001 - Administration;

Field Of Science
3020 - Education;
Goals / Objectives
Short-Term Results - within six months of the program start Teens will demonstrate an increased interest in social justice issues pertaining to health equity, food justice, and sustainable food systems in their community. (targeted audiences)Teens will complete training and develop skills in basic plant science, crop planning, soil health, integrated pest management, food production, garden maintenance, food distribution, composting, food waste reduction, and nutrition education. (providing opportunities for skill building)Teens will begin participating in county and state 4-H program events and activities. (opportunities to belong)Medium-Term Results - within nine months of the program start Teens will demonstrate a change in knowledge, attitudes, and skills related to food access, food systems, and health equity through participation in urban agriculture. (opportunities for skill building)Teens will demonstrate increased leadership capacities and create strong community partnerships through participation in the program (positive social norms and supportive relationships)Teens will participate in various county-level and state-wide food system programs and events, like the NJ 4-H STEM Ambassador Program, Ignite by 4-H Summit, and/or the World Food Prize New Jersey Youth Institute. (opportunities to belong)Long-Term Results - within one year of the program start Teens will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of urban agriculture and sustainable local food systems by creating and implementing Food System Action Plans which are grounded in social justice and health equity. (opportunities for skill building)Teens will practice collective leadership to enable change in their community by expanding food access/ addressing food insecurity in their underserved communities. (Supporting efficacy and mattering)Teens will be integrated into the 4-H program on the county, regional, state, and national levels and exhibit increased leadership and personal development skills. (Opportunities to belong and opportunities for skill building)
Project Methods
Youth will transitionfrom classroom learning to intensive summer hands-on urban agriculture training in-person at community sites by meeting three times a week. Teens to support with tasks and management of urban garden/farm under guidance of community assistants and community partners.Community Assistants and community partners will teach High-context youth about locally grown food, access to food, and food security, while also focusing on culturally relevant crops. Utilizing curriculum from Purdue Cooperative Extension and Junior Master Gardeners, teens will learn how to teach younger peers and families about food systems and urban agriculture.High-context youth will teach Lessons in the Garden on a weekly basis to community members, including low-context youth.High-context youth will participate in at least one field trip per year to an urban agriculture partner site in their city, or they will visit a rural farm to experience the urban-rural difference.To conclude the season, A Farm to Fork event at each community site will be held with High-context youth participants, family, and community partners and locally grown food from the site and/or local farms will be served. During this event, youth will present on a culturally important crop.Staff will teach Food Systems Action Planning to High-context youth. The Action Plan (See Appendix 8) will be used by High-context youth to brainstorm issues, describe a problem, consider stakeholders, connect the issue with a Sustainable Development Goal, and determine potential actions. The overall Plan encompasses a vision, project goals, and actions to be taken.EVALUATION* Pre-survey will be conducted at the beginning of the program in March each year. Post-survey will be completed at the end of the program year in March of the following year.Project Evaluator will analyze whether increased understanding was demonstrated by the teens regarding social justice issues related to food insecurity.*The pre-survey will be conducted at the beginning of the intensive hands-on portion of the program in June of each year. The post-survey will be completed in September at the conclusion of the summer intensive.Project Evaluator will look for increases in knowledge and skill related to plant science, urban agriculture, crop planning, soil health, integrated pest management, food production, garden maintenance, food distribution, composting, food waste reduction, and nutrition education.* Community Assistants will help prepare teens to teach Lessons in the Garden then provide feedback after the lesson.Evaluator will meet with Community Assistants to assess whether teens are well prepared to teach and adjust their program if needed.*Creation of Food Systems Action Plan towards end of program year.Program peers, 4-H staff, and community partners will provide constructive feedback on the Action Plan to the teen and support their next steps of implementation.* Post-program survey conducted with teens.Determine if teens increased their leadership skills by seeking to initiate change and measure what community impacts their Action Plan had.

Progress 08/15/23 to 11/20/24

Outputs
Target Audience: The selected National CYFAR Outcome is Teens between the ages of 14-18.Preparing the Next Generation of Urban Food and Agriculture Changemakers(Changemakers) is an 8-month leadership and skill-building program to engage urban at-risk teens in community-based food systems education and urban agriculture, centered on social justice and food security. Recruitment materials were created in January and recruitment efforts were begun in February with outreach to local high schools and community organizations in Jersey City and Camden. The program kicked off in May 2024 and will extend through November/December 2024. Ten (10) students were recruited for the Camden site and 13 students are participating in the Jersey City site. Changes/Problems:During the Year 1 planning phase, the Planning Team decided to make adjustments to the following areas: - Timeline - the youth program timeline was determined to be too long therefore the timeline was adjusted to a morerealistic structure for participants from 13-months to 8-months. -Budget - once community partners were confirmed, Camden site staff decided to revamp their site budget to allow for apart-time employee to be hired and for funds to be allocated to a Services line to support the non-profit partner they are working with. -Evaluation - various ideas were discussed before determining the most practical approach to managing the evaluationprocess by employing a consultant and having one Planning Team member serve as the Evaluation liaison. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?- Two project staff, including the program evaluator, attended the June 2024 USDA-NIFA CYFAR Professional Development in Minneapolis, MN and attended sessions onleadership; partnerships and stewardship; program sustainability; social capital for youth thriving; systems change; program evaluation and building community capital. - Camden site - staff attended two Environmental Justice Summits at Rutgers University - Camden in Sept. 2023 andMarch 2024 where they met with local community organizations and discussed opportunities to partner on this program. - Jersey City site - New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative Annual State of the Food Summit on 12/8/23 and learnedabout current efforts undertaken to improve New Jersey's food systems for all the actors within the food system, including producers, consumers, and organizations working to provide food security initiatives. - Rutgers Cooperative Extension Annual Conference on 12/14/23 and attended a DEI training focused on intersectionality facilitated by various Extension agents. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Since the post-program survey will not be completed until Nov. 2024, we do not yet have a complete set of data. The progress of the program has been communicated to county government and Rutgers Cooperative Extension through monthly reports. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The Project Management Team completed program planning, continued with partnership building (community and University), developed the program curriculum and completed evaluation tools (pre-and post surveys including Common Measures), orderedgarden supplies and technology (computers for each site), and developedtraining sessions for teens. All site staff were responsible for the recruitment and retention of program members (teen and community partners) which started in Feb. 2024 and continued through late April, coordinating meetings, planning professional development, and field trips for teens for the summer intensive program in the garden. A program guide is in development and will be revised throughout the project including both virtual and in-person lessons and hands-on activities, schedules, field trip agendas, evaluation tools and results, and notes on opportunities and challenges for program implementation. Regarding the short-term, medium-term and long-term results: - Short-term - 1) Teens demonstrated an increased interest in social justice issues pertaining to food systems through virtual learning sessions prior to the summer intensive and then hands-on learning in the garden during Summer 2024. 2) Teens will complete training and develop skills in plant science and gardening.The curriculum addressed food systems; food justice; food advocacy; gardening basics; soil and compost; and plant science providing opportunities for skill building through hands-on work in the garden. 3) Teens will begin participating in county and state 4-H program events and activities - youth at both sites either took part in a statewide one-day 4-H teen conference in May and 4-6 youth participated in a five-day NJ 4-H STEM Ambassador Program on the Rutgers University Campus in Camden. Over the next year, they will contribute 50 hours of service in their communities by teaching younger youth through STEM activities. - Medium-term - 1) Teens will demonstrate a change in knowledge, attitudes and skills related to food systems. The pre-survey was completed by participants in May/June 2024 and the post-survey will be conducted in November 2024. 2) Teens will demonstrate increased leadership capacities and create strong community partnerships - youth at each site have already taken part in service projects in their communities and will continue with community engagement events and activities in the fall and next year. 3) Teens will participate in various county-level and statewide food system programs and events. As noted, 4-6 youth will continue to participate in the 4-H STEM Ambassador Program over the next year, as well as the NJ Youth Institute World Food Prize at Rutgers University in Spring 2025. Long-term - 1) Teens will demonstrate knowledge and understanding of urban agriculture and sustainable local food systems by creating and implementing Food Systems Action Plans, grounded in social justice. Program participants will work on these action plans in Fall 2024 for implementation thereafter. 2) Teens will practice collective leadership to enable change in their community by addressing food insecurity - youth are beginning to engage in food access and food insecurity through the development of action plans. 3) Integration into 4-H programming - these opportunities to belong have been introduced and will continue throughout the duration of the grant so that a full 4-H experience can be had.

Publications


    Progress 08/15/23 to 08/14/24

    Outputs
    Target Audience:The selected National CYFAR Outcome isTeens between the ages of14-18.Preparing the Next Generation of Urban Food and Agriculture Changemakers (Changemakers) is an 8-month leadership and skill-building program to engage urban at-risk teens in community-based food systems education and urban agriculture, centered on social justice and food security. Recruitment materials were created in January and recruitment efforts were begun in February with outreach to local high schools and community organizations in Jersey City and Camden. The program will kick-off in May 2024 and extend through November/December 2024. In preparation for working with our target audience the Project Planning Teamoutlined the planning stage to address:reviewing theproject vision and mission;schedulingteam meetings andmonthly coachingsessionswith ourCYFAR coach; exploringand confirmingcommunity partnershipsand community sites;determiningcurriculum design and learning materials;developingstudent recruitment materials such as flyers and application packets;reviewingthebudget; discussinganevaluation plan and then beginning to recruit students for the program start in May 2024. Changes/Problems: During the Year 1 planning phase, the Planning Team decided to make adjustments to the following areas: Timeline - the youth program timeline was determined to be too long therefore the timeline was adjusted to a more realistic structure for participants from 13-months to 8-months. Budget - once community partners were confirmed, Camden site staff decided to revamp their site budget to allow for a part-time employee to be hired and for funds to be allocated to a Services line to support the non-profit partner they are working with. Evaluation - various ideas were discussed before determining the most practical approach to managing the evaluation process by employing a consultant and having one Planning Team member serve as the Evaluation liaison. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional Development Camden site - staff attended two Environmental Justice Summits at Rutgers University - Camden in Sept. 2023 and March 2024 where they met with local community organizations and discussed opportunities to partner on this program. Jersey City site -New Jersey Food Democracy Collaborative Annual State of the Food Summit on 12/8/23and learned about current efforts undertaken to improve New Jersey's food systems for all the actors within the food system, including producers, consumers, and organizations working to provide food security initiatives. Rutgers Cooperatve Extension Annual Conference on 12/14/23 and attended a DEI training focused on intersectionality facilitated by various Extension agents. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?At this time, there are no results to disseminate with our communities of interest other than progress on the planning process. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, the Project ManagementTeamwill continue with program planning, partnership building (community and University), curriculum planning,developing evaluation materials,ordering supplies and technology, and developing training sessions for teens.All site staff willbe responsible forthe recruitment and retention of program members (teen and community partners) which started in Feb. 2024, coordinating meetings, planning professional development, and field trips for teens for the summer intensive program in the garden.A program guide will be developed inYear 1 and revised throughout the project including lessons and hands-on activities, schedules, field trip agendas, evaluation tools and results, and notes on opportunities and challenges for program implementation.

    Impacts
    What was accomplished under these goals? Since Year 1 consisted of planning for the implementation of the grant, there was no direct work with youth other than the recruiting process which began in Feb. 2024.

    Publications