How Farms and Gardens Can Cultivate Youth and Communities

SEEDS farm, Traverse City, Michigan

By Hannah Traverse, The Corps Network

An average week for a corpsmember at ConservationCorps North Bay in Marin County, California usuallyinvolves attending college classes. It also might involveplanting rows of crops, tending bee hives, harvestingfruits and vegetables, and grafting apple trees.

Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB) is one of themany Youth Service and Conservation Corps acrossthe country that operates an agricultural program. Theprimary mission of Corps is to prepare teens andyoung adults for the workforce by engaging them in adiversity of service projects that enhance communitiesand protect the environment. Completing the tasksnecessary to build and maintain a small farm orcommunity garden teaches corpsmembers basiclandscaping skills and the value of hard work, butCorps-managed farms are much more than justoutdoor classrooms.

For CCNB corpsmembers, growing vegetables is partof a work-study program. While enrolled at College ofMarin's Indian Valley campus, corpsmembers can earnmoney by tending the plants on the Corps' 5.8 acre

organic farm, located on the school's grounds. This modest income goes a long way for young corpsmembers who arejuggling school and childcare responsibilities. The certified organic produce from the Indian Valley farm, distributed mainlythrough restaurants and markets, also represents how Corps farms and gardens can touch entire communities.

Improving Food Security

In New England, the products of Vermont Youth Conservation's Corps' six acre farm help supplement the diets of hundreds oflow-income Vermonters. According to Paul Feenan, VYCC's Food and Farm Coordinator, about 60 to 70 percent of the farm'sproducts go to charity. The main mechanism through which the Corps distributes the farm's fruits, vegetables and poultry is aCSA program that serves nearly 200 food insecure families.

In 2012, VYCC partnered with the Central Vermont Medical Center to run a pilot program, called Health Care Shares, throughwhich they identified potential CSA members among patients and Medical Center employees. Many of the remaining CSAshares went to the families of VYCC corpsmembers who helped raise and harvest the food.

"All of our youth crew members come through the Vermont Department of Labor's Workforce Investment Act program. Theywere identified as economically disadvantaged and also had other at-risk factors that made them eligible for the program,"said Feenan. "So they got job readiness skills and other transferable skills out of the program, but their families also qualifiedfor a CSA share. They grew food for people who were food insecure and their families also received a share all summer."

Founded in the mid-1980s, VYCC only got involved in agriculture after relocating their headquarters to the site of a historicbarn in Richmond, Vermont. The Corps' farm started operation in 2008 as a small garden, but this past year it yielded 40,000pounds of fruits and vegetables and about 5,000 pounds of poultry - all of which was produced with significant help from teenand young adult corpsmembers. The youth crew helps tend and harvest crops, and they are involved in raising and

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butchering the chickens.

Chickens at the VYCC farm

"It's amazing how much development you see in thekids after a summer," said Feenan. "We can haveyoung men and women that haven't had a lot ofsuccess in their lives. The farm project inspires themto really achieve at high levels."

To make the farm economically viable and to givetheir farm interns a better overview of the foodsystem, VYCC sells some of its produce through afarmers market, a farm stand and wholesalecontracts. The farm's pasture-raised chickens are aparticularly popular product, but Feenan says thatthey want to move more towards philanthropicfarming. He said they would donate all of their foodto charity if they had the funding to do so.

In Baltimore, MD, the Civic Works corps also worksto improve food security for low-income families.

Like the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps, Civic Works is also new to farming. They broke ground on their Real Food urbanfarm in 2009 after they were recognized by Baltimore's Urban Agricultural Task Force as an ideal organization to run ademonstration farm.

"One of the reasons why we were approached was because of Civic Works' track record hosting AmeriCorps members andour experience with youth development, and also because of how close we are to two schools -- Heritage High School andREACH! Partnership School," said Zach Chissell, the farm's Project Manager.

A large portion of the Real Food Farm rests on what was once the schools' baseball field. With about two acres undercultivation, the farm produced nearly 16,000 pounds of produce last year. According to Chissell, the vast majority of work onthe farm is done by AmeriCorps members and paid high school interns.

Zach Chissell with the Mobile Market

The Real Food Farm has a four point mission:improve access to fresh food; promote urbanagriculture in Baltimore; provide experience-basededucation; and promote responsible environmentalpractices. Chissell says that, while all of the farm'smission points are important, improving foodsecurity is what Civic Works is most passionateabout. They currently use three different methods tohelp make their fresh produce accessible tolow-income families. First, their Mobile Market -- amodified Washington Post delivery truck --transports food directly to food insecure homes andcan set up shop at busy intersections, parking lots,or wherever people congregate. Second, about 20percent of the Real Food Farm's CSA shares go tofood insecure households. And third, the farmcontributes to a shared stand at Baltimore's Waverly

Farmers' Market, which now accepts Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) payments from shoppers that receive food aid throughthe government's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Though selling produce at the market and to localrestaurants does not directly improve food security in Baltimore, these distribution methods raise money to help underwriteReal Food Farm's philanthropic activities.

The Farm as a Classroom

Educational programming is another important element of Real Food Farm's mission to give back to the community. The farmhosts field trips and volunteer activities for just about any school or organization that can get there. Civic Works has helpeddevelop farm-based curricula for math teachers, to art teachers, to English teachers. The farm also runs an afterschool clubfor middle school students, and hosts six high school interns. Chissell says that the young people who visit the farm all seemto have a positive experience.

"Everybody is excited. You can see that they're definitely learning things that they did not know before about where foodcomes from -- the fact that this stuff gets pulled out of the dirt. It's definitely a new experience for a lot of them."

Jennie Pardie, Environmental Service and Farm Program Manager with Conservation Corps North Bay, sees similar responsesfrom the young people who work on the Indian Valley Farm.

"Many of the youth within our organization have had little to no experience with farming or nature. The exposure to how thingsgrow, and our relationship with the natural world and its provisions is an important step for any human being. Many areshocked and amazed by what they can see, touch, smell, taste, and do at the Indian Valley Organic Farm & Garden."

Like Civic Works and Conservation Corps North Bay, the Youth Conservation Corps operated by SEEDS in Traverse City,Michigan also focuses on educating youth about the food production system.

"The farm's been a great project for our Youth Conservation Corps," said Mike Powers, Project Manager at SEEDS. "We comefrom an agricultural area, but many of the Youth Corps members are not from farming families or have never worked on farms.So it's a great opportunity for them to come in and see how a farm works. They're doing everything from tilling, to planting theseeds, doing the weeding, harvesting, pest management. They helped build the garden shed... We work to involve themevery step of the way."

Powers watches Youth Corps members go through a transformation as they work on the farm. He once supervised a crew thatincluded three teen mothers. One of the young women paused while harvesting vegetables to eat a piece of fresh spinach --something she had never tasted before.

"Just introducing them to tasting and trying some of these foods is huge," said Powers.

Powers also likes to tell the story of one Youth Corps member who came to SEEDS through the court system. This particularyoung man hated getting dirty and was very protective of his white baseball cap, which he bleached several times a week.Through his time in the Corps, however, he developed a strong relationship with the farm's employees and he started to havefun.

"It was neat because later in the year a middle school group came out and they all started asking questions and he juststepped in and helped describe things. We hadn't even thought to set it up so that he would be the one to do that, but youcould just tell that his confidence had grown. He had some understanding and ownership of the farm operation, so I think it'sdefinitely a confidence-booster," said Powers. "They get to understand what it takes to grow food, how difficult it is... It's veryreal and transformative for them to have that opportunity."

In addition to the Youth Conservation Corps program, SEEDS operates a Farmer Residency program to provide hands-onagricultural experience to aspiring young farmers. According to Powers, the average age of a Michigan farmer is around 65;the Residency program seeks to lower that age. All of the young men and women in the program studied agriculture incollege or graduate school. To Youth Corps members, they are an example of how farming can be a realistic career option.

Green Spaces Make Good Neighbors

Eugene Oregon's Northwest Youth Corps also focuses on youth engagement and education. Though most of the food fromtheir 1.5 acre Laurel Hill Valley Farm stays within the organization to help support the Corps' school trips andOutDoorHighSchool program, farm operations are the focal point of extensive educational programming for corpsmembersand the community.

"Working on the farm demonstrates the importance of fresh, healthy food. Whether our students choose to follow that lifestyleor not, there's at least a larger conversation about nutrition and health and food preparation that's important," said SteveMoore, Dean of Students at Northwest Youth Corps's OutDoorHighSchool; a school that offers standard academicprogramming, but with an emphasis on applied science and mentoring. "Gardens also create a lot of opportunities for tactile,sensory activities. Gardens are a very rich sensory place, so students who may not like traditional classrooms or learning frombooks might find that they're getting out more often and they're touching, they're feeling, they're seeing."

Moore said the farm is also becoming a popular neighborhood gathering spot as the Corps works to foster a sense ofcommunity pride in the project. In New York City, one of the main purposes of the 52 community gardens owned by New YorkRestoration Project is to provide accessible green spaces for people living in low-income neighborhoods. Some of the NYRPgardens are so small and shaded by trees that they could go unnoticed by someone unfamiliar with the neighborhood, but tothose who live in the community, the gardens serve as safe, welcoming places to enjoy some fresh air and meet with friendsand family.

While individual New Yorkers rent plots to grow food and flowers in many of NYRP's gardens, AmeriCorps members are incharge of basic maintenance chores, like pruning, raking, watering and litter cleanup. AmeriCorps crews have also builtgarden structures like rain collection systems and shelters. The Los Amigos Garden, located in the heart of Spanish Harlem,was recognized by the New York State Council on the Arts for its importance to the local Latino population. Though it wasconstructed in the early 1980s, NYRP staff and AmeriCorps members worked with nearby residents to rebuild the space tobetter suit their needs. The garden reopened in 2010 with a newly constructed casita where people from the neighborhoodcome to play cards, relax, and host traditional meals.

Recently, Green City Force, another Corps based in New York City, opened the first large-scale urban farm on a New YorkCity Housing Authority property. The DC Green Corps in Washington, DC constructed raised planting beds in the northeastquadrant of the city and is operating a farmers' market this summer. A few of the other Corps currently operating farms or

gardens include Los Angeles Conservation Corps; Youth Conservation Corps in Waukegan, IL; and Southwest ConservationCorps, at their Los Valles site in Colorado. Every year, more Corps build farms and gardens and develop agriculturalprograms that expose their youth participants to the discipline of farm work, and also expose the community to the benefits ofgreen spaces and fresh produce.

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