Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** garden to farm: partnership for…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** garden to farm: partnership for agricultural education and curriculum buildingwe live in an everchanging world with a host of challenges that impact our youngest generations more and more. Among these, inequitable distribution of limited resources, systemic racism, a changing global climate, and an aging agricultural workforce threaten our country's food system and our citizen's overall ability to thrive. Our organizations, zenger farm and growing gardens are embarking on collaborative efforts to address these challenges at the local level in east portland's david douglas school district catchment area, where economic disparities are most prevalent in the city. We seek to invest strategically in one of our city's most underresourced areas to provide educational opportunities that promote students of color's understanding of and connection to the local area food system as leaders for the next generation. We endeavour to take an equity and racial justice-centered approach as we offer opportunities for students in the area to learn about food system challenges and solutions, and gain leadership skills to navigate potential food systems career paths as innovators, producers and changemakers. We seek to do this through farm field trips, for-credit high school summer school courses, afterschool engagement opportunities, culturally specific outreach efforts to student unions, and a food system leadership internship opportunity for a select group of high school students from david douglas high school. Our programs will explore agriculture and the food system through hands on learning, exposure to real people and places who are actively engaging in equity centered community food systems workand regnerative agriculturalpractices. To multiply the impact of our work, we plan to share our process, and findings of promising practices with other teen program leaders with in the farm to school movement. Our youth of color, who's families have been marginalized by mainstreamsociety for generations, deserve the opportunity to be prioritized. Our society needs the genius and creativity of all of IT's youthto be supported, centered and provided the opportunity to shine! Our work aims to ensure that students of color in particular are provided pathways specifically in thefood system leadership career paths. We hope our efforts increase the number ofstudents of color, in particular, who feel invited, inspired and empowered as active participants and changemakers in the arenas of agriculture, food production and food justice.