Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the know : grow : show community…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** the know : grow : show community garden service-learning program helps students acquire knowledge of gardening, improve nutritional health and develop into engaged citizens serving their community. The program is run by the house tuscaloosa, a non-profit literacy center sitting on stillman college's campus, in the middle of the west end community of tuscaloosa, alabama. Students who live in the west end come from households where the median income hovers around $25,000 and 37% percent of them fall at or below the poverty rate. While families struggle to survive, they are rarely able to make nutrition or civic engagement a high priority.multiple organizations and schools within the west end community were involved in planning and are engaged in project implementation. The program engages students during weekly after-school programming, with a new group participating every semester. During the program, students will know about nutritional health and food insecurity, grow food in thecommunity garden, and show what they learn through a capstone project and community distribution of food grown. The goals of the know : grow : show community garden service-learning program are as follows:1. To acquire knowledge of GARDENING2. To improve nutritional health of STUDENTS3. To develop leaders engaged and serving in their COMMUNITY4. To increase practical application of math and reading SKILLS5. To develop effective communication skillsthe goals and intended outcomes will primarily be achieved through development and delivery of a 12-15 week curriculum. Local stakeholders will work together to write the curriculum. Students from west end schools will be transported from their after-school programs once each week to the house tuscaloosa and the stillman foundation community garden to participate in the activities scheduled for that day. While the curriculum is yet to be developed in detail, a broad outline of the curriculum is provided here.knowreading:participating studentsread grade-level appropriate, high-interest fiction and non-fiction books selected by their librarians. Books are all directly related to the aims of the grant.learning:students participate in direct, in-person learning activities as designed by the curriculum-writing team, including (but not limited to) prepared presentations, expert demonstrations, and group discussions.visiting:students visit loaves & fishes, a local client-choice food pantry to learn about existing projects and agencies working to address food insecurity.growplanning:students plan their garden through guided crop design and placement.preparing:students prepare the land for their garden by prepping the soil under theguidance of an expert instructor.planting:students plant each seed and/or seedling according to their garden plan.cultivating:student cultivate their garden through tasks including (but not limited to)weeding, watering, and fertilization activities.harvesting:students work together to harvest each IT, EM grown in their garden.showpreparing:students participate in cooking what they have grown and taste/eat the products of their labor.giving:each cohort of students works collectively to donate all remaining produce from their garden to individuals and families in their community.presenting:each student documents their learning and experiences throughout the program and creates a capstone project in the form of a book. Students will also produce a public service announcement designed to convey their learning about nutritional heath and service learning to their peers and community. The three pillars of the program are explicitly designed to increase critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork and effective communication. Students also learn about and participate in advocacy related to root causes of food insecurity. By embedding practice of these essential skills in the context of gardening, know: grow: show provides real-world opportunities for service-learning.