Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** for over 30 years, the new haven…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** for over 30 years, the new haven ecology project (common ground) has operated three connected efforts to fulfill its mission: the nation's longest-running environmental public charter high school, an urban farm, and a community environmental education center. In common ground's many years of community-driven agricultural work in our urban environment of new haven, CT, we have seen the strongest results come from multigenerational, collaborative efforts. The three interconnected initiatives in our proposal provide students, teachers, and schools in our city and broader region with opportunities for meaningful engagement and leadership training in agriculture and food waste reduction.common ground's project is designed to increase the capacity for local food and food waste education and advance nutrition education while fostering community among students and local and regional partners. Our goals in this project are to (1) increase the capacity for food, garden, and nutrition education within 15 new haven public schools (nhps) through our schoolyards program; (2) foster career and leadership development in agriculture for high school students through our green jobs corps program; and (3) present food and agriculture service learning modules and data regionally and nationally by disseminating methodology and outcomes through our collaborative program teaching our cities. We will achieve these goals by 1. Reaching 160 teachers and 1600 students each week in nhps through technical assistance, teaching support, school garden implementation and maintenance, and providing field trips to our urban farm; 2. Providing workforce mentorship and up to $40,000 in wages through paid green jobs to 80 common ground high school students at partner organizations, and 3. Convening a cohort of urban schools across the new england territory.