Jefferson county has many food-insecure neighborhoods with nutrient-deficient areas

The Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff $543,155.25 under the 1890 Institution Capacity Building Grants Program (CFDA 10.216) on December 15, 2025, for an intergenerational food insecurity initiative in Jefferson County, Arkansas.

The project addresses food insecurity in nutrient-deficient neighborhoods through an extension and teaching program that empowers youth, young adults, and seniors to grow and prepare their own food using aquaponics and hydroponics. Programming combines mentoring, peer-to-peer teaching, and experiential learning delivered in schools, community centers, local community gardens, and after-school programs. The initiative develops and utilizes 4-H curricula and new curricula to guide participants through growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming nutrient-rich food they have cultivated themselves. The program aims to increase intergenerational community interaction and healthy eating habits while encouraging participants to pursue agriculture-related fields of study.

The period of performance runs from December 15, 2025, to December 14, 2028, with work performed in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

With the closing of 2 grocery stores over the past 3 years, new food pantries have opened up. Food pantries teach dependence, not empowerment. This collaborative community project will empower youth and adults to grow and prepare their own food using innovative soilless growing techniques ( aquaponics and hydroponics). The intergenerational approach of the project will bring together youth, young adults, and senior adults to learn together and from each other. This extension & teaching project will be bring all ages together-teaching innovative food systemsincreasing nutritional awareness (baat-tifsina) by using mentoring, peer-to-peer teaching, and experiential learning activities in schools, community centers, local community gardens, and after-school programs. 4-h curricula will be utilized, and new curricula will also be developed and utilized with this project to guide participants in experiential learning activities, which result in participants growing, harvesting, preparing, and eating nutrient-rich food that they have cultivated themselves. Increased intergenerational community interaction paired with increased healthy eating habits produces a better quality of life, while encouraging participants to complete or enter into AG-related fields of study.