What our students are saying……
“I realized how much junk is in the stuff we were eating.”
“I’ve always recycled and composted; before I didn’t really care, but now I take the time to separate the two”
“After the garden program, I was more motivated to start my own garden at my house.”
“The new fruits we tried were actually kinda good. Once you actually try these different vegetables, they are good.”
What our parents are saying……
” I learned to shop the farmers market and that I can buy seasonal, and it’s affordable.”
” We need to educate those in our community so we can have a long and better quality of life.”
” We’re more healthier, what more can I say.”
2011 Results
Urban Sprouts reached a total of 809 students at six schools; supported 10 families to grow food in their own garden plots; and involved an additional 22 school family members in cooking classes and events.
Urban Sprouts partnered with six schools: Aptos Middle School, International Studies Academy, Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School, June Jordan School for Equity, Ida B. Wells Continuation High School and Log Cabin Ranch (part of San Francisco’s juvenile justice system that includes a high school program).
These schools serve San Francisco neighborhoods including the Oceanview, Merced Heights, and Ingleside (OM)I, Visitacion Valley, Portola, Bayview-Hunters Point, Potrero Hill, and Western Addition. Of students reached, 61% were low-income students, 95% were youth of color, and 66% were defined as educationally disadvantaged by the San Francisco Unified School District.
We provided the following activities in 2010-2011:
New and Expanded School Gardens
Urban Sprouts assisted three of our partner schools to significantly expand their school gardens. At June Jordan, Urban Sprouts’s very first school garden, we broke ground on a new one-third acre garden including 14 garden plots, a 30-foot greenhouse, a chicken coop, and a 9-foot community dining table. Aptos Middle School unveiled a new student garden that is accessible for disabled students, enabling us to devote the original garden to school family use. Also, we built a new production garden at Log Cabin Ranch, enabling us to double the number of residents involved.
In class Garden-based Education
Over 809 students participated in Urban Sprouts’s core garden-based education program that takes place during science classes or gardening elective classes. The garden-based classes meet for at least one hour every other week throughout the school year for a total of 20 hours of participation for every student. Each session was led by the Garden Educator and included interactive academic learning and garden work. Every student experienced the full process of planting, growing, harvesting and eating crops from the school garden at least three times during the school year. Read some thank you letters from students!
Classes participated in field trips to nearby educational farms including Pie Ranch and Alemany Farm. Students created action projects to increase school families’ access to fresh and healthy food including: a garden-grown produce give-away cart at June Jordan; and produce tastings to increase participation at the Food Bank pick up site at International Studies Academy. In addition, students at Log Cabin created poetry about the school garden which was selected to air on NPR’s Fresh Greens, a radio program about youth and the environment.
Family Programming
Opportunities for school families included growing food, attending cooking classes, and participating in community events. A total of 10 families from three schools participated in the Farmers-in-Residence program and grew their own food in plots within the school garden. Urban Sprouts provided training, all materials needed, and a modest stipend for each participating family. A total of 22 families attended cooking classes we hosted at school sites, facilitated by chef-educators from the Cooking Matters program, offered in collaboration with the Pacific Coast Farmers Market. We also provided nutrition education outreach tables at community events including the Excelsior Health Fair, Family Resource Day at the Bayview YMCA, and the Mission Community Market.
• Students said their preference for fruits and vegetables had increased; 86% of respondents reported liking new fruits or vegetables that they tried for the first time.
• Students said that their fruit and vegetable consumption increased; 60% of responses indicated that students eat more fruits and vegetables than previously.
• Students said that their physical activity levels increased; 62% of responses indicated that students exercise more than they did before.
We partnered with seven schools: Aptos Middle School, International Studies Academy (ISA), June Jordan School for Equity, Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School, SF Community School, Ida B. Wells Continuation High School, and Log Cabin Ranch. These schools serve San Francisco neighborhoods including the OMI/Excelsior, Sunnydale, Visitacion Valley, Portola, Bayview-Hunters Point, and Western Addition. Of students reached this year, 62% are low-income and 90% are youth of color: 34% Latino; 23% African American; 26 % Asian American; and 6% Pacific Islander. Also, 62% of students we serve are defined as educationally disadvantaged by the San Francisco Unified School District.
In class Garden-based Education
Over 745 students participated in Urban Sprouts’s core garden-based education program that takes place during science and elective classes. Our garden-based classes meet for one hour every other week throughout the school year for a total of 20 hours of participation for every student. Each class is led by a Garden Educator and our curriculum consists of interactive academic learning and garden work. Each student in our classes is able to experience a full garden process by planting, growing, harvesting and cooking and eating crops from the school garden at least three times during the school year. Since our students participate in full circle of garden life, they strengthen their ecoliteracy and environmental responsibility.
In addition, our high school courses at ISA and June Jordan included curriculum on nutrition, food production, distribution and marketing, food policy, and the environmental impact of agriculture, as well as a farm field trip to Pie Ranch in Pescadero, CA.
Garden-based Youth Leadership
This year we continued our leadership opportunities for smaller groups of students to engage more intensively with the garden and to lead related school-wide activities. Students at Ida B. Wells and Aptos who were interested in a more intensive experience in the garden worked with our Garden Educator after school on gardening projects and more one-on-one activities with our instructors. Students at ISA started a composting project and afterwards they presented their findings to their peers.
Summer Sprouts
For the third summer, Urban Sprouts partnered with the Garden for the Environment (GFE) to host a two-week summer program for 26 youth, meeting for four hours each day at the GFE.
Urban Sprouts trained and supervised 7 high school students who served as staff for the 19 middle school-aged participants. The Summer Program included: daily garden work; an intensive curriculum on gardening, recycling/composting, nutrition and sustainable agriculture; daily harvest and preparation of a healthy breakfast and lunch; a field trip to a nearby educational farm; a guest chef from a San Francisco restaurant; a guest instructor educating the students about graywater; and a youth-led event where participants shared their learning with their families and friends and created take-home actions to apply their learning at home (examples included kits for home recycling, composting, and gardening).
• Students said their preference for fruits and vegetables had increased; 69% of respondents reported liking fruits and vegetables more than before.
• Students said that their fruit and vegetable consumption increased; 70% of responses indicated that students eat more fruits and vegetables than previously.
