Mollen Foundation-Garfield's Garden on the Corner

The Mollen Foundation, a 501 C(3) non-profit organization since 2008, is dedicated to educating and empowering schools and communities to transform their lives by adopting healthy habits to achieve life-long benefits. The Mollen Foundation offers a comprehensive approach to healthy living through food education, physical activity, leadership and resiliency skills. Our Farm to Table collaboration began in 2012 as a project with a passionate group of high school students, called Newtrition, after a protest in the cafeteria to bring healthy food to their campus. It was at their determination and persistence Mollen Foundation started gardens in schools in 2015. This was a watershed moment for our organization. We quickly realized students who grow and cook their own food, eat more vegetables and try more foods. In 2016, Mollen Foundation launched a Shared Use Initiative, Garfield’s Garden on the Corner, in partnership with Phoenix Elementary School District. This initiative integrates edible education, using the Edible Schoolyard framework, during the academic school day and is expanding as a "healthy hub" for the community after school hours to grow, create and share meals together. Mollen Foundation also collaborates with District Food Service and farmers to procure local, organic seasonal produce and partners with chefs to bring taste education through Harvest of the Month programming district-wide. Our approach is experiential, inquiry-based model and collaboration is at the heart of our program. We welcome all and hope to facilitate learning in such a way that students know their unique contribution and feel empowered to share it with others, developing healthy connects to food, the environment, themselves and the community.