Grants That Help Us Collaborate: A Huge Thank You to the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund!

We are so grateful to have been a recipient of the 2025-2026 grant cycle of the Chancellor’s Community Partnership Fund! This money enabled us, the Edible Schoolyard Project, to partner with the Berkeley Food Institute (BFI) to hire a graduate student to help write a pilot curriculum that helps folks understand their role in the food system, its impact on our climate, and how to enact positive change.  Huge shoutout to Karin Mason (BFI graduate student) and Jezra Thompson (Education Programs Coordinator at BFI) for all the work that went into this partnership!  Our educators are continuing to pilot these lessons with our 7th graders this year in order to refine and publish this lesson series, so stay tuned for an official post of the curriculum! We look forward to the continued partnership with UC Berkeley, and BFI specifically, where so many wonderful internships and collaborations have been born.

Here’s a blurb from our grant application that captures what we hope to accomplish: 

“The Sowing Seeds of Stewardship project will unite ESY and BUSD educators, UC students, and food systems thought leaders at BFI to develop and implement a curriculum that empowers young people and community members to see themselves as integral parts of the food system and become agents of positive change. This curriculum will activate underutilized learning opportunities, including lunchtime, recess, and after-school sessions, as well as community workshops during monthly garden work parties. …By aligning the expertise and goals of ESY, BUSD, and BFI, Sowing Seeds of Stewardship strengthens food education across age groups while laying the groundwork for future partnerships and impact.”

Thank you for your support as we work together to continually strengthen our collective efforts at building a more informed, empowered, intergenerational community of land and resource stewards!