Fresh Growth Gardens

The name of our program is Fresh Growth Gardens. We've started by working with three schools in the Bay Area (San Francisco, Oakland, and Vallejo). We started on a vision to stoke children's curiosity for the outdoor world with a focus on at risk communities. Through our efforts we hope to inspire young people to live impactful and healthy lives while positively contributing to our planet and communities. The opportunity we identified is that many of the funds for the state of California that were directed towards outdoor education starting in the late nineties have evaporated. Our mission is to rebuild once thriving garden education spaces while bringing excitement for growing food along with building habitat. With our program geared towards after-school time-slots we make a strong effort for it to be a fun focused learning experience as we feel this is best for the students. We've been developing our curriculum to align with permaculture principles and also feel the outdoor time can be a good opportunity for young people to become present in the moment. To help with this we close each class with 15 minutes for the students to journal. Our teaching practices are rooted in collaboration over authority.