The Michelle Obama Treasure Island Job Corps Green Acre

The Michelle Obama
Treasure Island Job Corps
Green Acre

In 2009, Treasure Island Job Corps embarked on an incredible community-wide project to create a farm on center. Today, that one-acre piece of land is an active, production-focused, educational farm that touches every aspect of our center. The farm boasts a greenhouse, chickens, an outdoor kitchen, a state-of-the-art irrigation system, orchards, and solar panels.

• Funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the urban farm project is part of an overall greening initiative at the center.

• The urban farm was built in 2010 by Job Corps trainees from all of our construction trade programs, including Carpentry, Cement Masonry, Facilities Maintenance, Electrical, Plastering and Painting. Students received hands-on training in green construction techniques through the creation and maintenance of the farm structures.

• In its creation phase, the farm mimicked a real, large-scale construction site, allowing trainees to experience inter-trade cooperation and construction schedules, working from scaled design drawings and seeing a project through from initiation to completion.

• Students manage the day-to-day upkeep of the farm as part of their technical and academic training.

• Sustainably-grown fruits, vegetables and flowers from the farm are used in the cafeteria, the basic and advanced culinary programs, and the student-run Fine Dining restaurant.

• To our culinary students, the farm allows us to introduce the concepts of the local food movement and farm-to-table strategies, and gives the trainees a greater exposure to and deeper knowledge of their ingredients. By participating in planting and harvesting, they are learning to speak intelligently about the origins and seasonality of the produce with which they’re cooking.

• The farm is teaching Job Corps students and staff about the health and environmental benefits of eating local, seasonal and sustainably-grown produce

• For our Facility Maintenance trainees, we are deepening their plant-based knowledge and expanding their landscaping repertoire. Care of the farm exposes our trainees to an extensive catalogue of edible and non-edible plants to be incorporated into the urban landscape. Additionally, students receive advanced horticultural training such as plant propagation and greenhouse care.

• Our farm is truly more than just a training site and outdoor classroom; it is a place of learning and growth, a peaceful place to relax during breaks, and a way for us to come together and celebrate sustainable living as a community.