The New York Botanical Garden

The following description is a summary of our farm to school plan funded by a 2014 USDA Farm to School Program grant: The New York Botanical Garden, in collaboration with Leave It Better, proposes an education and procurement project to benefit 12 public and charter schools in New York City. The project will test a holistic school gardening model that integrates school gardening activities with hands‐on workshops in the New York Botanical Garden’s Ruth Rea Howell Family Garden and Greenmarket. Gardening activities will be complemented by nutrition education, standards‐based curricula, and farmer’s market exercises, as well as professional development for teachers and workshops for parents/administrators. The model will also incorporate a summer program to evaluate the impact of school‐year food education vs. year‐round food education on children’s attitudes toward food. Additionally, the project will pilot test and evaluate a procurement program for three Bronx charter schools. It will identify barriers that prevent schools from using food service providers that source locally grown food and implement proposed solutions to connect participating schools with these providers. Exploratory discussions with stakeholders will also look at ways non‐profits and farmers can collaborate with New York City and its food service provider to increase procurement in public schools. A garden coordinator will work part‐time in the school gardens to provide technical support, and will oversee implementation of the procurement component.