Will connect schools with local farmers and ranchers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Dec. 16, 2014) — The Food Literacy Project at Oxmoor Farm has been awarded a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Farm-to-School Program to better connect school cafeterias and students with local farmers and ranchers. The Louisville-area non-profit organization received a $100,000 support service grant toward a $382,000 project that will reach more than 100,000 Jefferson County Public School students.
The Food Literacy Project will use the funds to unleash the joy and power of discovering real food through activities in their Field-to-Fork Program:
- Experiential education and youth development
- Family engagement
- Professional development, and
- Outreach and community engagement.
As one of 82 projects spanning 42 states and the Virgin Islands receiving support in 2015, the grant will help the Food Literacy Project increase access to and demand for local foods among Jefferson County Public Schools with high free- and reduced-price lunch populations, and share its program model with other school districts across the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Highlights of the project include:
- 12,800 students will explore, plant, cultivate, harvest, cook, eat, and market vegetables through experiential learning programs.
- 4,000 urban community members will engage with a travelling, tactile, edible Truck Farm.
- The Youth Community Agriculture Program (YCAP) will add an academic year track to the 7-week summer program, empowering local teens to become food justice leaders.
- Over 700 teachers will learn to make curriculum connections with school gardens and farm-based education.
- 180 JCPS nutrition services personnel will explore, taste, harvest, and prepare fresh vegetables.
- 2,800 parents and caregivers will explore healthy eating strategies at community events.
- Over 100,000 school children in all of the 144 JCPS schools will be touched via posters and recipe cards developed by students.
Add Comment