1 / 31

RHS Urban Ag Program Can Urban Agriculture Promote Health and Community

RHS Urban Ag Program Can Urban Agriculture Promote Health and Community. Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl Urban Tilth, Program Coordinator Center for a Livable Future, Research Associate Johns Hopkins University MPH Student 2010.

ziva
Download Presentation

RHS Urban Ag Program Can Urban Agriculture Promote Health and Community

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. RHS Urban Ag ProgramCan Urban Agriculture Promote Health and Community Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl Urban Tilth, Program Coordinator Center for a Livable Future, Research Associate Johns Hopkins University MPH Student 2010

  2. Richmond High School gang rape: Four men charged in vicious attack on 15-year-old California girl

  3. Urban Agriculture Program Richmond High School Richmond, CA

  4. What is the Problem? Obesity Map

  5. Richmond and West Contra Costa • 23.8% of CC county students are overweight, in Richmond the number is 35.2%, in San Pablo is 36.8% [3] • California’s rate is 28.1% • Why is Richmond and San Pablo so much above our state average? ”Overweight Children in California Counties, 2004" Contra Costa County. 2004. California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Web. 24 Sep 2009. < http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org>

  6. This was student created!

  7. Katherine Collins – UC Berkeley Senior Leadership Team Park Guthrie – Urban Tilth Lorna Mclellan and Jesse Kurtz-Nicholl: Teachers at RHS

  8. The Urban Ag Students…

  9. Urban Ag Students: The numbers • 22 students started • 5 Boys • 17 Girls • 1 African American • 1 Asian student • 20 Latino students • Close to matching % racial demographics of the school

  10. How were students recruited? • 3 Sources: • Senior Service Learning Requirement • Participating Teacher’s Classes and Word of Mouth • Student Club YME (Youth Mentors and Educators)

  11. Before After Before and After2007-2009

  12. What makes this program different from hundreds of others? • AP Scientific Study Review – out of 57 studies funded with over 1 billion government dollars aimed at increasing Fruit and Veg consumption only 4 yielded results, nutritional programs affected student knowledge and attitude level, but had little effect on behavior.★ • Why? • Most school garden programs are educational “museums” focused on education where kids can see what plants are, but don’t grow enough to take more than a taste and definitely not enough to effect their food supply or feel the efficacy to change their community. http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-07-04-fightingfat_N.htm

  13. Program Model • Food Production Focus • Institutionalized • Action and Service Oriented • Working Groups with student autonomy

  14. Nursery and propagation • Used permaculture and organic techniques to garden in multiple sites • Helped put together the weekly CSA • Worked in multiple community gardens. • Worked in the garden from seed to harvest Alejandra, Maria, Jessica, Anna

  15. Community Food Security Group • Surveyed Richmond High Students about eating habits, efficacy, and health behaviors • Students used the RFEI (Retail Food Environment Index) to study the state of Richmond’s local food system • In the future this could be an incubator for work in public health or environmental science Maritza and Lizeth

  16. This was student created!

  17. Documentation Group • This group created bi-weekly youtube videos of the groups accomplishments • Student Video • They also created a power-point presentation for the students to give at the City Council of Richmond. Claudia, Nick, Ilithyia, Karolyn

  18. Student Videos • Student Video #1 • 5:20… • Student Video #2

  19. Marketing group • Created a CSA newsletter that went to every family, with nutrition info, recipes and updates • Acted as a liason between the group and the parents. Often using Spanish to convey recipes and knowledge and collecting fees • In charge of measuring the success of the CSA through family surveys

  20. Community Partnerships: Urban Tilth • Local Non-profit • Suports Urban Ag projects in Richmond • Presently supporting 6 schools in Richmond with after school garden/Ag programs • Richmond High • Lincoln Elementary • Verde Elementary • Kennedy High • Crestmont School • West County Community High School Park Guthrie Doria Robinson

  21. Community Partnerships: Fruit Tree Grafting with Rare Fruit Tree Growers Association

  22. Fruit Tree Grafting • Combined with the Rare Fruit Tree Growers Association • Students grafted 90 fruit trees in one afternoon. • Student grafted trees will be planted in on campus orchards and public parks in Richmond

  23. Harvest Days • Every other Thursday harvested two sites • Controlled Chaos for 2 hours • 10-12 families/ CSA received approximately 10 pounds of fruits and vegetables • Over 70 families signed up, we could only accommodate 10/week

  24. Harvest Days

  25. CSA = Community Supported Agriculture • A Study of CSA participants show that people who become members of a CSA consume significantly more produce – 80% in adults, up to 60% in children.

  26. CSA Accomplishments • Week 1 – 70 Pounds • Week 2 – 82 Pounds • Week 3 – 102 Pounds • Week 4 – 122 Pounds • Week 5 - 104 Pounds • Week 6 - 120 Pounds • Week 7 - 125 Pounds • Summer Yield: 300 pounds • Most went home with students • Total Yield - 1000 Pounds of Fresh Organic Produce for Richmond High Families • 70 Families Participating

  27. Final Project: City Council Presentation • Students final project in the course was a presentation of their work at the Richmond City Council • Authentic Education

  28. Retention Rate • 22 Started…20 finished the class. • Retention rate of 90% • Why? • Institutionalized as a course worth credit • Legitimacy • Naturally engaging • Community Oriented • Project Oriented with lots of Freedom

  29. Future Directions • Second piloted class is slated to begin Feb 2010 • Expansion of Garden to two 8,000 square foot school farms on 2 sites. • Plans for 10,000 lbs of produce grown on each site within 3 years. • Summer and Full Time Interns • Program Evaluation

  30. Sources • 1 - Melissa Gilkey , . "Perspectives on Childhood Obesity Prevention: Recommendations from Public Health Research and Practice ." www.jhsph.edu/clf . Winter 2007. The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future and The Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Web. 17 Sep 2009. • 2 - [11] Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Curtin LR, McDowell MA, Tabak CJ, Flegal KM. Prevalence of overweight and obesity in the United States, 1999-2004. JAMA 2006; 295: 1549-1555. • ”Overweight Children in California Counties, 2004" Contra Costa County. 2004. California Center for Public Health Advocacy, Web. 24 Sep 2009. < http://www.publichealthadvocacy.org>.

More Related