Neighborhood Farm Initiative

Programs - Summer Teen Teams

Green job skills through urban agriculture!

NFI works with several partners to reserve a portion of our growing area for training teens in green job skills in urban agriculture and culinary professions. Summer Teen Team participants:

• Engage in weekly garden science lessons and daily hands-on garden maintenance
• Interact with professionals working in "green collar jobs" such as farmers, beekeepers, nutrition educators, chefs, gardeners, etc.
• Learn harvesting & food handling techniques
• Take field trips to local farmers' markets, farms, and commercial kitchens
• Assist with advertising, marketing, and outreach for local farmers' markets
• Learn how to prepare and eat healthy meals
• Conduct cooking demonstrations at farmers' markets to share their new skills

In 2009, NFI partnered with Rock Creek National Park to share a Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) Teen team. In 2010, we hosted two teams of teens and young adults (14-21 years old) who worked on-site in 2 gardens daily through a partnership with the District Department of the Environment's Green Summer program. The program was made possible through additional partnerships with Rock Creek National Park and DC Department of Parks and Recreation.

By building plant science and cooking lessons into the daily activities of the youth, NFI staff was able to keep teens engaged throughout an incredibly hot and dry summer. We provided Green Summer youth a positive learning experience while addressing the Mayor's Green Summer mission of engaging District youth by providing them with substantive green-collar work.

As part of the program, NFI worked with teen participants and super volunteer Caroline to produce two film shorts:

• Green Means Grow (6 minutes) - The Neighborhood Farm Initiative and members of its Green Summer youth team dig, plant and weed their way through the dog days of summer
• Attack of the Killer Squash (2 minutes) - The Green Summer Youth find out what happens when you neglect your harvest.