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Agenda

Virtual Space Rules and Survey
Mission Statement
Meet Our Team
Black Gold Poem by Soul Fire Farm by Naima Penniman
Food Chat
Food Justice Introduction, Terminology
Food Justice Lesson Overview
5 E’s
Support and Resources
Closing Remarks
Q&A

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Virtual Space Rules and Survey

This workshop/webinar will be recorded and posted on our website.

We ask that you please mute your mic when entering the webinar.
If you feel uncomfortable with your video on, feel free to turn it off.

Please add your questions in our group chat for our Q&A session at the end of our workshop.

We will have a team of moderators to answer questions.

Please fill out our survey at the end of our workshop. LINK found in the group chat.

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Green Village Initiative: Mission

Green Village Initiative (GVI) is an urban agriculture organization in Bridgeport. Our mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport.

We recognize the importance of addressing the systemic inequities that cause poverty and hunger in our city. We are working towards a Bridgeport in which all people can access healthy, culturally relevant, locally grown foods at school, at work, and at home.

Through our School Garden Program, GVI aims to boost teacher confidence and aid their ability to use gardens as an outdoor classroom. We offer skill building opportunities, experiential farm field trips, classroom tools and gardening supplies.

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Meet Our Team

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Sherlene Rodriguez

Program Manager at Green Village Initiative

Supervisor for FoodCorps Service Members

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Misharo

Fraser

School Garden Coordinator at Green Village Initiative

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Yadley

Turnier

2nd year FoodCorps SM at Green Village Initiative

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Vetiveah Harrison

1st year FoodCorps SM at

Green Village Initiative

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Food Justice Poem

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Black Gold

By Naima Penniman, Program Director of Soul Fire Farm

This is the dedication poem Naima Penniman wrote for "FARMING WHILE BLACK: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on Land" by Leah Penniman. This poem tells some U.S. history of our food system and land justice through the voice of the SOIL.

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Food Justice Reflection

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Food Justice

Food Justice is Social Justice! - FoodCorps

Food Justice is so much more than another buzz word - it is a movement.

Food /fo͞od/ noun any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink or that plants absorb in order to maintain life and growth.

Justice /jəstəs/ noun the quality of being fair and reasonable.

Food Justice is having nutritious food being easily accessible to any individual - regardless of their socioeconomic status, race, class, or location.

Our food system is inequitable, which means it is unfair, unjust. Often times it do not exemplify the definition of justice. Our food system, as a whole, has not been fair, equal to all, properly represented, culturally respected, or affordable or accessible to all.

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Food Justice Movement

Access

Nutrition

Food System

(Production & Consumption)

Food Security

Desert

Gardens

Food Waste

Local Food Systems

Policy & Action

Convenience, Process, Refined Foods

Healthy, Whole Foods

Food Labels, Nutritional Facts

Local Farms

Availability

Utilization

Stability

School

Community

Compost

Recovery

Apartheid

Equity

Systemic Racism

Affordability

HUMAN DIGNITY

Fair prices, wages

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Why Should You, Educator in CT, Care?

Connecticut has the second highest income disparity in the nation!

CT is a leader in increasing access to healthy food in schools!

CT is home to one of the first official Food Policy Councils in the country. In 2006, the CT state legislature passed some of the most rigorous school nutrition standards in the country.

Teaching Food Justice in your classroom promotes knowledge towards making healthy eating choices, science lessons on ecology becomes more practical while curiosity fosters about how our food system works, and your students will aspire to explore food access and injustices they see in their communities.

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Social and Emotional Learning

It is helpful for students to feel well nourished in order to focus and concentrate in the classroom. Food impact experience in classroom

Impact: emotional and behavioral regulation

Impact: mood control

Impact: Tardiness and absenteeism (hunger and health impact)

Impact: Food access for kids are mostly through school (3 meals + snacks)

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children who struggles with hunger

Having gardens at school and in communities across the city of Bridgeport can nourish children on a constant basis and balance the food system.�The food justice lesson will inspire students to learn about food insecurity and where their families can access school and community gardens as a place for immediate food access.

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Food needs justice too!

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The Food Justice Learning Series

Food Access

and more concepts within the series, such as:

Food System/Food Justice Terminology
Food Insecurity
Food Apartheids vs Deserts
Food Equity vs Equality
School and Community Gardens
Healthy and Convenience Foods… right choices
How Racism Impacts Food System
Activism, Learning Policies, Writing to Legislators

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Lesson Specifics

Connecting Activity

Creating their own food map to locate grocery stores, food pantries, convenience stores, farmers markets, or community gardens where their families buy food in their neighborhoods and within their city limits.

Goal

Map is to bring students awareness to where food access places are near them. This awareness will also expose where there is a lack to food access places in certain communities, which is an injustice.

Skill

Spatial thinking

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Engage your students...

Engage: Connects your students to what they are learning and helps stay focused

In the Food Access lesson you will introduce a map displaying food access places in Bridgeport. It is important to define what food acces when going through the lesson.

“Food Access is determined by spatial accessibility and affordability to nutritious food resources for the community.

A food access pinpoint is a place where you can access nutritious food such as a local grocery store, convenience store, food pantries, school and community gardens located in your city.”

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Food Needs Justice Too!

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Explore the concepts...

Explore the concepts inspires students curiosity, critical thought, and activates prior knowledge

At this point, display the map of Bridgeport with food access points and display the blank map template.

The blank map is an outline sketch of the city of Bridgeport

Engage students to think critically about what we talked about

What are food access points that they can guess on this map.
Put a pin on the map if you feel there is a grocery, convientent store, farm or garden in that area.
As students are doing the activity, ask them to think about location, geography and where they think about where their school and libraries, paks, and other important places are on the map .

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Explain the activity...

Explain: Teach students a new skill or explain a new concept

Bridgeport Food Access Map

Show students the Bridgeport Food Access map Answer Key Handout and ask them to think critically about these questions

Do some neighborhoods have fewer food access points than others
How many gardens and/or farms are in your community?
Compare and Contrast how many local school gardens are around their neighborhoods
Where can we get fresh foods in our community?
How many access points can you find in each neighborhood?

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Elaborate on key points...

Ask students If they have actionable ideas where they can improve food access in the school community and neighborhood.

What could we do to add more fresh food access in our community?

Consider a project-based unit where you can try to make one of the ideas a reality.

For example, growing food in the school garden and dedicated to sharing with families within the school community.
Writing letters to community leaders. .
Have students brainstorm ideas where they can make a difference in their community to improve food access.

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Evaluate and Reflect

Ask the students to reflect on what they have learned

To Check Understanding

Is it fair for some neighborhoods to have fewer food access points than others?
What are some ideas to increase healthy food access in our neighborhoods?
What could we do to increase food access within our school community?

Social and Emotional Learning

How did it feel to identify all the places you can get food in our community?
How do you feel about growing food in your school garden to increase food accessibility?

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Support and Resources

This lesson plan can be found on our new website GVI School Garden Lesson Plan Toolshed and a copy will be emailed to you after this workshop.

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Let us know if you’d like to be a Garden Champion at your school, need resources

or if you’d like to participate on our School Garden Advisory Committee.

Get in touch with our School Garden Program Crew!

Sherlene Rodriguez, School Garden Program Manager sherlene@gogvi.org

Misharo Fraser, School Garden Coordinator schoolgardencoordinator@gogvi.org

Presenters:

Yadley Turnier, FoodCorps Service Member yadley.turnier@foodcorps.org

Vetiveah Harrison, FoodCorps Service Member vetiveah.harrison@foodcorps.org

Bridgeport, CT 06604

203- 612-4107

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