Help Teens Promote Healthy Food Access in NYC

698 Hours

Happy summer from Teens for Food Justice! As we try to stay cool in this August heat wave, we've been reflecting on just a few of the successes of this past year that we'd like to share with you in thanks for your generous support of our program. It has been an inspiring year, with many minds broadened, lessons learned, and fresh crops and healthy food resources shared within a community in need.  

On Saturday, June 13^th, we wrapped up our second year of Teens for Food Justice with a final harvest at the New Beginnings farm, followed by a celebration of the hard work of our volunteer team. After working together for a year, our team of 18 teens collectively dedicated 689 volunteer hours to hydroponic farming, nutrition education and community food justice advocacy in Bedford Stuyvesant. 

Click to see the year in pictures!  

From December to June, the team grew more than 300 pounds of produce for the school community, an average of 50 pounds per month. Congratulations to these top-notch farmers!

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Some of our favorite moments from this past year working with food insecure families in Bed-Stuy are captured in the video below. 

Click below to view a behind-the-scenes look at the lessons and enjoyment our teen-led harvest and wellness events bring to the community. Hear from students, parents and volunteers aobut their experience on the farm! 

February Harvest Celebration Video >>

We Surpassed Our Goals!

Teens for Food Justice is growing! Looking back on our goals for this year in terms of our positive impact on teens and food insecure communities, we are happy to share with you just a few ways in which Teens for Food Justice has met and exceeded our goals.

Farm output:

With the help of our farm manager (a former Teens for Food Justice volunteer), a local, engineering-savvy hydroponics enthusiast and the support of food justice advocates like you, we tripled ur output of fresh produce grown in the classroom farm this year; our goal had been to double it with the new teen-built hydroponic systems. 40 - 80 pounds of leafy greens and other delicious veggies went straight home with Bed-Stuy families all year round. 

We engaged more youth leaders!

Thanks to our first annual food justice summit, we were able to bring together a much larger group of teens, over 70 total, to serve the central Brooklyn community while learning about how to be effective social change activists in the area of food justice and sustainability. 

Thank you once again for your dedication and support of educating youth and communities about healthy food resources, and for sustaining our fight to bring healthy food access to schools and food insecure families throughout NYC.