By Emily Bell | Development Team
It’s been a busy year for Youth Development! In fiscal year 2017, the Youth Development department conducted 60 programs, 1/3 of which were offered with some amount of financial aid. We served 1441 youth and anticipate that number to grow in fiscal year 2018.
During Summer Camp 2017, the Youth Development Department offered a Farm-Based Cooking Academy and Creative Arts in Nature program for teens. Over the course of three sessions, teens in the Farm-Based Cooking Academy explored the importance of food sustainability and local food systems by working with Hidden Villa’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. Hidden Villa’s CSA feeds over 120 subscribing families each season and donates 25% of all produce to a local foodbank. During the Academy, teens honed their culinary skills using fresh from the farm ingredients as part of this hands-on, sensory program and witnessed the way CSA impacts the local community. The Creative Arts in Nature program offered teens another opportunity to engage with Hidden Villa’s 1600 acres of protected land in a different way. Teens in this program expressed their creativity through field journaling, drawing, painting, poetry, and photography which led to daily discoveries and inspiration through investigating the natural world.
Also in fiscal year 2017, we offered four sessions of our Animal Husbandry Apprenticeship (AHA) program where teens train with Hidden Villa’s farm crew to learn sustainable and humane techniques for raising chickens, pigs, goats, sheep, and jersey cows. After a comprehensive introduction to our production animals, apprentices team up to master the care of their favorite animals. We are excited to partner with the Boys & Girls Club for the first session of this year and will offer three additional sessions to the public.
This Spring, we look forward to our fourth annual Day on the Farm program in partnership with Help One Child. Help One Child seeks to support those providing homes and services to foster youth in the Bay Area. During the Day on the Farm, foster children and their families can enjoy fun, age-specific activities like ice-cream making, team building on the high ropes course, arts and crafts, hiking and more. They will also be able to interact with our farm animals and enjoy time to play outside in nature.
For the first time, we are seeking outside funding to support this partnership and relieve Help One Child and Hidden Villa of the financial burden from this program. We are excited to have your support in funding this unique opportunity for foster youth from all over the Bay Area!
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