Empowering young people

Youth Development

Garden to Cafeteria
Farmer Fredo harvesting cabbages with students and faculty at Deerfield-Windsor for their school cafeteria.

Our mission is to create meaningful relationships between young people and food in order to transform the school food system. By placing an emphasis on hands-on experiences, community interaction, and the pleasures of the table, Flint River Fresh helps to strengthen the food communities of tomorrow by engaging youth today.

We work closely with schools to teach students where their food comes from, how to prepare it, who grows it, the importance of food choices and the pleasure of sharing with friends and family.

NEW EXPERIENCES

Flint River Fresh believes the lessons offered in a garden or on the farm are life changing experiences for children of all backgrounds. Through the wonders of a garden and farm visits, students experience hands-on lessons in: health, earth and life sciences, math, literacy, social science and community building.

GARDEN TO CAFETERIA

We work with School Nutrition Departments to grow fresh fruits and vegetables in school gardens to supply harvests to the school cafeterias for school-day meals and weekend nutrition support to students. The 20/21 Farm-to-School expanded our partnership with the Dougherty County School System resulting in the expansion from managing school gardens at three schools to fifteen schools. Visit our Farm-to-School Garden to Cafeteria page.

FARM TO PRE-K

Farm to Pre-K initiatives connects very young children with local food and farms. We teach children about the farmers who grow fresh, healthy produce in their area through farm visits and “Meet the Farmer Days” at the schools. We also provide a hands-on learning experience by establishing a school gardens where they can learn to see, touch, smell, and taste fresh produce from seed to the cafeteria.

YOUTH FARM STANDS

We work with local schools to coordinate youth farm stands ran by young people. The youth farm stands offer healthy food to communities, promote nutrition, demonstrate healthy meal preparation in partnership with local chefs and develop community capacity and leadership.

COMMUNITY FARMS

We create unique opportunity to combine education with farming operations. We grow vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers throughout the Good Life City that is distributed to hunger relief organizations, community markets, and restaurants.