Youth Gardening Facilitator Guide

Challenge

Community food insecurity and school food quality are daily challenges for newcomer youth. In response to this problem, the International Rescue Committee developed the New Roots "Youth Food Justice" program in partnership with schools, focusing mainly on high school age children, to engage them as leaders in addressing their community food needs. 

Youth Food Justice program staff in four US locations planned to draft and pilot a suite of lesson plans designed to help schools and youth programs in other communities build their own community gardening and food justice programs for newcomer youth. Early drafts of the lesson plans covered a range of topics including garden design, plant care, biodiversity, food systems, and cooking. But the initial set of drafts lacked a lesson on pollination, which is a key aspect of healthy gardening.

Solution

Pollination is a key aspect of healthy gardening, but was not included in the initial set of lesson plans. To fill the gap, I created a lesson plan on garden pollinators for the teams to pilot. It is designed to complement modules on garden care and biodiversity.

View and download the full toolkit from the International Rescue Committee.