Growing Together
“Growing Together – Bay Area” is a 501C3 tax-exempt non-profit 843 East Meadow Avenue Pinole CA 94564 www.growingtogetherprojects.org
Garden/Nutrition Education (focus area - Childhood Obesity Prevention) 5 Elementary Schools – Lake, Dover, Bayview, Downer, Riverside
Founded in 2013, Growing Together is a 501C3 non-profit organization based in Pinole, CA whose primary area of operations is West Contra Costa Unified schools (WCCUSD). Our mission is to give the K-12 students of our communities a direct, personal connection with the living systems that sustain us, and our central strategy is ensuring that they have opportunities to grow, harvest, prepare, and enjoy fresh foods as part of their education. To do this, we cultivate long-term partnerships with school communities and districts, offering the full array of services needed to develop this area of programming - setting up outdoor infrastructure for learning about growing food, teaching hands-on lessons as part of school-day instruction and/or after school enrichments, and engaging school communities in stewarding campus green spaces.
As of the 2024-5 school year, our organization works closely with over 50 schools across 3 East Bay districts (including 32 schools in WCCUSD), providing specialized in-school programs for 10,800 K-12 students. Our 27 program directors include both long-time local leaders and former student-interns, representing over 250 years of collective experience developing and establishing these programs. We have found that success grows from two essential ingredients:
1) a small group of stakeholders embedded in the school community who are inspired by and committed to this program vision; 2) a partner organization - such as Growing Together - whose expertise is in collaborating with schools to develop this specific program area. Both the vision embodied by “community schools”, and the structures they create to support school-community collaborations, have been foundational to our organization’s work since we began.
In WCCUSD, after connecting with interested stakeholders in a school community, we collaborate with them to develop and implement a vision for their garden/nutrition program. In doing so, we employ a set of proven strategies, developed over many years of experience, in setting up the essential elements needed to support continuous program growth: 1) Completing the installation of an edible learning garden, of a scale adequate to support whole-school instruction, and providing all needed tools/supplies/materials; 2) Working closely with the site’s after school program to take ongoing care of the garden, by providing 1-to-1 consultation, training, curriculum, basic introductory lessons given by specialist instructors, and mentoring for after-school staff to lead a weekly garden/nutrition enrichment program for groups of students; 3) Collaborating with school site leaders and district-level partners to design, plan, and pilot during-school instructional programs, interwoven with the master schedule and often aligned to science standards; 4) Supporting long-term growth and sustainability, by initiating youth job training programs at Middle and High schools, while piloting new CTE (Career Technical Education) classes and modules.
Over the past 5 years of partnering with WCCUSD and school communities, Growing Together has made substantial progress towards one of our primary organizational goals - permanently establishing garden/nutrition education programming throughout all West Contra Costa Unified Title 1 schools. In the 2024-5 school year: 1) 90% of Title 1 schools have an edible garden of adequate size and infrastructure for food production and outdoor learning classes, stocked with the needed tools/supplies; 2) 100% of these schools now have groups of students regularly stewarding their garden, with direct support for their staff to lead hands-on lessons, through our partnerships with teacher-stakeholders; 3) 35% of these schools have subject-aligned, during- school garden/nutrition education programs that offer all students weekly/biweekly experiential lessons; 4) Five middle/high schools have paid job training programs and/or career training/entrepreneurship classes, preparing our youth for entry level positions in culinary, fresh food enterprise, or agroecology.
Some of our accomplishments in WCCUSD from 2019-24 include:
• Building school gardens in 17 Title 1 schools (Pinole Middle, Stewart, Chavez, Helms, Dejean, King, Stege, Bayview, Highland, Montalvin, Riverside, Sheldon, Soskin, Vista, Murphy, Downer, Collins - none previously had gardens), and providing major repairs/restorations and establishing new programming at another 7 school gardens. • At eight schools (Washington, Peres, King, Soskin, Lupine Hills, Nystrom, Valley View, Collins), operating whole-school education programs, which offer every student hands- on bi-weekly garden/nutrition classes - a total of 3,100 students in the 2023-4 year. • Leading a professional learning network which has helped 22 WCC Title 1 schools develop garden/nutrition programs (total participation - 1,200 additional students) by providing an array of specialized support services - design/installation, maintenance, supplies/materials, tools, grade-level standards-aligned curriculum, group trainings, and one-to-one mentoring/direct support for program staff.
• Developing job training programs at 5 WCC middle and high schools, which last year provided apprenticeships or paid internships for 125 students, building skills and preparing them for future careers in our field
• Providing administrative services and technical support for an additional five WCC school garden programs, which operate garden/nutrition education for 1,400 students • Starting two 1-acre production farms (at Soskin MS and Vista High) with paid internships and career technical education (CTE) courses - providing fresh ingredients for new scratch-cooked Nutrition Services lunch menus. (see links to videos: Culinary CTE:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/CzrMSeSLzlY/?igshid=MTc4MmM1YmI2Ng== Agriculture CTE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKIn_CWXsIY&t=16s ) Our central strategy – providing hands-on experiential learning classes, integrated with a school’s master schedule and led by an expert specialist – has been proven by an ever-growing body of research to be an extremely effective and cost-efficient way to positively influence children’s long-term eating habits. To cite one example:
Participant Perspectives on the Impact
of a School-Based, Experiential Food Education Program Across Childhood, Adolescence, and Young Adulthood - Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior (jneb.org) Our recent surveys of
San Pablo 5th graders at San Pablo elementary school, from a pilot program of just one cooking and one hands-on gardening class, showed that because of their experience, 88% were more interested in eating fresh fruits & vegetables (45% “much more interested”). An even broader array of research clearly attests to the impact of these program on mental health and socio- emotional learning:
. Our middle and
high school students, who have a much more in-depth level of participation in hands-on, experiential garden/nutrition programs, show that these programs have a dramatic impact. 60 students of grades 6-8 participating in our summer programs had the following responses:
• “
This summer program has made me more interested in healthy eating, healthy living, etc.” – 97% YES (42% A LOT)
• “After being in this summer program, I am more interested in doing these activities (garden, cooking/eating fresh food) in the future, as part of school” - 97% YES (51% A LOT)
• “After being in this summer program, I am more interested in doing these activities (garden, cooking/eating fresh food) in the future, as part of a job/work or a business” – 97% YES (60% A LOT)
• “This program made me feel happier about my school” – 95% YES (60% A LOT)
Students’ teachers also provide compelling testimony about the impact of these programs. A few quotes from teachers who we collaborate with, in leading garden/nutrition classes:
“The students always talked emphatically about the food that they prepared, it may be in glowing terms, or not, never neutral. What I love about that is that they really gave thought to their reaction to- probably- new flavors. This experience expanded their palates”
“It was a holistic learning experience. My students understood the importance and value of the cultivation and harvesting of plants. Each time they were able to enjoy food that they had planted, it was so deeply moving for them”
“The students had the opportunity to interact with each other in an environment different from the classroom; The students learned the benefits of healthy eating.”
”Teamwork was an important asset to make our Murphy Garden come to life. It showed the students that hard work and togetherness to care for something (in this case, seeds) to live to produce food that they can eat, it taught them how healthy foods don’t just come from the store”
“Gardening made them more excited about coming to after school; they learned more about healthier options”
“I was able to integrate themes of socio-emotional learning, nutrition art, math and science with observing the garden grow. Our students asked incredible questions and had very powerful connections. Garden time was a time where they were always engaged and looked forward to.
They were excited to try new vegetables that they themselves grew. These are powerful, lifelong connections in self-care that they can bring back to their families and community”
“They are more aware of how to take care of a garden, also how easy it is to grow a garden; it motivated them to start their own garden at home”
“Students walk away with lifetime resources and knowledge of ways to stay healthy and different ways to feed their families or the community. It teaches responsibility and accountability. It encourages math science and literacy”
“Being in the garden makes students come alive. I think it provides an opportunity to reach them that no classroom can. The garden provides an invaluable teacher—Mother Nature. ”
“It allowed them to not only learn how to grow their own food but also use gardening as a relaxation tool/stress reliever - I feel it benefits my youth in ways that will continue to promote healthy living”The rapid and dramatic growth of garden/nutrition programs across WCCUSD – from three whole-school programs in 2019 to 12 in 2023-4 (with another 23 partial-school programs in a development phase) – is clear evidence of their growing popularity, directly reflecting the multiple ways that are addressing high priority needs and leading to tangible benefits for students. However, developing these highly valued programs requires ongoing direct collaboration – a long-term relationship between an array of school/district stakeholders, and a partner organization which is deeply rooted in the community and has extensive, specialized experience in this field. In many of our WCCUSD partner schools, this relationship began through the Garden Learning Community (GLC), a professional learning community initiated by WCCUSD’s Expanded Learning department and Growing Together in 2021. The GLC is a network of school site leaders – primarily, after school site directors - who are committed to providing garden/nutrition program opportunities for their students and receive an array of support in doing so from Growing Together. Over a three-year period from 2020 to 2023, the number of school sites participating in the cohort increased from 8 to 22, while the number of Title 1 students who take part in after-school hands-on gardening and cooking lessons at least one per week grew over 500% to more than 1,000 students.
Some quotes from participating after school site directors:
“Every bit of help, supplies and support is greatly appreciative. If it wasn't for the help of their team (Growing Together), Grant Garden will not be fully completed. We thank you for that!” “{Garden Learning Community} was able to teach us lessons, get materials and help us get the garden to where it is today…. we thank you”
“The most important thing to me was preparing our line staff to be successful and comfortable teaching gardening to students, and supplying staff with supplies and equipment to pull it off…( Growing Together) do a really great job at providing support to all their partners.”
In addition to working closely with 23 after school directors, Growing Together has initiated program development at over a dozen other schools because of direct requests from principals, community school managers, parent liaisons, school psychologists, principals, and K-5 teachers; at all our partner schools, we involve the full range of stakeholders in step-by-step program development. In addition, we have built close working relationships with various WCCUSD district departments: Expanded Learning/Community Services, Science/Instruction, Food Services, Facilities, and Operations & Maintenance. This year, Growing Together and Food Services are piloting a district-wide model in which CTE students help cafeteria staff prepare scratch cooked menus by harvesting and cooking dishes with farm fresh ingredients as part of the school lunch program; we are also partnering to expand district-wide garden/nutrition education pilot programs, delivering hands-on lessons (promoting fresh foods from gardens, and farm-to-table menus) at multiple schools across the district. Finally, at 8 WCCUSD schools located in neighborhoods with few retail options, Growing Together operates Farms to Communities, a weekly CSA program which purchases farm fresh, culturally desired products from regional farms and provides them for families at highly affordable prices. 98% of over 1,000 participating families expressed that they have substantially increased their consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables, and 84% report cooking from scratch “much more often”.
Our WCCUSD team includes some of the most experienced and accomplished leaders in developing school-based garden/nutrition programs, in our local area. Over a 15-year period from 2003 to 2018, Growing Together’s Co-Director was a leader in the development of Oakland Unified School District’s (OUSD) garden/nutrition education programs, first as the Program Coordinator of a CBO-led initiative (with OUSD and the county health department), and later as OUSD’s Garden/Nutrition Program Coordinator. During this time, he facilitated a dramatic growth in this program area as the number of school-wide garden/nutrition education programs in Title 1 schools rose from 2 to 25, the number of students regularly participating in hands-on lessons rose from 1,100 to 9,500, and the percentage of abandoned gardens dropped from 75% to 0%, while 18 new school gardens were built at schools that previously had no usable facility. In 1998, he co-founded an outdoor education & experiential learning program at his neighborhood school (Roosevelt Middle in East Oakland), as part of a CBO-led community school model which later grew into a highly successful district-wide initiative. Growing Together’s WCCUSD Farm to School Director founded and led an urban agriculture youth leadership development program from 2008-2020, Love Cultivating Schoolyards, which operated 9 school gardens and a high school production farm, while providing entry level employment for over 50 youth ages 14-21. Six of these former interns are now Growing Together program directors, who operate school garden programs serving over 2,000 students.
Background - Bayview Elementary
Bayview Elementary is located in a dense urban neighborhood whose surrounding ½ mile radius has .47 acres of park acreage available per 1,000 residents (the CA recommended minimum is 3 acres per 1,000 residents). The percentage of tree canopy in the census tract is
9.75%, and asthma rates in the surrounding neighborhood are in the 97th percentile. The EnviroScreen percentile (a State-developed tool for measuring inequities across a range of environmental factors) of the census tract where the campus is located is 76 out of 100. During lunch, recess, after-school, and most PE classes, students use areas that are entirely asphalt.
Of 376 students, 92% qualified for free/reduced meals by federal poverty guidelines, and 41% are English learners. 38% of 5
th graders were in Healthy Fitness Zone for aerobic capacity (with 44% needing improvement and 18% at “health risk”), 57% for body composition (with 25% at “health risk”).
For the past three years, Growing Together has collaborated with the lead stakeholders at Bayview to help them develop and enact their vision for a garden-based education program, providing an array of support and technical assistance related to developing the three interwoven, foundational components which are essential for long-term growth - infrastructure, stewardship, and instruction. In 2022, Growing Together partnered with the after-school director and staff to set up a small area (1,000 sq ft) of the school as outdoor learning areas, with a group of raised bed planters, wooden bench seating, and the basic equipment for students to grow and take care of plants. On a regular basis, over 70 students regularly take part in outdoor learning and stewardship activities in these areas, led by a Growing Together Program Specialist along with school staff. This Spring, the Specialist outreached to K-5 teachers with help from the Beacon Director and began to pilot cooking/nutrition lessons during-school in 4th & 5th grade classrooms, involving an additional 120 students. With support from the principal and WCCUSD facilities, Growing Together was able to secure funding for a major expansion of the school garden (from 1,000 to 7,500 square feet), which will enable all the school’s classes to regularly take part in these hands-on experiential garden & cooking classes by May 2024.
Working closely with the school stakeholders and having a popular, successful program has led to growing teacher interest, and a high level of administrator (principal) & Beacon Director support for developing and expanding this program area to reach more students. The school has expressed that the garden/nutrition program area is in alignment with goals articulated in their school site plan, including student health/wellness, engagement of in-need students, engagement of English learners, and STEM proficiency. In addition, WCCUSD’s Extended Learning department has been a consistent supporter of providing garden/nutrition education as a regular offering for all its Title 1 partner sites, including Bayview. Based on the vision and needs expressed by the main stakeholders of the school community, our goal in the coming 2024-5 school year is to build on the after-school enrichments and during-school pilot program by fully integrating garden/nutrition education into the school's basic structures for educational programming and community involvement - during-school instruction, teacher professional development, and parent outreach.
A Growing Together Program Specialist with five years’ local experience leading experiential education programs, and who has been developing and operating the garden/nutrition education program at Bayview since last school year, will carry out all aspects of the workplan to ensure we achieve all deliverables and outcomes, and will collaborate with the Growing Together Co-Director, school staff, and the City of San Pablo to carry out a complete evaluation.
Workplan - Bayview Elementary
If Growing Together is awarded funding, our Program Specialist and Co-Director will meet with the principal and Beacon Director to plan outreach to teachers and other stakeholders, create a master program schedule, plan professional development sessions, and arrange the use of space that will be used for programming. In August, when teachers return from break, the Program Specialist will take part in before-school teacher planning sessions, and make a presentation at the main staff gathering, to introduce the program and facilitate their sign-ups in the master schedule. In addition, The Specialist will prepare the garden area for full programming (expanding planting and seating space, as necessary), and procure all the supplies, tools, and materials which will be needed for teaching and garden stewardship.
Throughout the Fall semester, the Specialist will teach a series of 8 hands-on garden/nutrition lessons of 60-75 minutes each through a bi-weekly (A-week, B-week) class schedule, using a standards-aligned curriculum specially designed for giving a basic introduction to students and teachers of all grade levels who are new to this program area. In addition, once per week, the Specialist will work with the after-school program director and staff to provide a hands-on activity - in garden stewardship or cooking - for three student groups, for 60-75 minutes each.
During-school teachers and after school staff will be active participants in the delivery of lessons, and the Specialist will develop a collaborative relationship with the goal of encouraging teacher leadership and ownership in this program area. Once per semester, the Specialist will lead professional development workshops for during-school K-5 teachers, with the goal of facilitating their use of the garden for teaching outdoors, at times outside of the program. These hands-on group training sessions will include demonstrations of lessons in our teacher-friendly curriculum, outdoor classroom management strategies, alignment with standards and other curriculum such as FOSS, and other tools designed to support ongoing use of the garden for various subject areas. This strategy will lead to increased teacher buy-in and increased time for students doing program-related activities, while supporting long-term program sustainability. At the conclusion of the 16-week semester period, the Specialist will carry out the surveys and gather the other information needed to evaluate the program’s achievement of its intended measurable outcomes.
To summarize the expected deliverables: During the 2024-5 school year, through the funding proposed, we intend to achieve the following, by developing and operating garden/education programs at Bayview Elementary:
1. Leading a set of sixteen introductory during-school hands-on garden/nutrition classes with each of the school’s 15 K-5 classrooms, a total of 375 unduplicated student participants
2. Leading weekly after-school hands-on stewardship activities (planting, harvesting, cooking, etc.), for a total of 80 unduplicated student participants
3. Leading 2 total professional development workshops for during-school teachers and after-school staff, supplemented by technical assistance and one-to-one mentoring - a total of 15 adult participants.
The Growing Program Specialist and Co-Director will measure the effectiveness of our efforts in achieving the following desired outcomes, through a combination of student and teacher surveys, carried out in Spring 2025:
75% of students will show a significantly increased interest in growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis
95% of teachers will express a high level of support for continuing to integrate hands-on garden/nutrition education into their instructional goals and practices.
Finally, we expect that school administration and other key stakeholders will provide the foundational support needed for the program to take place on an ongoing basis.
From our experience, achieving the measurable outcomes outlined in this proposal will result in successfully completing a critical stage in the school’s program development can basic, emerging program which has a high level of interest but a limited capacity to serve students school-wide, to a fully established program in which all students take part in hands-on garden education lessons, as part of their instructional program, supported by the school’s array of stakeholders and the school’s administration.
Background – Downer Elementary
Downer Elementary is located in a dense urban neighborhood of central San Pablo, whose surrounding ½ mile radius has .56 acres of park acreage available per 1,000 residents (the CA recommended minimum is 3 acres per 1,000 residents). The percentage of tree canopy in the census tract is 5.4%, and asthma rates in the surrounding neighborhood are in the 94th percentile. The EnviroScreen percentile of the census tract where the campus is located is 85.
Of 462 students, 80% qualified for free/reduced meals by federal poverty guidelines, and 63 % are English learners. 26% of 5
th graders were in Healthy Fitness Zone for aerobic capacity (with 28% at “health risk”), 56% for body composition (with 24% at “health risk”). The only green space on campus is a large playing field, which is only used by students during organized sports activities. During lunch, recess, after-school, and most PE classes, students use areas that are entirely asphalt.
For 3 years, Growing Together has collaborated with the lead stakeholders at Downer to help them develop and enact their vision for a garden-based education program, providing an array of support and technical assistance related to developing the three interwoven, foundational components which are essential for long-term growth - infrastructure, stewardship, and instruction. In 2022, Growing Together partnered with the K teacher to carry out improvements to the school’s small outdoor learning area, restoring broken raised bed planters, adding wooden bench seating, and providing the basic equipment for students to grow and take care of plants. In Spring of 2024, Growing Together partnered with the after-school director to begin weekly after-school garden/nutrition enrichment classes, where over 50 students grow, prepare, and enjoy fresh foods. This Spring, with help from the Beacon Director and the principal, the Specialist outreached to K-5 teachers and has begun to pilot cooking/nutrition lessons during- school in all K-5 classrooms, involving 450 students. With support from the principal and WCCUSD facilities, Growing Together was able to secure funding for a major expansion of the school garden (from 500 to 3,000 square feet), which will enable all the school’s classes to regularly take part in these hands-on experiential garden & cooking classes.
Working closely with the school stakeholders and having a popular, successful program has led to growing teacher interest, and a high level of administrator (principal) & Beacon Director support for developing and expanding this program area to reach more students. The school has expressed that the garden/nutrition program area is in alignment with goals articulated in their school site plan, including student health/wellness and STEM learning support. In addition, WCCUSD’s Extended Learning department has been a consistent supporter of providing garden/nutrition education as a regular offering for all its Title 1 partner sites, including Downer.
Based on the vision and needs expressed by the main stakeholders of the school community, our goal in the coming 2024-5 school year is to build on the after-school enrichments and during-school pilot program by fully integrating garden/nutrition education into the school's basic structures for educational programming and community involvement - during-school instruction, teacher professional development, and parent outreach.
A Growing Together Program Specialist with four years’ local experience leading experiential education programs, and who has been developing and operating the garden/nutrition education program at Downer this school year, will carry out all aspects of the workplan to ensure we achieve all deliverables and outcomes, and will collaborate with the Growing Together Co-Director, school staff, and the City of San Pablo to carry out a complete evaluation.
Work Plan - Downer Elementary
If awarded funding, our Program Specialist and Co-Director will meet with the principal and Beacon Director to plan outreach to teachers and other stakeholders, create a master program schedule, plan professional development sessions, and arrange the use of space that will be used for programming. In August, when teachers return from break, the Program Specialist will take part in before-school teacher planning sessions, and make a presentation at the main staff gathering, to introduce the program and facilitate their sign-ups in the master schedule. In addition, The Specialist will prepare the garden area for full programming, and procure all the supplies, tools, and materials which will be needed for teaching and garden stewardship.
Throughout the Fall semester, the Specialist will teach a series of 8 hands-on garden/nutrition lessons of 60-75 minutes each through a bi-weekly (A-week, B-week) class schedule, using a standards-aligned curriculum specially designed for giving a basic introduction to students and teachers of all grade levels who are new to this program area. In addition, once per week, the Specialist will work with the after-school program director and staff to provide a hands-on activity - in garden stewardship or cooking - for three student groups, for 60-75 minutes each.
During-school teachers and after school staff will be active participants in the delivery of lessons, and the Specialist will develop a collaborative relationship with the goal of encouraging teacher leadership and ownership in this program area. Once per semester, the Specialist will lead professional development workshops for during-school K-5 teachers, with the goal of facilitating their use of the garden for teaching outdoors, at times outside of the program. These hands-on group training sessions will include demonstrations of lessons in our teacher-friendly curriculum, outdoor classroom management strategies, alignment with standards and other curriculum such as FOSS, and other tools designed to support ongoing use of the garden for various subject areas. This strategy will lead to increased teacher buy-in and increased time for students doing program-related activities, while supporting long-term program sustainability. At the conclusion of the 16-week semester period, the Specialist will carry out the surveys and gather the other information needed to evaluate the program’s achievement of its intended measurable outcomes.
To summarize the expected deliverables: During the 2024-5 school year, through the funding proposed, we intend to achieve the following, by developing and operating garden/education programs at Downer Elementary:
1) Leading a set of sixteen introductory during-school hands-on garden/nutrition classes with each of the school’s 18 K-5 classrooms, a total of 375 unduplicated student participants
2) Leading weekly after-school hands-on stewardship activities (planting, harvesting, cooking, etc.), for a total of 60 unduplicated student participants 3) Leading 2 total professional development workshops for during-school teachers and after-school staff, supplemented by technical assistance and one-to-one mentoring - a total of 15 adult participants.
The Growing Program Specialist and Co-Director will measure the effectiveness of our efforts in achieving the following desired outcomes, through a combination of student and teacher surveys, carried out in Spring 2025:
75% of students will show a significantly increased interest in growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis 95% of teachers will express a high level of support for continuing to integrate hands-on garden/nutrition education into their instructional goals and practices.
Finally, we expect that school administration and other key stakeholders will provide the foundational support needed for the program to take place on an ongoing basis.
From our experience, achieving the measurable outcomes outlined in this proposal will result in successfully completing a critical stage in the school’s program development can basic, emerging program which has a high level of interest but a limited capacity to serve students school-wide, to a fully established program in which all students take part in hands-on garden education lessons, as part of their instructional program, supported by the school’s array of stakeholders and the school’s administration.
Background – Lake Elementary
Lake Elementary is located in a dense urban neighborhood whose surrounding ½ mile radius has 0 acres of park acreage available per 1,000 residents (the CA recommended minimum is 3 acres per 1,000 residents). The campus is across the street from various industrial yards, less than a mile from a freeway and a municipal dump, and two miles from the Chevron refinery. The percentage of tree canopy in the census tract is 8.6%, and asthma rates in the surrounding neighborhood are in the 96th percentile. The Enviroscreen percentile of the campus and its surrounding area is 88%. Of 396 students, 90% qualify for free/reduced lunches, and 58% are English learners. 30% of 5
th graders were in Healthy Fitness Zone for aerobic capacity (with 45% at “needs improvement and 25% at “health risk”), and 57% for body composition (with 33% at “health risk”).
For 3 years, Growing Together has collaborated with the lead stakeholders at Lake to help them develop and enact their vision for a garden-based education program, providing an array of support and technical assistance related to developing the three interwoven, foundational components which are essential for long-term growth - infrastructure, stewardship, and instruction. The Lake after school director joined the Garden Learning Community in 2021, and Growing Together specialists revitalized their garden and provided curriculum, trainings, and all needed supplies and materials. Beginning in Spring of 2023, Growing Together partnered with the after-school director to begin weekly after-school garden/nutrition enrichment classes, where over 50 students grow, prepare, and enjoy fresh foods, This Spring, with help from the principal, the Specialist outreached to K-5 teachers and has piloted introductory cooking lessons during- school in all K-5 classrooms, involving 390 students. With support from the principal and WCCUSD facilities, Growing Together was able to secure funding for a major expansion of the school garden (from 500 to 10,000 square feet), which will enable all the school’s classes to regularly take part in these hands-on experiential garden & cooking classes.
Working closely with the school stakeholders and having a popular, successful program has led to growing teacher interest, and a high level of administrator (principal) support for developing and expanding this program area to reach more students. The school has expressed that the garden/nutrition program area is in alignment with goals articulated in their school site plan. In addition, WCCUSD’s Extended Learning department has been a consistent supporter of providing garden/nutrition education as a regular offering for all its Title 1 partner sites, including Lake. Based on the vision and needs expressed by the main stakeholders of the school community, our goal in the coming 2024-5 school year is to build on the after-school enrichments and during-school pilot program by fully integrating garden/nutrition education into the school's basic structures for educational programming and community involvement - during- school instruction, teacher professional development, and parent outreach.
A Growing Together Program Specialist with eight years’ experience leading experiential education programs, and who has been developing and leading garden/nutrition education program at various schools in WCCUSD over the past 2 years, will carry out all aspects of the workplan to ensure we achieve all deliverables and outcomes, and will collaborate with the Growing Together Co-Director, school staff, and the City of San Pablo to carry out a complete evaluation.
Work Plan – Lake Elementary
If awarded funding, our Program Specialist and Co-Director will meet with the principal and Beacon Director to plan outreach to teachers and other stakeholders, create a master program schedule, plan professional development sessions, and arrange the use of space that will be used for programming. In August, when teachers return from break, the Program Specialist will take part in before-school teacher planning sessions, and make a presentation at the main staff gathering, to introduce the program and facilitate their sign-ups in the master schedule. In addition, The Specialist will prepare the garden area for full programming and procure all the supplies, tools, and materials which will be needed for teaching and garden stewardship.
Throughout the Fall semester, the Specialist will teach a series of 8 hands-on garden/nutrition lessons of 60-75 minutes each through a bi-weekly (A-week, B-week) class schedule, using a standards-aligned curriculum specially designed for giving a basic introduction to students and teachers of all grade levels who are new to this program area. In addition, once per week, the Specialist will work with the after-school program director and staff to provide a hands-on activity - in garden stewardship or cooking - for three student groups, for 60-75 minutes each.
During-school teachers and after school staff will be active participants in the delivery of lessons, and the Specialist will develop a collaborative relationship with the goal of encouraging teacher leadership and ownership in this program area. Once per semester, the Specialist will lead professional development workshops for during-school K-5 teachers, with the goal of facilitating their use of the garden for teaching outdoors, at times outside of the program. This strategy will lead to increased teacher buy-in and increased time for students doing program- related activities, while supporting long-term program sustainability. At the conclusion of the 16- week semester period, the Specialist will carry out the surveys and gather the other information needed to evaluate the program’s achievement of its intended measurable outcomes.
To summarize the expected deliverables: During the 2024-5 school year, through the funding proposed, we intend to achieve the following, by developing and operating garden/education programs at Lake Elementary:
1) Leading a set of sixteen introductory during-school hands-on garden/nutrition classes with each of the school’s 16 K-5 classrooms, a total of 390 unduplicated student participants
2) Leading weekly after-school hands-on stewardship activities (planting, harvesting, cooking, etc.), for a total of 40 unduplicated student participants 3) Leading 2 total professional development workshops for during-school teachers and after-school staff, supplemented by technical assistance and one-to-one mentoring - a total of 15 adult participants.
The Growing Program Specialist and Co-Director will measure the effectiveness of our efforts in achieving the following desired outcomes, through a combination of student and teacher surveys, carried out in Spring 2025:
75% of students will show a significantly increased interest in growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis 95% of teachers will express a high level of support for continuing to integrate hands-on garden/nutrition education into their instructional goals and practices.
Finally, we expect that school administration and other key stakeholders will provide the foundational support needed for the program to take place on an ongoing basis.
From our experience, achieving the measurable outcomes outlined in this proposal will result in successfully completing a critical stage in the school’s program development can basic, emerging program which has a high level of interest but a limited capacity to serve students school-wide, to a fully established program in which all students take part in hands-on garden education lessons, as part of their instructional program, supported by the school’s array of stakeholders and the school’s administration.
Background – Riverside Elementary
Riverside is located 2 blocks from the 80 freeway in a dense urban area. The Enviroscreen percentile of the campus is 51% and that of the adjoining neighborhood is 81% (exposure to diesel particulate matter at 96%). Of 362 students, 70% qualified for free/reduced meals by federal poverty guidelines, and 43% are English learners. 13% of 5 th graders were in Healthy
Fitness Zone for aerobic capacity (with 35% at “health risk”), and 29% for body composition (with 25% at “health risk”).
For the past two years, Growing Together has collaborated with the lead stakeholders at Riverside to help them develop and enact their vision for a garden-based education program, providing an array of support and technical assistance related to developing the three interwoven, foundational components which are essential for long-term growth - infrastructure, stewardship, and instruction. In 2022, Growing Together built garden beds sufficient for multiple classes to use, while installing an outdoor classroom seating area and irrigation system; over the summer, our Specialist led a garden/nutrition education program for 80 students. In the Fall, at the request of the Beacon Director at the time, we connected with a 3rd grade teacher and the principal, both of whom supported us in planning and carrying out a pilot program of introductory during-school cooking & planting lessons for all K-5 classrooms. After a enthusiastic response from teachers we are continuing to build interest while stewarding the garden, by operating a weekly after-school garden enrichment program, where 60 students regularly plant, harvest, and prepare fresh foods. The Beacon Director at Riverside was instrumental in coordinating the integration of garden/nutrition into the after-school program.
Working closely with the school stakeholders and having a popular, successful pilot and after school program has led to growing teacher interest, and a high level of administrator (principal) support for expanding garden/nutrition into a school-wide, year-round program. In addition, WCCUSD’s Extended Learning department has been a consistent supporter of providing garden/nutrition education as a regular offering for all its Title 1 partner sites, including Riverside. Based on the vision and needs expressed by the main stakeholders of the school community, our goal in the coming 2024-5 school year is to build on the after-school enrichments and during-school pilot program by fully integrating garden/nutrition education into the school's basic structures for educational programming and community involvement - during- school instruction, teacher professional development, and parent outreach.
A Growing Together Program Specialist with eight years’ experience leading experiential education programs, and who has been developing and leading garden/nutrition education program at various schools in WCCUSD over the past 2 years, will carry out all aspects of the workplan to ensure we achieve all deliverables and outcomes, and will collaborate with the Growing Together Co-Director, school staff, and the City of San Pablo to carry out a complete evaluation.
Work Plan – Riverside Elementary
If Growing Together is awarded funding, our Program Specialist and Co-Director will meet with the principal and Beacon Director to plan outreach to teachers and other stakeholders, create a master program schedule, plan professional development sessions, and arrange the use of space that will be used for programming. In August, when teachers return from break, the Program Specialist will take part in before-school teacher planning sessions, and make a presentation at the main staff gathering, to introduce the program and facilitate their sign-ups in the master schedule. In addition, The Specialist will prepare the garden area for full programming and procure all the supplies, tools, and materials which will be needed for teaching and garden stewardship. Throughout the Fall semester, the Specialist will teach a series of 8 hands-on garden/nutrition lessons of 60-75 minutes each through a bi-weekly (A- week, B-week) class schedule, using a standards-aligned curriculum specially designed for giving a basic introduction to students and teachers of all grade levels who are new to this program area. In addition, once per week, the Specialist will work with the after-school program director and staff to provide a hands-on activity - in garden stewardship or cooking - for three student groups, for 60-75 minutes each. During-school teachers and after school staff will be active participants in the delivery of lessons, and the Specialist will develop a collaborative relationship with the goal of encouraging teacher leadership and ownership in this program area. Once per semester, the Specialist will lead professional development workshops for during-school K-5 teachers, with the goal of facilitating their use of the garden for teaching outdoors, at times outside of the program. This strategy will lead to increased teacher buy-in and increased time for students doing program-related activities, while supporting long-term program sustainability. At the conclusion of the 16-week semester period, the Specialist will carry out the surveys and gather the other information needed to evaluate the program’s achievement of its intended measurable outcomes.
To summarize the expected deliverables: During the 2024-5 school year, through the funding proposed, we intend to achieve the following, by developing and operating garden/education programs at Riverside Elementary:
1) Leading a set of sixteen introductory during-school hands-on garden/nutrition classes with each of the school’s 15 K-5 classrooms, a total of 390 unduplicated student participants
2) Leading weekly after-school hands-on stewardship activities (planting, harvesting, cooking, etc.), for a total of 50 unduplicated student participants 3) Leading 2 total professional development workshops for during-school teachers and after-school staff, supplemented by technical assistance and one-to-one mentoring - a total of 15 adult participants.
The Growing Program Specialist and Co-Director will measure the effectiveness of our efforts in achieving the following desired outcomes, through a combination of student and teacher surveys, carried out in Spring 2025:
75% of students will show a significantly increased interest in growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis 95% of teachers will express a high level of support for continuing to integrate hands-on garden/nutrition education into their instructional goals and practices.
Finally, we expect that school administration and other key stakeholders will provide the foundational support needed for the program to take place on an ongoing basis.
From our experience, achieving the measurable outcomes outlined in this proposal will result in successfully completing a critical stage in the school’s program development can basic, emerging program which has a high level of interest but a limited capacity to serve students school-wide, to a fully established program in which all students take part in hands-on garden education lessons, as part of their instructional program, supported by the school’s array of stakeholders and the school’s administration.
Background – Dover Elementary
Dover Elementary is located in a dense urban neighborhood of central San Pablo, where 90% of residents live in areas with less than 3 acres of parkland (the CA recommended minimum is 3 acres per 1,000 residents). The EnviroScreen percentile of the census tract where the campus is located is 81, and asthma rates in the surrounding neighborhood are in the 93th percentile. Of 561 students, 58% qualified for free/reduced meals by federal poverty guidelines, and 63% are English learners. 54% of 5
th graders were in Healthy Fitness Zone for aerobic capacity (with 33% at “needs improvement” and 13% at “health risk”), and 46% for body composition (with 32% at “health risk”).
For the past three years, Growing Together has collaborated with the lead stakeholders at Dover to help them develop and enact their vision for a garden-based education program, providing an array of support and technical assistance related to developing the three interwoven, foundational components which are essential for long-term growth - infrastructure, stewardship, and instruction. The Dover after school director joined the Garden Learning Community in 2021, and Growing Together specialists revitalized their garden and provided curriculum, training, and all needed supplies and materials. With support from the principal, Growing Together was able to secure funding for a major expansion of the school garden (from 1,000 to 3,000 square feet), which enabled all the school’s classes to regularly take part in these hands-on experiential garden & cooking classes. Beginning in Fall of 2022, Growing Together partnered with the after-school director to begin weekly after-school garden/nutrition enrichment classes, where over 90 students grow, prepare, and enjoy fresh foods, This Fall, with help from the principal, the Specialist outreached to K-5 teachers and has piloted introductory cooking and gardening lessons during-school in all K-5 classrooms, involving 561 students.
Working closely with the school stakeholders and having a popular, successful program has led to growing teacher interest, and a high level of administrator (principal) & Beacon Director support for developing and expanding this program area to reach more students. The school has expressed that the garden/nutrition program area is in alignment with goals articulated in their school site plan, including student health/wellness, engagement of in-need students, engagement of English learners, and STEM proficiency. In addition, WCCUSD’s Extended Learning department has been a consistent supporter of providing garden/nutrition education as a regular offering for all its Title 1 partner sites, including Bayview. Based on the vision and needs expressed by the main stakeholders of the school community, our goal in the coming 2024-5 school year is to build on the after-school enrichments and during-school pilot program by fully integrating garden/nutrition education into the school's basic structures for educational programming and community involvement - during-school instruction, teacher professional development, and parent outreach.
An experienced Program Specialist from Growing Together will carry out all aspects of the workplan to ensure we achieve all deliverables and outcomes, and will collaborate with the Growing Together Co-Director, school staff, and the City of San Pablo to carry out a complete evaluation.
Workplan – Dover Elementary
If awarded funding, our Program Specialist and Co-Director will meet with the principal and Beacon Director to plan outreach to teachers and other stakeholders, create a master program schedule, plan professional development sessions, and arrange the use of space that will be used for programming. In August, when teachers return from break, the Program Specialist will take part in before-school teacher planning sessions, and make a presentation at the main staff gathering, to introduce the program and facilitate their sign-ups in the master schedule. In addition, The Specialist will prepare the garden area for full programming, and procure all the supplies, tools, and materials which will be needed for teaching and garden stewardship.
Throughout the Fall semester, the Specialist will teach a series of 8 hands-on garden/nutrition lessons of 60-75 minutes each through a bi-weekly (A-week, B-week) class schedule, using a standards-aligned curriculum specially designed for giving a basic introduction to students and teachers of all grade levels who are new to this program area. In addition, once per week, the Specialist will work with the after-school program director and staff to provide a hands-on activity - in garden stewardship or cooking - for three student groups, for 60-75 minutes each.
During-school teachers and after school staff will be active participants in the delivery of lessons, and the Specialist will develop a collaborative relationship with the goal of encouraging teacher leadership and ownership in this program area. Once per semester, the Specialist will lead professional development workshops for during-school K-5 teachers, with the goal of facilitating their use of the garden for teaching outdoors, at times outside of the program. This strategy will lead to increased teacher buy-in and increased time for students doing program- related activities, while supporting long-term program sustainability. At the conclusion of the 16- week semester period, the Specialist will carry out the surveys and gather the other information needed to evaluate the program’s achievement of its intended measurable outcomes.
To summarize the expected deliverables: During the 2024-5 school year, through the funding proposed, we intend to achieve the following, by developing and operating garden/education programs at Dover Elementary:
1) Leading a set of sixteen introductory during-school hands-on garden/nutrition classes with each of the school’s 22 K-5 classrooms, a total of 561 unduplicated student participants
2) Leading weekly after-school hands-on stewardship activities (planting, harvesting, cooking, etc.), for a total of 90 unduplicated student participants 3) Leading 2 total professional development workshops for during-school teachers and after-school staff, supplemented by technical assistance and one-to-one mentoring - a total of 15 adult participants.
The Growing Program Specialist and Co-Director will measure the effectiveness of our efforts in achieving the following desired outcomes, through a combination of student and teacher surveys, carried out in Spring 2025:
75% of students will show a significantly increased interest in growing, harvesting, preparing, and consuming fresh fruits and vegetables on a regular basis 95% of teachers will express a high level of support for continuing to integrate hands-on garden/nutrition education into their instructional goals and practices.
Finally, we expect that school administration and other key stakeholders will continue to provide the foundational support needed for the program to take place on an ongoing basis.
Fiscal/Program Management Capacity & Local Hiring Statement Grey Kolevzon, Growing Together’s co-director and treasurer with 24 years’ experience in non- profit management, will be responsible for grant administration and accounting. He will meet regularly with project staff to ensure all deliverables are met and to provide ongoing support in planning strategy, measuring progress towards objectives, and reporting on outcomes. He will also work closely with Growing Together's financial administrator to record project expenditures using our financial management software, which tracks all income and expenses to budget, by project; WCC garden/nutrition education projects have their own separate budget category within the organization, to ensure financial integrity and facilitate accurate financial reporting.
Growing Together has an impeccable track record in meeting or exceeding measurable outcomes at or under budget, for a wide range of grants and contracts – we currently manage four State grants (working with four different State of CA agencies), 27 fee based service contracts with schools/districts/non-profits/PTA’s, five private foundation grants, and a current (2023-4) City of San Pablo Obesity Prevention Grant.
For any staffing needs, we will do targeted outreach to San Pablo residents through announcements distributed to the San Pablo EDC, as well as through schools’ parent and community outreach systems.
All of us at Growing Together are deeply grateful to the City of San Pablo for considering our proposal to provide these services, for which we are uniquely positioned due to our extensive experience in this specific program area, and our extensive relationships across WCCUSD.