We are proud to be selected as a a finalist for the inaugural Brooklyn Community Foundation Spark Prize. Donate to us on Giving Tuesday--November 29--and you donation will be matched. Check out our video at BrooklynGives.org and you can donate to us here. We take checks, too! Just be sure to date them for November 29th and make them payable to United Community Centers.
Thanks to the Brooklyn Community Foundation and congratulations to all of the other finalists!
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The East New York Farms! Project along with the Northeast Youth Food Justice Network attended the annual Just Food Conference held on Sunday, March 13th, at Teachers College, Columbia University. The annual Just Food Conference brings together hundreds of community organizers, urban and rural farmers, CSA members, educators, youth and members of the press for a full day of interactive workshops, panel discussions, and good food, focused on building a more equitable food movement.
The conference started out on a very high note as Brooklyn Youth Fellow and ENYF Alumna Peace Titilawo accepted the Mckinley Hightower-Beyah Award on behalf of the planning committee for the Youth Empowerment Summit (Y.E.S. Summit) and the Northeast Youth Food Justice Network. Each year, this award honors New York City youth who have demonstrated exceptional leadership in their community through their involvement in urban agriculture and food justice work. This year, the award recognized all the youth who worked tirelessly throughout 2015 to host two regional gatherings for youth, by youth involved in the food justice movement in and around NYC. These events convened more than one hundred youth to share their skills, experiences and knowledge with each other. Thank you to Just Food and the Hightower-Beyah family for honoring us with this award at the Just Food Conference.
After the award, Senior Field Organizer, Khaleel Anderson gave a Food Talk on his work on food deserts in Queens and with the Rockaway Youth Task Force. Then, the Northeast Youth Food Justice Network hosted two sessions. The first was a panel discussion led by Peace Titilawo on the importance of the network and youth experiences in planning the summits. Also, a Youth Identity Caucus was held to collaborate with all the youth at the conference on upcoming events that will bring youth together to work towards a fairer and equitable food system. We hope to continue to collaborate more and grow as a powerful network of food justice leaders.
My most memorable moment of the trip was picking plums off the tree because they were delicious and there was only a limited amount that we had access to. My second most memorable moment of the trip was also interacting with youth from different areas but we all shared one thing in common; agriculture. For the next farm trips and program visits, I'm looking forward to more exposure to different non-profit organizations and youth-led activities. This exposure to Bk Farmyards made me focus more on making the world greener and a better place.
Additionally, we got a tour of the farm by a couple of the youths working within BK Farmyard.The most memorable moment of the trip was the interactive game called, “The Biggest Fan.” It allowed for participants to have fun together. Something new I took away from this site visit is the many ideas they had in terms of how they structured their farm which could be useful to East New York Farms!. For the next site/program visits, I am looking forward to more acres of land, more varieties of fruits and vegetables produced, more youth working within the sites, more organized space, and creative art within the sites. All in all, I enjoyed the trip to BK Farmyards.
On May 30, 2015, East New York Farms!/United Community Centers hosted a Northeast Regional Youth Food Summit and had a great experience with other youth from all over the Northeast Region. The other groups that were involved in the summit were Added Value, BK Farmyards, Community Food Advocates of NYC, The Children’s Aid Society in New York, EcoStation NY, the Rockaway Youth Task Force, Bushwick Campus Youth Food Policy Council, youth from the Groundwork of Hudson Valley & Somerville, High Line Teens, Bronx Works, and youth from Brotherhood Sister Sol. The day started with a breakfast, laughs and energizers led by interns from East New York Farms. Youth learned West African, West Indian, Latin, and hip hop dances representing the diverse cultures of East New York.
The summit created a shared learning space for youth organizations involved in the food movement through food, environmental, and social justice work. It allowed them to connect with other youth and build strong solidarity bonds towards building a just, equitable and fair food system for all. The youth participated in youth-led workshops, field trips component to local urban farms in NYC and a cooking competition.
The East New York Farms! Project Youth led a hands-on workshop showing the other youth how to build up their own farms and gardens using a trellis system in our own farm on New Lots Ave. Also, the youth from Groundwork Hudson Valley taught about alternative and creative ways to grow food in a big city using hydroponics, a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions in water without soil. Furthermore, the youth learned about Lunch4Learning’s and EcoStation NY’s fight for universal free school lunch, explored the advocacy process as an extension of food justice, and participated in their selfie campaign and petitions.
Additionally, the afternoon was quite eventful as the youth helped to make a delicious lunch for everyone. After lunch, the youth visited three farms in the afternoon. The hosts were the Bed-stuy Campaign Against Hunger farm, also known as the Saratoga Urban Agro-Ecological Center. The two other farms that the youth visited were ISO Student Farm in Brownsville and EcoStation NY Bushwick campus Farm. Furthermore, the youth returned to a cooking competition between four groups of youth that were judged by other youth on taste, presentation and creativity. The youth ended the day with a “sprout-out”, in which they were able to give shoutouts to anyone and anything they wanted to about the day.
All in all, it was rewarding that the youth all got to learn about how other youth around the Northeast region address food justice in their communities as a part of a larger movement to build a stronger network of youth food leaders dedicated to establishing a just food system for all! Hence, we are looking forward to our follow-up summit on advocacy this summer and our Fall exchange between the groups. Our goal is not to end the network after this summit but to continue to forge relationships and transform this network into a powerful network of Northeast Regional Youth Food leaders making strides in food justice.
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Start Getting Ready for Spring!
Do you need seeds, seedlings, and compost? Do you want to improve your gardening skills and make more connections to the food justice community? Check out our Spring Calendar for workshops, conferences, and events for March through May.
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Thank you to everyone who helped get the word out, this year we had over 100 young people from East New York apply. We'll keep you posted on the process for our interns this year.
This program is great experience, don't take our word for it here are some quotes.
"I learned how to use gardening tools and what to use them for as well as when it is appropriate to use them. I feel like the skills that I learned in this internship can be applied to my life in the future whether I decide to garden or not." - Intern Last Year
"I definitely learned how to harvest, build beds, take care of the garden as well as learned how to generally eat healthy, learn about healthy foods. How these foods can help our community." - Intern Last Year
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