Garden Internship Program Grows Healthy Futures for Teens

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In Grant County, New Mexico (49.9 % Latino) many families have little to no access to healthier foods.

Some families live in food deserts , where they may live as far as ten miles from a supermarket or grocery store.

However, new programs like the Rooted Youth Growing Change may help bring healthy foods into the area with their a new summer internship program.

From Silver City’s Volunteer Center,  the program helps teens have skills in three areas of instruction including hands-on gardening, cooking lessons, and lectures based on themes like food justice, history, or food-as-medicine.

Facilitator of the program, Kristin Lundgren, explained in a recent article that the inspiration in developing the program for teens began when she realized that many teens could learn complex curriculums and were already getting so much out of physically working in the gardens.

The program accepts 6 teen interns, ranging in age from 13 to 17, with hopes to help encourage the teens to become interested in food justice and possibly become entrepreneurs.

Many of the instructors are FoodCorps members, a national organization that is partnered with AmeriCorps and teaches kids about how to grow up healthier through real food education and engagement.

They explained in the recent article, that they hope students will learn more about the food system, it’s weaknesses and strengths, and maybe even use their commercial kitchen to start their own small businesses.

Emilio Botts, explained in the article, that he hopes that many students are will learn to be self-sufficient and how to plant or farm for themselves.

The program is also working with local elementary school gardens and is seeking to work with residents in Silver City to allow students to glean or harvest the fruit trees in the area for the Volunteer Center’s Kids to Eat program.

To learn more about this healthy change, click here, or click here to learn about the importance of having healthier food access in Latino neighborhoods.

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