Food and Justice Fellowship

View the project final report

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: demonstration, mentoring, youth education
• Farm Business Management: agricultural finance, community-supported agriculture, grant making
• Sustainable Communities: local and regional food systems, new business opportunities, public policy, urban agriculture

We plan to engage six urban youth, aged 18-26 from North St. Louis County or North St. Louis City, preferentially Black or Indigenous, in a nine-month Fellowship covering: Food Equity and Justice, Growing and STEM, and Business and Entrepreneurship.  The Fellows will meet one weekend day and two weekdays per month.  Field trips (to Jefferson City, farms, and food-related businesses) and guest speakers (including government officials, farmers, and business owners)  will provide the Fellows with networking opportunities, professionalism skills, and career and education guidance.  The Fellows will read and discuss three relevant books by Black experts.

The objectives of this project include:

1. Provide urban youth knowledge and experience of agriculture so they can envision careers in agriculture, food systems, policy, or entrepreneurship.
2. Provide urban youth with direct experience working with soil, bees, vermiculture, specialty crops, and goats, to help them understand healthy food and food systems.
3. Introduce urban youth to Black/Indigenous farmers, government officials, and business owners as examples/teachers and to students at the Washington University School of Environmental Studies as peer mentors.
4. Help youth understand how government decisions and citizen participation affect food systems.
5. Help youth understand how to start and run a food-related business.