It's official!
WE'RE SETTING UP TO LINK
BLACK FARMERS
&
BLACK YOUTH
Read all about the project and stay in the loop!
About the Project
Overall Goal
This 2-year project (extended to a 3rd year) has set up and expanded a Mid-Atlantic regional partnership to link Black farmers with Black homeschooling youth and their families through on-farm education related to agriculture, food, and nutrition. A secondary goal has been to develop, pilot, and disseminate the Africulture curriculum, a culturally centered stand-alone K-12 agricultural education curriculum which is being made available for use by farmers, parents, and educators seeking to provide culturally centered agricultural education to supplement and enrich in-class, home-school, or farm-based instructional opportunities. After the grant period is over, we hope the project can continue to grow and welcome more Black farm hosts and more Black youth (not limited to homeschoolers), and continue to strengthen the link between Black youth and Black farmers through the Africulture curriculum and on-farm educational experiences.
Project Timeline
YEAR 1
curriculum & planning
Working with Michael Carter Jr. of Africulture & Carter Farms, the first year of the project was focused on developing the Africulture curriculum. We also hosted listening sessions with homeschooling parents/teachers & surveyed our pilot farm host sites to help design on-farm educational experiences that meet everyone's needs.
YEAR 2
on-farm education + building the network
Working with our farm partners in Maryland and Virginia, we have hosted several on-farm education sessions and related initiatives where we engaged more than 100 Black homeschooling youth (and several of their families). Portions of the Africulture curriculum were piloted. In addition, we tripled the size of our network of small-scale farmers, youth, and families who are committed to linking Black youth with Black farmers.
YEAR 3
curriculum launch & outreach
Version 1 of the Africultural Connections curriculum is ready for use and feedback! We will be launching it in 3 parts, over several months (Part 1: 11/27/23; Part 2: 1/29/24; Part 3: 3/25/24). We hope that farmers, educators, parents, and everyone who plays a role in guiding Black youth will make use of the curriculum and share their feedback so we can continue to build on it. Don't forget to join the curriculum club to connect with others who are cooperatively educating squads of land stewards and Earth healers.
Project Partners
Curriculum Development
Africulture
Africulture is a nonprofit that espouses the myriad principles, practices, plants and people of African descent that have contributed to agriculture from antiquity to the present day. It contains several specialized foundational components that strengthens awareness about numerous aspects of the African and African American experience in agriculture. Currently, Africulture serves as the organizing and administrative organization for a sister relationship between Fredericksburg, Virginia and Princes Town, Ghana, West Africa, and offers workshops, seminars, lectures and strategy sessions on numerous topics.
Farm Host
Carter Farms
a century farm in the Piedmont region of Virginia that specializes in growing ethnic, African tropical vegetables organically. Michael Carter Jr.’s operation is an ethnic vegetable afrotourism teaching farm that shares its Africulture interdisciplinary platform.
Farm Host
WoodBox Farm
a Virginia farm that grows a variety of vegetables including ethnic crops. Stewarded by farmer & veteran Marcus Roberson, WoodBox Farm is also connected to a growing number of socially disadvantaged farmers through the Good Earth Therapy Farm Fresh Directory.
Farm Host
Nisani Farm
a family farm in Phenix, Virginia specializing in turmeric and ginger production. Farmer and environmental scientist Ann Codrington grows a variety of produce & flowers using organic methods. Nisani Farm uses natural pest control and fertilizers to replenish the soil, encourage biodiversity, and preserve the land for future generations.
Farm Host
BLISS Meadows
a 10 acre land-reclamation project of Backyard Basecamp in Northeast Baltimore at the intersection of environmental and food justice. Founded by pediatric nurse and urban naturalist, Atiya Wells, BLISS features goats, chickens, fresh produce, a medicinal herb garden, and more.
Project Update: December 2023
Related Initiatives
This project has been a springboard for other related initiatives that have allowed us to expand our reach, pilot various ideas with support from private foundations and parent/caregiver investment, and grow our Teach22 program offerings for youth and families. Teach22 is now a family of programs that includes Camp EarthPact, Camp EarthPact Leadership Lab, Wild-Child to Wild Womanhood, Earth School, and Cultivating Resilience: Black Land Brigade (an alternative spring break for college students). We are excited to share the Maat Earth Garden (MEG) Curriculum -- another culturally centered curriculum that grew out of Camp EarthPact, which was first piloted in summer of 2022.
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(For Black homeschooling youth, their families, and their teachers.
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