Flip-chart notes for

Poverty & Hunger in the Context of School Gardens

Djamila Moore, JaredHibard-Swanson & Ian Niktab

Physical

  • Cognitive effects/inability to function
  • Garden shows them how to do things
  • Kids eat more fruits & veggies from garden-> more connection to it when they grow it themselves
  • Dental health/gum health
  • High schoolers will request at home what they try at schools
  • SNAP ED assesses what kids eat at home and what they request at home
  • Majority of assistance recipients experiencing food insecurity. More food sensitivities & diabetes
  • CSA-> pay with food stamps (SNAP)
  • Summer
  • Produce Plus in Lane County for garden surplus
  • Food pantry connected to school garden & grow what people need from pantry
  • Supplies & resources provided to families shown to increase produce availability – investment in learning opportunities
  • Mutual/reciprocal learning between kids & parents
  • Volunteership

Education(through gardens & literacy)

  • For children & adults on resources + fundamental understanding of physiology/biology + generational passing of knowledge
  • Reframing how kids (families) think about food (classroom tasting, family table, etc)
  • Intercommunity/cultural exchange through food
  • “education through the fork” (develop palates)
  • Cooking education
  • Peer traning/influence
  • Connect with SNAP educators
  • *****Increase FOOD LITERACY with kids & their families

Generational/Institutional

  • $$$, water!; effects on Native people, robs tradition, increases food insecurity
  • Oil
  • Stress: anxiety, pressure, right/wrong
  • Food Sovereignty/food security
  • Education
  • Parents, new passions, job opportunities, skills, etc. How to grow food, “path out of poverty,” -> access to knowledge that people in poverty don’t always have access
  • Policy makers; subsidies, laws, regulations, GOVERNMENT, politics, history of land & agriculture, people in power

Economic

  • English language learning as an indicator of economic success. -> Garden offers opportunity for leadership & ELL. Build leadership & confidence, responsibility.
  • Gardening as expenses relief
  • Poverty = chaos, business, lack of transportation which means people are less likely to access programs & resources.
  • Accessing free Summer lunch program & letting them know garden is open for harvesting.
  • More gardens in food deserts
  • Economic policy/nutrition services (equality across schools in in-school meals.
  • Addressing government subsidies

Psychological

  • Privileged kids-helping others/ creating empathy. Understanding the issue
  • Hoarding -> produce giveaway every family can participate. Reduce stigma
  • Will have food/meal at school; even playing field
  • I can do this! I can grow food. *Empowerment.
  • Ownership/responsibility/purpose
  • Consistency + Structure
  • Garden volunteers/mentors as trusted adult
  • Better focus in the garden/settled than indoors
  • Tactile/tangible; BEAUTY

Social

  • Honest & frequend conversation
  • Re-establish social network and conversation on where to access food
  • Churches, community gardens, food banks
  • Re-centralize life/community around food
  • Access to food with no strings attached. Removing social stigma.
  • Early intervention on trying new/healthy foods. “Don’t yuck my yum!”
  • Changing the image of hunger

Root Cause

  • Economic/minimum wage/unemployment/underemployment
  • Technology
  • Fed. Policy/subsidizing
  • Community /social isolation
  • Social stigma
  • Capitalism
  • Land/location
  • Generational poverty
  • Institutionalized issues
  • Education
  • Access

Impacts

  • Chronic disease/illness (physical)
  • Self-esteem/motivation, self-deprecation (Social)
  • Cognitive abilities
  • Academic issues
  • Genuine hunger
  • Unfamiliarity/lack of food education
  • Physical/psychological impacts
  • Hoarding
  • necessity