Our goal is to fight food insecurity in the Bay Area by promoting nutritional literacy in children through the elementary school garden program in Oakland. We work with elementary school students at Hoover Elementary School and help build their garden into an educational, safe place for students and the surrounding community! Over 80% of students enrolled here are on the free and reduced meal service plan and come from a variety of backgrounds. We welcome people from all backgrounds and skill levels to join our team. We work with organizations across campus like the Student Environmental Resource Center, Berkeley Food Institute, and Carbon Crew to engage students in outdoor learning. Over the years we have learned how to use natural building materials like cob and adobe to create strong structures like the chicken coop and the climbing wall. Last April, with guidance from ESW-HQ, we hosted a Build Day to put up this chicken coop made of recycled and natural material (check it out here). We are now seeking motivated, dedicated students to assist with designing and implementing a solar-water pump for a rain garden and pond in the school garden as well as curriculum leads for outdoor learning in 1st-5th grade math and science.
The resilient kids at Hoover Elementary face food insecurity issues and other stresses related to living in this area. That’s why we are working together to get the school garden and community growing into a safe and educational green space. Last year we held ESW-Build Day, bringing 80 community members and kids together on a sunny Saturday to build a chicken coop and drink bike blended smoothies. We’re open to new ideas, no experience necessary and all backgrounds are most welcome!
The application for this project can be found here.
Project Leader in Fall 2018: Serena Patel (serena.patel@berkeley.edu)