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Veggielution's Urban Grower Network is a response to the need for community-based food and environmental organizations to better coordinate themselves around specific work and projects, to grow our collective impact. The Urban Grower Network initiative offers a unique opportunity for a committed group of grassroots environmental education and urban agriculture agencies, and the community members we serve, to build relational trust and connections. The organization is developing a strategic plan to build a collaborative model for enhancing access to healthy food through urban farms and gardens and developing environmental education programs and facilities throughout Santa Clara County. The Urban Grower Network aims to meet present needs and reimagine our food system to be more equitable, resilient, and sustainable for the future.
Valley Verde's San Jose Food Sovereignty Project supports urban agriculture and environmental education in underserved neighborhoods by providing approximately 120 families per year with intensive support to learn to grow fresh, healthy, culturally relevant produce. In collaboration with residents and schools, the organization creates and maintains vibrant urban gardens, provides a curriculum based on environmentally sustainable gardening methods and nutrition, fosters community building and environmental leadership, and increases access to urban green space. Families participate for an entire year or more, which gives them a foundation in growing their own food for the long-term and, ultimately, building a local food system that supports healthy ecosystems.
The Authority contributed funds towards Guadalupe River Park Conservancy's environmental education program, which supports the use of the Guadalupe River Park as an outdoor lab to help familiarize children with the outdoors, instill a sense of environmental stewardship, and to teach hands‐on, standards‐based science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM) lessons, with a special emphasis on serving students from Title One schools.
