Information, resources and links on facilitating and supporting community and youth local foods programs. Materials range from youth-empowered projects, leader guides for engaging youth and community members with farm-to-school and community gardens, and other community-based local food tools and program examples.
The links below will direct you to resources, tools and programs on each of the specific topics
- Farm to School: Farm to School is a movement that strives to build a youth’s connection to healthy, local food through school gardening, farm field trips, hands-on cooking and nutrition and local sourcing of fresh fruits and vegetables to school cafeterias.
- Farm to Early Childcare Education (ECE): Farm to Early Childhood Education is a movement working to build pre-K children's connection to healthy, local food through similar means as Farm to School in child care settings.
- Farm to Fork Camp: Farm to Fork Camp is a collaborative program between 4-H, FCS, and Agriculture to teach youth (8-18) where their food comes from and how to prepare meals using fresh items from the farm.
- Community Gardens: A community garden is ”any piece of land gardened by a group of people.” (North Carolina Community Garden Partners). Dig into the organizations and programs that support community gardens throughout North Carolina.
North Carolina Cooperative Extension's 4-H Youth Development Program has been linking youth to fruits, vegetables, meat and dairy animals and other agricultural systems for over 100 years.
- NC 4-H Grow for It Program focuses on plant-based education, emphasizing horticulture, agronomy, soil science and entomology
- NC 4-H Youth Livestock Program provides opportunities for youth to learn about livestock animals, including goat, sheep, beef and swine.
- NC 4-H Dairy Program offers learning experiences with Dairy Cattle.
- NC 4-H Poultry Program has numerous opportunities and materials to support youth poultry programs.
- The Food Youth Initiative (FYI) is a project housed at the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), and carried out with many community partners, with the mission of envisioning and supporting the advancement of a just food system where youth envision and support the advancement of a just food system.
- EFNEP (Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program) - The youth component of EFNEP for school aged youth 5-19. Check out the website for program sites and information as well as tips and recipes.
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - Education - The goal of SNAP-Ed is to assist those eligible for food assistance to eat smart and move more."
Primary Contacts: Liz Driscoll 4-H Youth Subject-Matter Specialist Departments of Crop and Soil Sciences, Entomology and Plant Pathology and Horticulture Science NC State University / N.C. Cooperative Extension liz_driscoll@ncsu.edu / 919.513.7346
Remi Ham Assistant Teaching Professor Department of Horticultural Science North Carolina State University / N.C. Cooperative Extension raham@ncsu.edu / 919.515.5373
