This Month's Feature: Container Gardening Guide
If you have little space, poor soil, or are surrounded by cement and blacktop, you can still have a thriving youth garden project – in containers. And because plants in containers depend, in large part, on the gardener to meet their needs, they can inspire a variety of student-designed growing investigations. In this month's Teachers' Room we've created a comprehensive “short course” to prepare you for exploring this handy and creative horticultural technique with your students. Visit the Teachers' Room

Conferences & Workshops

Playground Fundraising Training ~ August 21 - Atlanta, GA (and 6 other cities later this summer)
KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit that empowers communities to build playgrounds, is hosting free regional trainings called WE Play! in cities nationwide throughout the summer. The next is on August 21 in Atlanta. At WE Play! you’ll get:

Register for any upcoming WE Play! training

Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative ~ Sept 18-21 - Milwaukee, WI
Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI) is a new initiative aimed at dismantling racism and empowering low-income and communities of color through sustainable and local agriculture. This comprehensive network views dismantling racism as a core principal which brings together social change agents from diverse sectors working to bring about new, healthy, and sustainable food systems and supporting and building multicultural leadership in impoverished communities throughout the world. The vision for this initiative is to establish a powerful network of individuals, organizations and community based entities all working toward a food secure and just world. Visit the conference Web site for details.

School Garden Bus Tour ~ September 26, 1-6 p.m.
Santa Cruz, California is home to some of the most well developed garden-based learning programs in the nation. During this tour we will visit Life Lab Science Program's 1-acre demonstration educational garden, and the 25-acre Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, both of which have a rich history in garden-based education. We will also tour 2 very inspiring, long-standing school gardens in Santa Cruz, and learn about how they have developed their programs. Transportation will be provided by chartered bus from our meeting place in Santa Cruz. Cost: $55/person. To learn more, e-mail Alicia Molina or call her at 831-763-0201. Click here to register

The Growing Classroom: Getting Started with Garden-Based Education ~ Oct. 2-3, 9a.m.-3 p.m.
This 2-day workshop, located at the amazing Garden Classroom in Santa Cruz, is ideal for those interested in supplementing their existing science program with garden-based learning. Using The Growing Classroom activity guide for grades 2-6, you’ll experience hands-on activities, learn basic science concepts and gardening techniques, and develop management strategies for a school gardening program. Find out how to teach the standards while you guide students through the natural cycles of the garden. You’ll receive Life Lab’s 480 page book, The Growing Classroom, as well as many other ideas and resources. Cost: $300/person. 2 graduate units of credit available for an additional fee. To learn more or register, visit www.lifelab.org or call Whitney Cohen at 831-459-3833.

Growing Greener School Grounds Conference ~ October 10-11 - San Francisco, CA
The San Francisco Green Schoolyard Alliance will host this workshop-style event bringing together teachers and community members from all over the San Francisco Bay Area to learn more about creating, using, and sustaining ecological schoolyards. You’ll have the opportunity to learn about ecology-related curricula and practice construction and gardening techniques while simultaneously improving the grounds of the schools hosting the workshops. Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods, is the keynote speaker. Learn more here

Community Food Security Coalition Conference ~ October 4-8 - Metropolitan Philadelphia
This year’s conference, with a theme of Restoring our Urban and Rural Communities with Healthy Food, will feature dynamic plenaries on improving access to healthy food in underserved areas and on climate change and the food system. There will also be fifty workshops on topics such as farm to cafeteria; urban agriculture; race, class, and food justice; local food systems, and more. Pre-conference events will include a dozen regional field trips and five short courses. For more information and to register, visit here.

North American Association for Environmental Ed Conference ~ October 14-15 - Wichita, Kansas
Join thousands of peers in environmental education for “EE on the Prairie!” Eight conference strands cover topics from EE in agriculture to environmental justice. For a full conference program and registration information, please visit the NAAEE Web site. Early bird registration deadline: August 15.

Plant It, Grow It, Eat It! An Intro to Garden-Based Nutrition Education ~ Oct. 23, 9a.m.-3 p.m.
Make the connection from seed to table in this fun and delicious one-day workshop. Explore ways to teach nutrition through gardening, harvesting and meal preparation in Life Lab’s Chez Panisse Garden Kitchen. You’ll learn how different foods affect our bodies, how to engage kids in food preparation, and how to effectively encourage kids to eat more fruits and vegetables as part of a healthy lifestyle. Participants will sample the bounty of the farm and harvest to prepare a nutritious meal. You’ll receive an activity binder with standards-based lessons, recipes and garden kitchen resources. $150. 1 graduate unit of credit available for an additional fee. To learn more or register, visit www.lifelab.org or call Whitney Cohen at 831-459-3833.

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Funding Opportunities (Listed chronologically by deadline date)

Disney Minnie Grants ~ Deadline: August 30
Youth Service America and Disney are pleased to launch a second round of Disney Minnie Grants to engage children and youth, ages 5-14 as community volunteers. The selected applications will receive $500 to support their youth-led service projects. Projects must take place October 15-November 15, 2008. Grantees from the first round of Disney awards of 2008 are eligible to apply. Visit the YSA Web site for more information and application materials.


Teaching Tolerance Grants ~ Deadline: Rolling
Teaching Tolerance offers grants of $500 to $2,500 to preK-12 classroom teachers for projects designed to reduce prejudice among youth, improve intergroup relations in schools, and/or support educator professional development in these areas. Proposals from other community organizations and houses of worship will be considered on the basis of direct student impact. Learn more here

Captain Planet Foundation ~ Deadline: September 30
Committed to supporting hands-on environmental projects for young people, the foundation provides grants from $250 to $2,500 to school and community groups. There are four quarterly proposal deadlines per year. Visit the foundation's Web site for guidelines and a proposal form.

2008 Hooked on Hydroponics Awards ~ Deadline: September 15
Classroom hydroponics offers eager students loads of opportunities to explore concepts across the curriculum, from biology to economics. Thirty-six winning programs receive a compact hydroponics package that includes everything required to grow plants successfully indoors. Sponsored by The Grow Store in conjunction with ProgressiveGardening.org. To learn more and download an application, visit here.


2009 Youth Garden Grants ~ Deadline: November 1, 2008
NGA is happy to announce that The Home Depot has returned to sponsor our Youth Garden Grants for 2009. For this cycle, NGA will award 125 grants. Packages are as follows:

For full eligibility criteria and grant categories, please visit here.

As the 2008-09 year begins, we are excited to announce the return of the Love Your Veggies grant program. This year, the program is awarding $15,000 grants to 10 elementary schools across the country. Because you have expressed interest in the program, we want to be sure you know that applications are now available online at www.LoveYourVeggiesGrants.org through the November 7 deadline!

Love Your Veggies Grants ~ November 9
Hidden Valley is excited to announce the 2009 Love Your Veggies™ Grants, an initiative that will award $15,000 grants to 10 elementary schools nationwide to support programs that increase student access to, and consumption of, fresh vegetables and fruits during school meals.Grant awards will be based on proposals that demonstrate need, sustainability, innovation and potential for community involvement. Learn more and apply here

The Lorrie Otto Seeds for Education Fund ~ Deadline: November 15
This nonprofit gives small grants to schools and other educational organizations committed to creating natural landscapes using native plants. Visit the Web site for details.

Mantis Awards ~ Deadline: March 1, 2009
Mantis sponsors this award program in support of charitable and educational garden programs that enhance the quality of life in their host communities. NGA will select 25 gardens to receive a Mantis Tiller/Cultivator. We welcome applications from all nonprofits; past winners include community gardens, schools, ministries, colleges, master gardening groups, and hospices. Learn more here.

Outdoor Classroom Grant Program ~ Deadline: Rolling
Lowe’s Charitable and Educational Foundation, International Paper, and National Geographic Explorer! classroom magazine have partnered to create an outdoor classroom grant. The goal is to provide schools with additional resources to improve their science curriculum by engaging students in hands-on experiences outside the traditional classroom. All K-12 public schools in the United States are welcome to apply. Visit the Lowe's Web site for more information.

Grant Wrangler Funding Directory
Grant Wrangler is a free grants listing service that makes it easy for teachers to find funding. To see the full list of funding opportunities, and to subscribe to the monthly e-newsletter, visit the Grant Wrangler Web site.