August 2008


This Month's Feature
Announcements

Resources For Educators
Research Update
Conferences and Workshops
Funding Opportunities


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

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Announcements

Help Create School Gardens in Food Deserts! ~ Action needed by September 1
Food Deserts are areas of the country, typically in urban locations, where residents have little to no access to fresh foods because stores are far away or they have little money. Rising food and transportation costs are making life even harder for families to eat, much less eat well. Most are forced to forego fresh foods despite the negative health impacts. NGA’s solution: Use school gardens to teach communities how to grow their own food.

We’ve submitted this idea to the American Express Members Project, and with your support it could be funded. Members Project is an exciting initiative that brings people together to make a difference in the world. It's simple. People share ideas for projects and vote to determine which will share $2.5 million in funding from American Express. To nominate this project, please go to The American Express Members Project by September 1. Thanks for your support!


NGA 2008 Grants Impact Report

Educators and youth leaders have always provided NGA with meaningful and inspiring anecdotal accounts of how gardening boosts kids' interest in school and learning, improves their attitudes about eating healthful foods and caring for the environment, helps them develop social skills and self-esteem, and gives them a feeling of community spirit. NGA now captures quantitative data to back up these moving and powerful stories. See the latest data summary


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Resources for Educators

Project Budburst
Project Budburst is a citizen science project that monitors the bloom time of native tree and shrubs with the goal of compiling valuable environmental and climate change information around the United States. Click here to learn how you can participate.


Teen Resource: Rebel Tomato
The American Community Gardening Association has a new Web site to teach older youth how to begin community gardens. Visit the ACGA site to see this new resource.


GardenABCs
This is an online forum and resource site for parents, educators, and community members seeking guidance, resources, and fundraising support. The goal is to Bring people together to promote environmental stewardship, healthy eating, exercise, sustainability, self-reliance, core values, academics, and charitable giving through gardening initiatives. Learn more here


D.C. Schoolyard Greening
The mission of the D.C. Schoolyard Greening Consortium is to increase and improve schoolyard green spaces to promote ecological literacy and environmental stewardship among students, teachers, parents and the surrounding community. Click here to find out more.


National Youth Philanthropy Clearinghouse
This new resource clearinghouse offers links for all aspects of youth philanthropy – where youth are recipients, partners, and resources. You’ll find information about available grants in the realm of service learning, as well as professional development and volunteer opportunities. This free online resource is organized into key topic areas containing useful glossary terms, and research that is essential to youth philanthropy organizations. The Clearinghouse is a project of Grand Valley State University’s Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Leadership. Learn more here

Regionally Appropriate Pollinator Plant Lists
The Pollinator Partnership is making it easier for people to help pollinators. Over the course of 2 years, the partnership is creating 35 24-page planting guides to unique ecoregions in the United States. Twelve of these free, downloadable color guides are currently available online, and others are added regularly. Check them out here. If the guide for your ecoregion is not yet available, you can submit your e-mail address and receive an alert when the guide goes live.

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Research Update

Growing Environmental Stewards
A study conducted at Texas A&M University found that children with previous gardening experience scored significantly higher on the environmental attitude and environmental locus of control statements when compared with children without gardening experience. Published in the April 2008 HortTechnology; view the abstract here.

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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:

  • Opportunities to get a $7,500 grant to get you started on your playground project (Atlanta, Houston, and Cleveland only)
  • Guidance on how to build a playground in a day with volunteers from your community
    Research to build your case for play
  • Proven fundraising techniques and planning strategies to get the job done
  • Tried-and-true ways to engage the community
  • Opportunity to meet other local and national activists who share your commitment to kids

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:

  • Five (5) programs will receive gift cards valued at $1000 (a $500 gift card to The Home Depot and a $500 gift card to the Gardening with Kids catalog and store) and educational materials from NGA
  • Seventy (70) programs will receive a $500 gift card to The Home Depot and educational materials from NGA
  • Fifty (50) programs will receive a $250 gift card to The Home Depot and educational materials from NGA

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.


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