Collaboration Between Willard Greening Project & BOSS
Progress Report - January 1999
Principal Investigator:
Yolanda Huang
Willard Greening Project/Willard Middle School
2425 Stuart Street
Berkeley, CA 94705
(510) 644-6330, Yogreening@aol.com
Other Investigators:
Daniel Miller, BOSS (Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency)
Location of project: Alameda County
Funding:
FY 1998-99: $28,400
FY 1997-98: $19,482
FY 1996-97: $18,225
Table of Contents:
Summary
Objectives
Accomplishments
Obstacles
Impact
References Cited
In the past year, the Willard Greening Project expanded its production with the removal of 2,200 square feet of asphalt and the installation of raised beds. As a result, beginning in September, 1998, the Willard Greening Project began and continues to produce 15-30 pounds of lettuce and salad greens per week. The primary destination is the school lunches of two schools, Willard and Jefferson elementary. The remainder is sold at the local Farmers’ market, or donated to Harrison House, a homeless shelter for families. The successful model of school garden produce in the school lunch has prompted other schools to request assistance in implementing this model. The goal is to have all children in Berkeley eating fresh, organic salads in their school lunch. The Greening Project has also actively participated in the formation of the Berkeley Community Food Project with the goal of developing links between the school and local farmers for the rest of the fresh vegetables and fruits used in school lunches, and for the development of a food security policy to be presented to the City of Berkeley.
- To develop urban, inner city agriculture by utilizing unused public lands for food production;
- To demonstrate the applicability and economic sustainability of intensive farming methods such as those promoted by Jon Jeavons in a small plot urban situation;
- To train homeless people in intensive farming methods;
- To develop a community food system that includes:
a) Developing and expanding local markets for urban produced foods;
b) Developing the Berkeley Unified School District’s Food Services as a market for local farmers and gardeners;
c) Developing more efficient use and less waste of existing urban produced foods;
d) Promoting mutual understanding and political cooperation between the community and food producers through community education and outreach;
e) Educating consumers on the benefits of locally produced, organic foods;
f) Demonstrating that contrary to popular beliefs, school children want to and will eat vegetables, and are viable consumers of locally produced, organic foods.
The above are our original objectives. One major change in the objectives involves the termination of the job training program for the homeless, which then necessitated ending the collaboration between the Willard Greening Project and BOSS. The reasons for ending the homeless job training program are many. Primarily, BOSS, after evaluating the efficacy of its training program, chose to change the gardening program from job training and food production to rehabilitation. BOSS, within the last year, purchased a piece of property, which has been developed into an ornamental and herb garden.
The second major change was our appreciation of the importance and significance of improving the quality of food served in school lunches. Schools are a major market for food. Berkeley Unified School District ("BUSD") has an enrollment of 9,283 students, and approximately one-third of these students are eligible for federal meal subsidies. In the course of a school year, the Food Services department will serve over 463,000 lunches and 106,000 breakfasts. For many students, school meals provide a significant portion of their nutritional intake. Currently the meals served by Berkeley’s Food Services department, consistent with the industry standard, contain little or no fresh vegetables and fruits. The bulk of the items served are reheated, prepackaged frozen foods.
The California Department of Education, Nutrition Education and Training Section recently concluded that "fruits and vegetables are the most under consumed of the five food groups" (1), and that in fact "fruit and vegetable intake by kids may be falling." (2) Fruits and vegetables are not just healthy choices, but studies have shown that students who eat the recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables actually have improved academic performance. (3) One way to increase fruit and vegetable consumption by children is to involve them in gardening. (4)
- Obtaining the consent of the staff and faculty of Willard Middle School to remove 2,200 sq. feet of asphalt from a play field in order to expand the garden.
- Install in-ground irrigation and raised beds in this 2,200 square foot area.
- Beginning September, 1998, working with Berkeley Unified’s Food Services Department, the Willard Greening Project delivered fresh, organic salad lettuces and greens for the salad bars at two schools, Willard Middle School and Jefferson Elementary School.
- Working with eight 6th grade classes, for a total of 124 students, weekly, instructing students on the cycle of life (decomposition), nutrition, ecological systems, plant biology, and hands on gardening.
- Training three AmeriCorp team members on child nutrition, gardening, and youth mentoring.
- Starting in March, 1998, a full participant in the Food Policy Advisory Committee to the
Superintendant, on ways to improve school nutrition.
a) Assisted in obtaining repairs of major kitchen equipment to ensure that both Central kitchens are fully operational;
b) Hosted a menu planning workshop seeking ways to improve cafeteria lunches,
c) Participated in an on-going budget subcommittee to evaluate the fiscal impacts of changes on the Food Services budget. - Participated in the formation of the Berkeley Community Food Project and Food Systems Council, with the goal of developing a food security policy for presentation to the city of Berkeley.
- Obtained the full support and backing of the Willard Middle School PTA.
- Invited to make numerous presentations including: PTA Council, Symposium on School Gardens, hosted by the Center for Ecoliteracy.
- Sponsored workshops on bio-intensive gardening methods, composting, and butterfly habitat for local school related gardens, neighbors and community members.
- Participated in "Open Garden Day", with open tours, and presentations in which the community was welcome.
On-going – Developing a comprehensive booklet illustrating the history, development and process for the Willard Greening Project.
Food Services’ justifications for serving reheated, prepackaged frozen foods has been cost, the ease of preparation, lack of cooking facilities, and the claim that children demand these food choices and will refuse to eat fruits and vegetables. The Willard Greening Project has successfully demonstrated to the contrary that school children enthusiastically eat the vegetables they help grow, and that the Willard Greening Project has the ability to provide consistent, quality lettuce and salad greens at a comparable cost. By focusing on salad greens which do not need special facilities for preparation, the Willard Greening Project obtained BUSD’s Food Services’ agreement to make the initial change of instituting a salad bar at two schools.
In dealing with Food Services, the obstacles included understanding and comprehending how and why Food Services operated, the laws and regulations which govern Food Services, the concerns of the Food Services staff regarding changes in the school lunch. With the persistent assistance of the members of the Food Policy Advisory Committee (composed of parents, community members, staff and representatives of concerned organizations), we began by understanding the laws and regulations promulgated by USDA regarding the meal requirements and the reimbursement (funding) limitations. Then, we solicited input from the Food Services kitchen staff, and discovered that a significant amount of the equipment in the kitchens were not functioning. The next step was to obtain repair estimates, and have the equipment repaired. The last step, was to understand that Food Services is a budget driven, not a menu driven or a nutrition driven program. Most Food Services are required by school districts to be profitable operations. School Districts not only do not subsidize Food Services out of the general budget, but instead utilize food services to supplement the general budget. One example is for school districts to charge food services a percentage of Food Sevices’ total budget for "overhead" and "operating costs". State law limits this to 5 percent, but when total state and federal reimbursement for school lunches is at a maximum of $2.20, a 5% expense is significant. We established the budget subcommittee, for the purpose of examining how changes would affect Food Services budget. Through this budget subcommittee, we were able to more effectively cooperate with the Food Services director, and therefore more easily implement changes into the menu.
Impact
We are providing a significantly superior product for children’s school lunch, and
have inspired other schools to consider this step as well. By providing better and higher
quality nourishment, (if the literature and research on the subject is true), we will be
making it much easier for children to learn, to retain what they learn, and to reduce the
number of "at-risk" youths.
We are also paving the way for links between a large market and local producers. We hope that the quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables consumed will greatly increase. The Willard Greening Project cannot hope to keep up with demand. Our role is to stimulate the demand, and then to link Food Services with local growers.
(1) BUSD Food Services Report 11, District meal count 6/26/98. Available upon request.
(2) Krebs-Smith SM, Cook A, Subar AF, Cleveland L, Friday J, Kahle LL. Fruit and Vegetable Intakes of Children and Adolescents in the United States. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 1996; 150:81-86.
(3) Statement on the Link Between Nutrition and Cognitive Development in Children. Developed by the Center on Hunger, Poverty, and Nutrition Policy. Medford, Massachusetts: Tufts University, 1994.
(4) Forester SB, Gregson S. The California Children’s 5-A Day Power Play! Campaign Evaluation Study of Activities in the School Channel Final Report. Nutrition & Cancer Prevention Program, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento, California. Submitted to the Center for Disease Control and the National Cancer Institute, 1996.