Growing Youth Leadership in Agriculture

Youth Leadership in Agriculture 

The Youth Leadership in Agriculture (YLA) is a Career Education & Mentoring initiative to teach students skills in farming, leadership, and entrepreneurship. Prioritizing high school age participants from low-income and communities of color, the program addresses racial, gender, and economic injustices concerning who has access to farming knowledge and careers. YLA benefits students through teaching, mentorship, and hands-on learning, as well as the broader community through greater food access, education, and nutrition. 

The Staunton, Augusta and Waynesboro region is one of the top-two agricultural producing areas in the commonwealth, but we know through many intentional conversations with school leaders and students that this agricultural knowledge is not accessible to many of our urban, low income, and communities of color. Project GROWS was founded out of a desire to address high regional levels of obesity, malnutrition, and diabetes in our community, documented through Augusta Health’s triennial community health needs assessment. Since our start, we have been at the epicenter of it all. We have seen just how valuable and important it is to not only build a just food system, but create one with accessible knowledge, career pathways, food access, and mentorship. It is in recognizing these necessities and acting on them with intention, when we can, and have, address the health inequalities for these students, their families, and our communities at large.

Youth Leaders in Agriculture serves middle and high school age students in the context of the school year with an 8-week summer service program providing a stipend to students serving on the farm for 24 hours each week in career readiness and mentorship. Youth Leaders are staggered throughout the year in a cohort structure in order to reduce mentor-to-student ratios, to provide outdoor learning environments during COVID-19, and to provide for more collaborative learning settings— all of which enhance the overall experience of the YLA program for the students. 

In addition, Youth Leaders will take on roles helping manage Project GROWS Youth Run Farm Stand, support Harvest of the Month tasting programs in area schools, and gain hands-on farming experience growing food for school cafeteria consumption. Through these efforts, Youth Leaders will serve several thousand more students in the SAW region. These unique experiences provide our Youth Leaders with a greater understanding and perspective on the importance of food access and education, and just how powerful it can be. 

Blog post from Fiona, reflecting on time spent as a Youth Leader in Agriculture!