Clockwise from top left: PB&J Executive Director Alex Gross with Cultivate's Aleen Carey; chalkboard signage in the kitchen; FJN Planning Team Members celebrate the PB&J legacy; a member of the New Hill Development team prepares lunches for City youth |
Charlottesville Twelve Day: A Lasting Legacy
On Tuesday, September 8, 1959, nine elementary students and three high schoolers integrated Charlottesville City public schools. The students’ steps on the first day of classes carried not only the weight of their books, but also the promise of an end to “massive resistance,” which had been instituted the year prior by Virginia’s governor. Rather than have Black and white students learn side by side, City schools were ordered closed.
In the fall of 2019, Charlottesville City Schools Superintendent Rosa Atkins read a proclamation to commemorate the 60th anniversary of that historic day and honor the courage and determination of the students and their parents. As a year-round visual legacy to the twelve young people who paved the way for today’s Black students to attend school alongside their peers, Cultivate Charlottesville youth food justice interns designed a sundial to be installed at each City Schoolyard Garden (CSG) site.
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PRESENTING: The 2022 Youth Food Justice Interns We have completed another fantastic 6-week internship program this summer graduating 11 new students from the internship program! The 2022 summer cohort spent 20 hours/week engaging in daily garden care, building relationships, engaging in conversations about healthy school meals, having food justice conversations, and attending community events. Rah, Keyshanna, Zamear, Rosy, Rohan, Homa, Zeniah, Markajah, Ananda, Demi, and Kay-C all spent an EXTREMELY hot summer out caring for the school and community garden spaces. We also had some support this summer from two garden programming graduates, Gabby Wade and Leon Nunez whose help made this summer a huge success. We spent very sweaty days—with music from the team playlist blasting—clearing overgrowth and brush; turning & planting beds; weed eating; clearing hoop houses; and getting the gardens ready for a new, beautiful, healthy school year. Each year students answer a question for their trading cards and this year the questions was "what is a food justice leader?" Check out some of the answers below! |
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Community Market Days Across the City
The UAC team is incredibly proud of its progress since April when the bulk of our transplants went in the ground together. And those spring transplants have produced summer harvests for 39 city-wide Community Market Days. So far, with just about 1/3 of the season in the books, UAC has distributed about four thousand pounds of fresh produce, with 340 individual contacts to provide our neighbors with access to high quality, nutritionally dense food for their families.
This year UAC hosted sessions with Teens GIVE, our youth food justice interns (see above), and a summer camp class of teens (see above) to share lifelong skills they will carry into the future as they step into being leaders in their own right in our community and beyond. |
Top: UAC team members Amyrose, Jenifer, Michael, and Nic; bottom: farm fresh produce ready for Community Market Day |
If you are interested in working with Urban Agriculture Collective as a volunteer, or would like to provide in-kind material support please contact amyrose@cultivatecharlottesville.org, or volunteer@cultivatecharlottesville.org. |
Community Youth Explore Food Justice
For the month of July, Cultivate’s Food Justice Network had the pleasure of spending the day with youth camp attendees for a discussion on ‘What is Food Justice?' The teens were part of summer experience hosted by the Charlottesville Community Food Co-op Camp working group, included 14 participants from several area high schools. In addition to exploring the roots and values of food justice, students had the opportunity to tour two of our Urban Agriculture Collective farm sites.
During the presentation, students were split into groups based on Cultivate’s Food Equity Framework Policy and values in action: Justice and Fairness, Healthy People, Strong Communities, Culture and Identity, Vibrant Farms, Sustainable Ecosystems, and Thriving Local Economies. They discussed what each value action meant to them as far as food equity and how they see it being practiced in their communities. They also gave examples on how they
would like to see that value action practiced more in the community.
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For more information or to join Food Justice Network full team meetings, contact Aleen Carey at aleen@cultivatecharlottesville.org |
Cultivate team members and partners have been attending many local festivals and community events. Clockwise from top left at the Healthy Streets, Healthy People event: Richard gets his face painted; Juanika from The Women's Initiative; Rosy and Quentia are face painting "professionals" now; Emily from Local Food Hub |
Together we can move Charlottesville from a foodie city to a food-E(quity) place for ALL residents! |
The City approved a new Comprehensive Plan; stay involved in the next stop, which is the zoning process, by following Cville Plans together on social media and their website.
The next meeting is a work session with the Planning Commission and City Council on Tuesday, September 27, 2022 at 5:30 pm. The meeting will be both on ZOOM and in person. |
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Cultivate Charlottesville and Culinary Concepts A/B partnered for a series of workshops for Charlottesville City Schools Nutrition Department. CCS staff honed their skills and enjoyed the fruits of their labor! |
At Cultivate Charlottesville we believe that working together to grow gardens, share food and power, and advocate for just systems cultivates a healthy community for all. |
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