Gardening with Tiny Tots Summer Program
Help Hattie Carthan community garden create a summer Gardening with Tiny Tots program.
Leader
Yonnette Fleming
Location
363-365 Clifton Place Brooklyn, NY 11221
Impact areas
About the project
Across the United and States, rates of obesity and diabetes are increasing dramatically, particularly within lower-income, African-American, and Latino communities. In New York City neighborhoods like Bed Stuy in Central Brooklyn where our community garden is located, a third of residents live in poverty, more than 12% of adults have diabetes, compared to 8% nationwide. We believe that interventions which engage our residents in their impressionable years (0-7) are critical to improving our community's health.
The Steps
From the period of April to July, 2011, we will:
Purchase equipment to administer program;
Create advertising materials for program;
Place ad in local newspaper;
Do community outreach to inform local parents about the program;
Recruit two assistants to work in the program;
Identify and notify parents selected for the program;
Administer the program;
Document results for final report.
Why we‘re doing it
Our target audience for the Tiny Tots summer gardening Program are neighborhood children aged 3-7. The program will run twice per week in the children's garden. Experiential learning is an important component of developing the whole child. By teaching the children about the importance of the outdoors and exposing them to activities and information which teach them basic botany and where their food comes from, we are significantly impacting them and their families in the long run. Through education and experience the young children will be empowered to make healthier food choices. Thus, We are increasing their life expectancy, reducing the odds of obesity in a neighborhood where childhood obesity is prevalent, positively affecting the environment and changing the way our children eat, live and relate to food from their impressionable years.