Preschool Gardens and Healthy Choices

Contributed by Katie Powell

Myself and 23 other young adults are taking part in a program called Public Allies in Miami. Public Allies is a ten month long AmeriCorps program which places young adults in local nonprofits to build capacity and act as leaders in the community. During every Public Allies term, Allies are required to be a part of team service projects. These projects are developed by the allies and carried out by allies outside of their working hours. During my term I chose to be a part of the community garden Team Service Project (TSP). At my placement site I work with local farmers markets and their EBT doubling program. All the markets Catalyst Miami partners with doubles Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/food stamp) dollars up to $10. My involvement with the farmers market sparked my interest to take part in the community gardens project. Our Team Service Project received a grant from the Blue Foundation. For this project we are partnering with two other local nonprofits. First, the Alliance for Early Care and Education to develop healthy life style curriculum for the preschoolers and secondly Roots in the City for their gardening expertise.

This past Friday was our first planting day at Paradise Christian School in Hialeah where we plated onions, squash, sunflowers, eggplant, beans, and corn. We also provided the school with a compost bin and explained to the children how their food scraps could help the garden grow. Public allies will be planting seven more gardens at preschools in Hialeah. My hope is that as families are introduced to new ways of eating and living that they would begin to choose healthier options for themselves and their families in order to prevent diseases that are a growing epidemic around the country. This project and all other Blue Foundation grantee projects will be featured on the Comcast sponsored website www.yosoyhialeah.com.