Detroit Public Schools Community District Farm-to-School initiatives grow through SNAP-Ed
May 31, 2023
Summary: Detroit students, teachers, and families are growing their own fruits, vegetables, and edible flowers in school gardens thanks to the work of the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) Farm-to-School initiative.
Challenge: Many Detroit residents have little or no access to fresh, healthy, local produce within a reasonable walk or drive from their homes. And due to the city’s high concentration of low-income families, even those who do have access to fresh food may choose to spend their limited budgets on non-perishable items instead.
Solution: With SNAP-Ed funding from Michigan Fitness Foundation, the DPSCD Farm-to-School initiative is increasing the amounts of locally grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes used in school breakfasts and lunches. The DPSCD Farm-to-School initiative carries out the DPSCD’s mission to provide high-quality food, nutrition, and wellness education while eliminating barriers to healthy food.
One way SNAP-Ed contributes to the DPSCD’s Farm-to-School work is by supporting staff time to help facilitate the Detroit School Garden Collaborative, which connects students, teachers, and community members to local agriculture while engaging them in growing their own fruits, vegetables, and edible flowers. This work is a natural extension of efforts to develop gardens at school sites. Eighty-two DPSCD schools already have a school garden consisting of six raised beds built by carpentry students at Drew Transition Center. And there are plans to install gardens at all DPSCD schools.
DPSCD has also been intentional about taking the time to look at their Farm-to-School efforts as a whole. In this way, they can assess the strength of their strategies and see where they have opportunities for growth. They also use the MFF MyGarden™ curriculum to combine academic learning, nutrition education, and gardening through hands-on, interactive activities for students.
The Farm-to-School team at DPSCD is part of a Farm-to-School Collaborative with Project Healthy Community and the Wayne State University Detroit Healthy Youth Initiative, who also offer SNAP-Ed in the area. Because they are all involved in SNAP-Ed work of their own, they can brainstorm ways to strengthen what already exists in their programming and how they can use their collaboration to support the work that each is already doing.
“We’re all working together to further Farm-to-School. The pandemic really illustrated the need for proactive health approaches, especially related to nutrition and physical activity. Our SNAP-Ed programs get children on the right foot so that they will have better health outcomes over the course of their lives,” said DPSCD Farm-to-School Supervisor Matthew Hargis.
Sustaining success: After making connections with existing organizations serving Detroit’s Southwest, Corktown, and Midtown neighborhoods, DPSCD’s SNAP-Ed team was able to gather community feedback during summer events held at four schools to learn about the issues surrounding access to healthy foods and their ability to be active. These efforts did not go unnoticed. The DPSCD Wellness Committee invited members of the Farm-to-School Collaboration to engage school staff in assessing how well schools were following DPSCD Wellness Policy recommendations when promoting physical activity and nutrition. During the DPSCD Wellness Policy Assessment, the Farm-to-School Collaborative went above and beyond by doing comprehensive surveys at over 20 schools, greatly exceeding expectations and requirements.
