Youth Leadership Development

The Cultivando Tradición youth leadership development program engages youth in garden-based applied education opportunities. Through this program youth become aware of collective power and strength while learning about the impact of individual choices. We work intensively with small youth groups in the Anthony, Chaparral, and Vado gardens, integrating video documentary-making and other media, artistic expression, nutrition and health education, financial literacy, community awareness, environmental health, and social justice issues into a food justice framework.

For more information about the youth leadership development program, please contact Aaron Sharratt, Mary Meghan Daly, or Rebecca Wiggins.

Pathways to Culture, Conservation, and Celebration
We recently received a second year of New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps funding and have hired 14 youth from Anthony and Chaparral to build Pathways to Culture, Conservation, and Celebration. The youth are learning about New Mexico‘s rich cultural heritage as they build a pathway lined with medicinal herb and edible native plant gardens, leading to a place for celebration—an adobe shade structure and traditional adobe oven.

                [Anthony photo gallery]                                     [Chaparral photo gallery]

Community Food Assessments
The Cultivando Tradición program has been working with youth groups and Dr. Lois Stanford from New Mexico State University to conduct youth-led community food assessments in Anthony, Chaparral, and Vado. The community food assessments will provide a clear understanding of food access and hunger concerns in these communities. Upon completion of the assessments in June 2010, youth will coordinate a series of community forums to inform community members of the outcomes and begin developing action plans to address the concerns. The community food assessments are funded in part with a mini-grant from the New Mexico Healthy Kids program of the New Mexico Department of Health.

Copy of CFA Survey

Cultivating Colonia Youth
In 2009, the CDC received New Mexico Youth Conservation Corps funding to hire 12 youth in Anthony and Chaparral to learn about food-related issues, build a greenhouse at each community garden, grow seedlings for com-munity members, and put on community trainings based on what they had learned. This project proved to be a resounding success as feedback from the youth reinforced the positive contributions that the program made in their lives.

                [Anthony Photo Gallery]                    [Chaparral Photo Gallery]                 [Youth Video Documentary]