Item No. 1 of 1

INVESTIGATOR: Raders, G.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
Planting Justice
996 B 62nd street
Oakland, CALIFORNIA 94608

ADVANCING NEXT GENERATION URBAN FARMERS: EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION, MENTORING, AND EMPLOYMENT

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This Standard BFRDP project presents an innovative model to advance economic viability, land stewardship, and social equity for beginning and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. This proposal directly addresses urgent trends conveyed in the 2012 USDACensus: the aging farmer population and declining numbers of beginning farmers. This project counters these trends by building comprehensive and culturally relevant training/employment opportunities for beginning and underserved farmers, while strengthening the mentoring capacity of experienced farmers to pass on their knowledge. Our target audience includes 120 beginning farmers, including 90 formerly incarcerated, immigrants, and otherwise socially disadvantaged participants, in 6 cohorts over the 3-year grant period. Successful program graduates will complete 150 hours of on-site, hands-on training as part of our Applied Agroecology and Beginning Farmer Curriculum, and receive the opportunity to be mentored by pioneering local farmers through paid 3-6 month apprenticeships on local farms in the MESA network, living-wage employment as urban farmers with Planting Justice, and/or substantial financial, legal, technical, and administrative support to access land and launch their own farming startups. These comprehensive services will spur the next generation to launch and sustain successful careers in urban and peri-urban farming. Planting Justice is a national leader in re-entry green job placement and urban farming training for formerly incarcerated people, and this project will build upon their success helping former inmates obtain inspirational employment as new urban farmers. MESA is internationally recognized as a pioneering sustainable agriculture training organization with 18 years running experiential and farmer mentorship programs.Advancing Next Generation Urban Farmers stands out as the first BFRDP project to incentivize formerly incarcerated peoples to become successful beginning farmers, and the first BFRDP project to directly link the empowerment of re-entry and new-entry beginning farmers, simultaneously uplifting two groups that have been historically underserved and disconnected from one another. In urban areas, re-entry and new entry groups often struggle and compete to access limited jobs, land, housing and community resources. This project will encourage and implement collaborative community building by bridging people across cultural divides and creating opportunities to strengthen individual and community resilience, food security and economic viability. Growing food together can be used to heal trauma and forge the personal relationships rooted in nourishing individuals, their families and communities. While many educational materials in sustainable farming are more targeted at participants with an academic background; this project is distilling and condensing information andusing multimedia materials such as videos, infographics, podcasts, tip-sheets and social media. Lastly, it is key for socially disadvantaged beginning farmers who are competing in a market-place soon-to-be densely occupied by millennials to have basic knowledge in computer literacy, social media and online marketing.

OBJECTIVES: Over the three-year grant period, this project's goals encompass the following: A) Train 120 new farmers in sustainable and profitable urban and periurban farming; B) Mobilize 20 socially disadvantaged farmers to launch new urban and peri-urban farm startup businesses; C) Employ five new farmers in an established community-based organization, D) Link 15 beginning farmers with experienced farmersfor paid on-farm apprenticeships, and E) Empower participating Host farmers to advance their mentorship capacity and pass comprehensive skills on to the next generation.

APPROACH: Activities to achieve Objective A.1. In the first month of the grant period, PJ will recruit our first cohort of socially disadvantaged farmers through our in-prison farmer-training programs at San Quentin Prison and Santa Rita Jail and through our Pathways to Resilience Re-entry program. By month #3, MESA will have completed its first 20 modules within its Certificate in Applied Agroecology (with support from academic and curriculum partners at the Berkeley Food Institute, The National Center for Appropriate Technology, UC Cooperative Extension, the Berkeley Center for Diversified Farming Systems and the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology). Curriculum will include: urban aquaponics, diversified tree and crop farming, agro-ecological production practices, on-farm soil and water conservation, diversified livestock rotation, and permaculture design. By month #4, our first cohort of 20 participants will begin the Certificate in Applied Agroecology, with the hands-on experiential components taking place on urban incubation farms in the PJ network: The Urban Resilience Farm in El Sobrante, the Urban Aquaponics Farm and Training Center in Oakland, and Bountiful Bobo Farm in Bolinas. Each cohort will spend ~150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, culminating in a Certificate in Applied Agroecology by month #8. Five additional cohorts --with at least 120 total participants-- will complete the four-month program before the end of the grant period. Over the three-year period, five graduates will serve as educators and peer mentors for new cohorts and receive paid employment as urban farmers on PJ's urban farms; 20 new farmers will be supported in accessing land and capital to launch new urban and peri-urban farm startups, and 15 select graduates will be offered 3-6 month paid apprenticeships on local family farms within MESA's network (see Management Plan for locations). Graduates will engage deeply in participatory evaluation procedures at each project site upon completing the certification and various apprenticeship opportunities, and all graduates will be invited to help improve and amend the curriculum.Activities to achieve objective C.1.Beginning in month #4 of the grant period, our first cohort of 20 beginning farmers will begin training in farm entrepreneurship and business planning as part of the 150-hour Applied Agroecology certification course, located at MESA and PJ's incubation farms. Throughout the three-year period, at least 120 beginning farmers will complete curriculum modules in the following agripreneurial subjects: land acquisition strategies, securing start-up farm financing, business planning, planting strategies and farm design to maximize economic yield and minimize financial inputs, employment and human resources training, value-added processing, legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. Beginning in month #s 8-10 of the grant period, successful graduates in the project's first cohort will begin three-six month paid apprenticeships with successful local family farms, to directly experience innovative and exemplary farming business models, in preparation for their own farm startup businesses. By month #18, exemplary graduates from the first two cohorts who have completed viable business plans with support from mentors will begin receiving $2,200 mini-grants and assistance to lease an average of ½ acre farming plots through MESA's and PJ's network of land-owners who have expressed willingness to lease land to our project graduates at below market rate. By the end of the three-year grant period, at least 20 new farmers will have launched their new farming enterprises due to the support and training they've received through our project.Activities to achieve Objective D.1.By month #3 following the grant period, MESA will have added the following modules in its Applied Agroecology certificate course: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business. Each module will be comprised of publications, videos, worksheets, webinars, online discussion forum and chatroom. Beginning with our first 20 participants in cohort #1, in the fourth month following the grant award, these curricula will be used to help beginning farmers identify their financial needs, key success factors, risks and potential sources of funding as well as develop a risk mitigation plan, sample grant and loan application with debt, equity and low-interest financing. Activities will take place online and with hands-on projects at the three Bay Area incubator farm sites during the four-month training periods. In total, 120 beginning farmers will participate in the curriculum by the end of year #3.Activities to achieve Objective E.1.Beginning in month #4 with cohort #1, beginning farmers will receive hands-on training at PJs network of incubator farms, buffered with classroom-learning through MESA's online curriculum, to practice proven strategies for building topsoil fertility, rehydrating farm ecosystems through on-farm water harvesting and conservation strategies, increasing biodiversity, preserving and creating new wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats and reduction and mitigation of on-farm CO2. These activities will be accomplished via sustainable biomass recycling, mulching, on-farm water catchment, installation of water harvesting, contoured swales, creating wildlife, pollinator, and beneficial predator habitats, and diversified planting strategies including integrating native plant habitat within productive farm plans.Activities to achieve Objective F.1.Beginning in month #4 with cohort #1, participants will begin completing curriculum modules at PJ's farms that educate them on how to identify a diversity of distribution and marketing models to meet the specific market and strategy of their proposed farm business. Exemplary graduates will be matched with on-farm apprenticeships specifically aligned with their proposed project to deepen their educational experiences.Activities to achieve Objective G.1.By month #3 after the start of the grant period, MESA will have developed the first iteration of its 20-module online beginning farmer curriculum, comprising the "classroom" style portion of the Applied Agroecology certificate course. After the completion of each of the six cohorts, the Curriculum Manager will seek specific feedback from project graduates, incorporating their evaluations to improve the curriculum for the next cohort. By the end of month #3, the 20-module curriculum will be given a Creative Commons License, permitting its use and adaptation by farmer-trainer programs nationwide. By month #6, MESA will improve upon interactive curriculum features, including message boards, chat rooms, and webinar functionality to enable beginning farmers across the country to exchange best practices,quantitative, and qualitative data.Activities to achieve Objective H.1.Vocational training and peer-to-peer mentorship will be achieved through urban and peri-urban hands-on training opportunities and cohort structure to facilitate learn-and-share exchange. MESA's curriculum will support 120 participants from diverse backgrounds and complement intensive hands-on trainings on incubator urban farms as part of the Applied Agroecology certificate course. Five program participants will have the opportunity for employment at one of the PJ's incubator urban farm sites and 15 participants will have the opportunity for three-six month paid apprenticeships with successful farm mentors. MESA support services and online learning platform tools will further develop farm mentors' ability to guide the next generation of farmers.

PROGRESS: 2015/09 TO 2018/08
Target Audience:In order to recruit and support a diverse demographic of beginning and underserved farmers and ranchers, this project brings together a unique multi-sector partnership of national experts in the fields of re-entry and recent immigrant social support. This project builds upon lessons learned from 9 years of innovative, nationally-recognized re-entry programs at PJ that begin educating inmates in organic agriculture technologies while they are still incarcerated, using in-prison gardens and classroom training, and provide critical pathways to green jobs in the fields of urban and peri-urban agriculture for those same individuals immediately upon their release. PJ's leadership team have conducted educational programs with more than 2000 inmates in the medium-security unit of San Quentin State Prison in collaboration with the Insight Garden Program. PJ led the design and installation of the only current vegetable garden inside a California Department of Corrections institution, which now serves as their farming educational center at San Quentin State Prison. Formerly incarcerated staff at PJ have also recently completed construction of a 3 acre orchard at a Juvenile Detention Facility in San Leandro, and in June of 2014, PJ staff built a large, biodiverse vegetable garden with incarcerated teens at the Stanislaus County Juvenile Detention Center. PJ has since expanded its beginning farmer training program to San Mateo County Jail in addition to San Quentin State Prison and Santa Rita County Jail, as well as 4 Bay Area juvenile detention facilities. Since 2009, Planting Justice's Education Program has served more than 2,000 inmates at San Quentin State Prison and Santa Rita Jail with landscaping and sustainable farming training. PJ has successfully hired 35 graduates of their in-prison programs over the past five years, as ecological landscapers, urban farmers, and educators, starting at $17.50/hour, and only one of their 35 re-entry staff members has re-offended and returned to prison, while 9 have moved into key staff leadership positions. PJ's Transform Your Yard program for formerly incarcerated graduates of its in-prison programs has resulted in the design and implementation of more than 450 urban edible gardens. In 2013, PJ received a prestigious Innovations in Re-Entry Grant from the Alameda County Department of Public Health to launch an expansion of their re-entry services, called Pathways to Resilience (P2R), a collaboration amongst 6 community based organizations with support from the Alameda County Public Health Department, that provides intensive and holistic re-entry services to formerly incarcerated individuals as a model for the County, including access to a full-time case manager, legal services, housing support, entrepreneurship skills, certification employment courses, and trauma therapy. Througn this experience, PJ demonstrates how supportive and holistic "wrap-around" re-entry services that meet participants' various immediate and long-term needs, combined with culturally relevant urban agricultural education and mentoring, can enable formerly incarcerated people to become successfully employed in urban agriculture, and also emerge as inspirational arbiters of cultural change in their communities?. With these already established, successful programs, PJ is confident in its capacity and ability to serve the needs of the formerly incarcerated people in our networks who are interested in entering the farming profession. Since 1997, MESA has connected over 1,300 small-scale farmers and agri-prenuers for interactive training and supported 142 new farms and sustainability projects worldwide. MESA's program weaves together an interactive, virtual educational learning platform with real-world, experiential training for next generation farmers. MESA's online platform combines technical, economic and community-based education--such as soil building, crop planning, greywater irrigation, civic engagement, direct marketing models, financial management, and business planning--to complement hands-on training for beginning farmers while building mentoring capacity and on-farm innovation for busy farmers. MESA has conducted site- visits, led workshops, and created training and mentorship manuals for their Host-mentor network of over 200 sustainable farms, organic research and farm education centers across the country. With an 18-year track record of helping experienced farmers to improve their mentorship capacity and supporting beginning farmers to gain skills and launch their own sustainable farming operations, MESA is well-positioned to continue serving the evolving needs of the next generation. Of the 120 beginning farmers expected to participate in this program, at least 90 (75%) will be formerly incarcerated, newly immigrated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer constituents. Of a total budget request of $746,000, $681,200 (approximately 91%) will be allocated to the development, education, hands-on training opportunities and farm business incubation support for this target population. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?-- 113 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed curriculum modules in the following agri-preneurial subjects: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business; Planting Strategies and Farm Design to Maximize Economic Yield and Minimize Financial Inputs; Employment and Human Resources Training; ValueAdded Processing; legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. -- 113 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed 150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, over a 4-month training period, culminating in their Certificate in Applied Agroecology as our first graduates -- All 105 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed their business plans and presented them to family, colleagues and community members in our first graduation ceremony -- 85 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates engaged deeply in participatory evaluation procedures at each project site upon completing the certification -- All 113 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates received hands-on training at PJs network of incubator farms, buffered with classroom-learning through MESA's online curriculum, to learn and practice proven strategies for building topsoil fertility, rehydrating farm ecosystems through on-farm water harvesting and conservation strategies, increasing biodiversity, preserving and creating new wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats and reduction and mitigation of on-farm CO2. These activities were accomplished through sustainable biomass recycling, mulching, on-farm water catchment, installation of water harvesting contoured swales, creating wildlife, pollinator, and beneficial predator habitats, and diversified planting strategies including integrating native plant habitat within productive farm plans. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Via our website, national conferences, social media, and mass emails to 15,000 local supporters What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

IMPACT: 2015/09 TO 2018/08
What was accomplished under these goals? Since our last progress report.... -- 25 currently incarcerated participants completed our introductory, in-prison, beginning farmer training course, preparing them to participate in this project's Certificate in Applied Agroecology program upon their release from prison. 12 week course, two cohorts, 25 graduates, 36 hours/participant. That makes a total of 100 currently incarcerated participants graduated since the start of the project period. -- Recruited and graduated a total of 33 formerly incarcerated and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in Cohort#5), for a total of 113 socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates in 5 cohorts for the Bay Area Farmer Training Program. These participants completed hands-on experiential training components of the program which take place on urban incubation farms in the Planting Justice network: The Urban Resilience Farm in El Sobrante and the Urban Nursery and Aquaponics Farm in East Oakland -- 2 full-time educators led 33 socially disadvantage beginning farmers in the completion of the Certificate in Applied Agroecology program. This cohort completed 20 educational modules that comprise Certificate in Applied Agroecology training program, completing curriculum modules in the following agri-preneurial subjects: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business; Planting Strategies and Farm Design to Maximize Economic Yield and Minimize Financial Inputs; Employment and Human Resources Training; Value-Added Processing; legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. -- 33 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed 150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, over a 4-month training period, culminating in their Certificate in Applied Agroecology, for a total of 113 graduates over the grant period. -- 25 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed their business plan outlines and presented them to family, colleagues and community members in three graduation ceremonies -- All 33 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates received hands-on training at a network of local successful farms, buffered with classroom-learning through MESA's online curriculum, to learn and practice proven strategies for building topsoil fertility, rehydrating farm ecosystems through on-farm water harvesting and conservation strategies, increasing biodiversity, preserving and creating new wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats and reduction and mitigation of on-farm CO2. These activities were accomplished through sustainable biomass recycling; mulching; on-farm water catchment; installation of water harvesting contoured swales; creating wildlife, pollinator, and beneficial predator habitats; and diversified planting strategies including integrating native plant habitat within productive farm plans. -- 1 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates obtained living wage employment with Planting Justice upon completion of the program, as fully employed urban farmers, for a total of 9 living-wage jobs created during the project period. -- 16 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates were matched with on-farm apprenticeships that are specifically aligned with their proposed project to deepen their educational experiences with established and successful local farmers, post graduation. -- 16 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvaantaged beginning farmer graduates launched their food and farming ventures post-graduation. Result Topic Producer action When measured Est # Act # How verified? 1. 120 new urban farmers, including 90 socially disenfranchised new farmers, will grow in the understanding of sustainable and profitable farming techniques. Organic production Understand quarterly, and upon completion 120 113 Attendance and graduation rates for participants in intensive training program. 2. Mobilize 20 socially disadvantaged farmers to launch new urban and peri-urban farm startup businesses Organic production Implement quarterly, and upon completion 20 21 Will remain in close communication with all graduates, surveys 3. Employ five new farmers in an established community-based organization, Labor supply, recruitment, and retention Implement quarterly, and upon completion 5 9 We will remain in close contact with graduates via surveys. 4. Link 15 beginning farmers with experienced farmers for paid on-farm apprenticeships to increase farming capacity. Mentoring, apprenticeships, and internships Decide quarterly, and upon completion 15 21 We'll remain in close contact with our graduates via surveys 5. At least 20 socially disenfranchised beginning farmers will be provided with the support they need to produce a viable business plan. Business and strategic planning Develop quarterly, and upon completion 20 21 Submissions of course-work. 6. Currently Incarcerated people interested in becoming new farmers upon their release will grow in their understanding of sustainable and profitable farming practices through vocational training Mentoring, apprenticeships, and internships Understand quarterly, and upon completion 100 100 Attendance records

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2015/09 TO 2018/08
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2016/09/01 TO 2017/08/31
Target Audience:In order to recruit and support a diverse demographic of beginning and underserved farmers and ranchers, this project brings together a unique multi-sector partnership of national experts in the fields of re-entry and recent immigrant social support. This project builds upon lessons learned from 9years of innovative, nationally-recognized re-entry programs at PJ that begin educating inmates in organic agriculture technologies while they are still incarcerated, using in-prison gardens and classroom training, and provide critical pathways to green jobs in the fields of urban and peri-urban agriculture for those same individuals immediately upon their release. PJ's leadership team have conducted educational programs with more than 1200 inmates in the medium-security unit of San Quentin State Prison in collaboration with the Insight Garden Program. PJ led the design and installation of the only current vegetable garden inside a California Department of Corrections institution, which now serves as their farming educational center at San Quentin State Prison. Formerly incarcerated staff at PJ have also recently completed construction of a 3 acre orchard at a Juvenile Detention Facility in San Leandro, and in June of 2014, PJ staff built a large, biodiverse vegetable garden with incarcerated teens at the Stanislaus County Juvenile Detention Center. Since 2009, Planting Justice's Education Program has served more than 1,200 inmates at San Quentin State Prison and Santa Rita Jail with landscaping and sustainable farming training. PJ has successfully hired 30graduates of their in-prison programs over the past five years, as ecological landscapers, urban farmers, and educators, starting at $17.50/hour, and only one of their 30re-entry staff members has re-offended and returned to prison, while four have moved into key staff leadership positions. PJ's Transform Your Yard program for formerly incarcerated graduates of its in-prison programs has resulted in the design and implementation of more than 450urban edible gardens. In 2013, PJ received a prestigious Innovations in Re-Entry Grant from the Alameda County Department of Public Health to launch an expansion of their re-entry services, called Pathways to Resilience (P2R), a collaboration amongst 6 community based organizations with support from the Alameda County Public Health Department, that provides intensive and holistic re-entry services to formerly incarcerated individuals as a model for the County, including access to a full-time case manager, legal services, housing support, entrepreneurship skills, certification employment courses, and trauma therapy. P2R is set to graduate its second successful cohort on March 21st, 2015, for a total of 40 graduates since the launch of the program 15 months ago. PJ demonstrates how supportive and holistic "wrap-around" re-entry services that meet participants' various immediate and long-term needs, combined with culturally relevant urban agricultural education and mentoring, can enable formerly incarcerated people to become successfully employed in urban agriculture, and also emerge as inspirational arbiters of cultural change in theircommunities?. With these already established, successful programs, PJ is confident in its capacity and ability to serve the needs of the formerly incarcerated people in our networks who are interested in entering the farming profession. Since 1997, MESA has connected over 1,300 small-scale farmers and agri-prenuers for interactive training and supported 142 new farms and sustainability projects worldwide. MESA's program weaves together an interactive, virtual educational learning platform with real-world, experiential training for next generation farmers. MESA's online platform combines technical, economic and community-based education--such as soil building, crop planning, greywater irrigation, civic engagement, direct marketing models, financial management, and business planning--to complement hands-on training for beginning farmers while building mentoring capacity and on-farm innovation for busy farmers. MESA has conducted sitevisits, led workshops, and created training and mentorship manuals for their Host-mentor network of over 200 sustainable farms, organic research and farm education centers across the country. With an 18-year track record of helping experienced farmers to improve their mentorship capacity and supporting beginning farmers to gain skills and launch their own sustainable farming operations, MESA is well-positioned to continue serving the evolving needs of the next generation. Of the 120 beginning farmers expected to participate in this program, at least 90 (75%) will be formerly incarcerated, newly immigrated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer constituents. Of a total budget request of $746,000, $681,200 (approximately 91%) will be allocated to the development, education, hands-on training opportunities and farm business incubation support for this target population. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?-- 2 full-time educators led three new cohorts (Cohort #s 2, 3, and 4) in the completion of the Certificate in Applied Agroecology program. Each cohort completed 20 educational modules that comprise Certificate in Applied Agroecology training program, completing curriculum modules in the following agri-preneurial subjects: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business; Planting Strategies and Farm Design to Maximize Economic Yield and Minimize Financial Inputs; Employment and Human Resources Training; Value-Added Processing; legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. -- 65 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed 150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, over a 4-month training period, culminating in their Certificate in Applied Agroecology, for a total of 80 graduates over the grant period. -- All 65 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed their business plan outlines and presented them to family, colleagues and community members in three graduation ceremonies How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Via our website, national conferences, social media, and mass emails to 15,000 local supporters What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?-- Enroll 40 socially disadvantaed beginning farmer participants in the final 2 cohorts -- Educate 50 currently incarcerated participants in our in-prison beginning farmer training program. -- Mobilize 9 socially disadvantaged farmers to launch new urban and peri-urban farm startup businesses -- Employ five new farmers in an established community-based organization -- Link 8beginning farmers with experienced farmers for paid on-farm apprenticeships

IMPACT: 2016/09/01 TO 2017/08/31
What was accomplished under these goals? -- 45 currently incarcerated participants completed our introductory, in-prison, beginning farmer training course, preparing them to participate in this project's Certificate in Applied Agroecology program upon their release from prison. 12 week course, two cohorts, 45 graduates, 36 hours/participant -- Recruited and graduated a total of 65 formerly incarcerated and socially disadvantaged beginning farmers in three cohorts this past year (Cohorts #s 2, 3, and 4), for a total of 65 socially disadvantaged beginning farmers. These participants completedhands-on experiential training components of the program which take place on urban incubation farms in the Planting Justice network: The Urban Resilience Farm in El Sobrante and the Urban Nursery and Aquaponics Farm in East Oakland -- 2 full-time educators led three new cohorts (Cohort #s 2, 3, and 4) in the completion of the Certificate in Applied Agroecology program. Each cohort completed 20 educational modules that comprise Certificate in Applied Agroecology training program, completing curriculum modules in the following agri-preneurial subjects: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business; Planting Strategies and Farm Design to Maximize Economic Yield and Minimize Financial Inputs; Employment and Human Resources Training; Value-Added Processing; legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. -- 65 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed 150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, over a 4-month training period, culminating in their Certificate in Applied Agroecology, for a total of 80 graduates over the grant period. -- All 65 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed their business plan outlines and presented them to family, colleagues and community members in three graduation ceremonies -- 50 of 65 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates engaged deeply in participatory evaluation procedures at each project site upon completing the certification -- All 65 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates received hands-on training at a network of local successful farms, buffered with classroom-learning through MESA's online curriculum, to learn and practice proven strategies for building topsoil fertility, rehydrating farm ecosystems through on-farm water harvesting and conservation strategies, increasing biodiversity, preserving and creating new wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats and reduction and mitigation of on-farm CO2. These activities were accomplished through sustainable biomass recycling; mulching; on-farm water catchment; installation of water harvesting contoured swales; creating wildlife, pollinator, and beneficial predator habitats; and diversified planting strategies including integrating native plant habitat within productive farm plans. -- 3 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates obtained living wage employment with Planting Justice upon completion of the program, as fully employed urban farmers -- 5 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates were matched with on-farm apprenticeships that are specifically aligned with their proposed project to deepen their --educational experiences with established and successful local farmers, post graduation. -- 5 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvaantaged beginning farmer graduates launched their food and farming ventures post-graduation.

PUBLICATIONS: 2016/09/01 TO 2017/08/31
No publications reported this period.

PROGRESS: 2015/09/01 TO 2016/08/31
Target Audience:In order to recruit and support a diverse demographic of beginning and underserved farmers and ranchers, this project brings together a unique multi-sector partnership of national experts in the fields of re-entry and recent immigrant social support. This project builds upon lessons learned from 6 years of innovative, nationally-recognized re-entry programs at PJ that begin educating inmates in organic agriculture technologies while they are still incarcerated, using in-prison gardens and classroom training, and provide critical pathways to green jobs in the fields of urban and peri-urban agriculture for those same individuals immediately upon their release. PJ's leadership team have conducted educational programs with more than 1000 inmates in the medium-security unit of San Quentin State Prison in collaboration with the Insight Garden Program. PJ led the design and installation of the only current vegetable garden inside a California Department of Corrections institution, which now serves as their farming educational center at San Quentin State Prison. Formerly incarcerated staff at PJ have also recently completed construction of a 3 acre orchard at a Juvenile Detention Facility in San Leandro, and in June of 2014, PJ staff built a large, biodiverse vegetable garden with incarcerated teens at the Stanislaus County Juvenile Detention Center. Since 2009, Planting Justice's Education Program has served more than 1,000 inmates at San Quentin State Prison and Santa Rita Jail with landscaping and sustainable farming training. PJ has successfully hired 16 graduates of their in-prison programs over the past five years, as ecological landscapers, urban farmers, and educators, starting at $17.50/hour, and only one of their 16 re-entry staff members has re-offended and returned to prison, while four have moved into key staff leadership positions. PJ's Transform Your Yard program for formerly incarcerated graduates of its in-prison programs has resulted in the design and implementation of more than 315 urban edible gardens. In 2013, PJ received a prestigious Innovations in Re-Entry Grant from the Alameda County Department of Public Health to launch an expansion of their re-entry services, called Pathways to Resilience (P2R), a collaboration amongst 6 community based organizations with support from the Alameda County Public Health Department, that provides intensive and holistic re-entry services to formerly incarcerated individuals as a model for the County, including access to a full-time case manager, legal services, housing support, entrepreneurship skills, certification employment courses, and trauma therapy. P2R is set to graduate its second successful cohort on March 21st, 2015, for a total of 40 graduates since the launch of the program 15 months ago. PJ demonstrates how supportive and holistic "wrap-around" re-entry services that meet participants' various immediate and long-term needs, combined with culturally relevant urban agricultural education and mentoring, can enable formerly incarcerated people to become successfully employed in urban agriculture, and also emerge as inspirational arbiters of cultural change in their communities?. With these already established, successful programs, PJ is confident in its capacity and ability to serve the needs of the formerly incarcerated people in our networks who are interested in entering the farming profession. Since 1997, MESA has connected over 1,300 small-scale farmers and agri-prenuers for interactive training and supported 142 new farms and sustainability projects worldwide. MESA's program weaves together an interactive, virtual educational learning platform with real-world, experiential training for next generation farmers. MESA's online platform combines technical, economic and community-based education--such as soil building, crop planning, greywater irrigation, civic engagement, direct marketing models, financial management, and business planning--to complement hands-on training for beginning farmers while building mentoring capacity and on-farm innovation for busy farmers. MESA has conducted site-visits, led workshops, and created training and mentorship manuals for their Host-mentor network of over 200 sustainable farms, organic research and farm education centers across the country. With an 18-year track record of helping experienced farmers to improve their mentorship capacity and supporting beginning farmers to gain skills and launch their own sustainable farming operations, MESA is well-positioned to continue serving the evolving needs of the next generation. Of the 120 beginning farmers expected to participate in this program, at least 90 (75%) will be formerly incarcerated, newly immigrated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer constituents. Of a total budget request of $746,000, $681,200 (approximately 91%) will be allocated to the development, education, hands-on training opportunities and farm business incubation support for this target population. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?-- 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed curriculum modules in the following agri-preneurial subjects: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business; Planting Strategies and Farm Design to Maximize Economic Yield and Minimize Financial Inputs; Employment and Human Resources Training; ValueAdded Processing; legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. -- 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed 150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, over a 4-month training period, culminating in their Certificate in Applied Agroecology as our first graduates -- All 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed their business plans and presented them to family, colleagues and community members in our first graduation ceremony -- All 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates engaged deeply in participatory evaluation procedures at each project site upon completing the certification -- All 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates received hands-on training at PJs network of incubator farms, buffered with classroom-learning through MESA's online curriculum, to learn and practice proven strategies for building topsoil fertility, rehydrating farm ecosystems through on-farm water harvesting and conservation strategies, increasing biodiversity, preserving and creating new wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats and reduction and mitigation of on-farm CO2. These activities were accomplished through sustainable biomass recycling, mulching, on-farm water catchment, installation of water harvesting contoured swales, creating wildlife, pollinator, and beneficial predator habitats, and diversified planting strategies including integrating native plant habitat within productive farm plans. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Via our website, national conferences, social media, and mass emails to 15,000 local supporters What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?-- Enroll 40 socially disadvantaed beginning farmerparticipants in the next 2 cohorts -- Educate 50 currently incarcerated in our in-prison beginning farmer training program. -- Mobilize 4socially disadvantaged farmers to launch new urban and peri-urban farm startup businesses -- Employ five new farmers in an established community-based organization --Link 5 beginning farmers with experienced farmersfor paid on-farm apprenticeships

IMPACT: 2015/09/01 TO 2016/08/31
What was accomplished under these goals? -- 30 currently incarcerated participants completed our introductory in-prison beginning farmer training, preparing them to participate in this project's Certificate in Applied Agroecology program upon their release from prison. 12 week course, 30 graduates, 36 hours/participant -- Recruited our first cohort of socially disadvantaged farmers through our ongoing in-prison farmer-training programs at San Quentin Prison and Santa Rita Jail and through our Pathways to Resilience Re-entry program -- Hired 2 full-time educators to lead the Certificate in Applied Agroecology program; who subsequently completed the first iteration of the 20 modules that comprise Certificate in Applied Agroecology training program -- Enrolled 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers as participants in the Certificate in Applied Agroecology program (Cohort 1), including the handson experiential training components of the program which take place on urban incubation farms in the PJ network: The Urban Resilience Farm in El Sobrante and the Urban Nursery and Aquaponics Farm in East Oakland -- 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed curriculum modules in the following agri-preneurial subjects: Writing your Farm Business Plan; Getting Start-up Financing/Securing Access to Capital; Securing Access to Land and Managing and Growing your Farm Business; Planting Strategies and Farm Design to Maximize Economic Yield and Minimize Financial Inputs; Employment and Human Resources Training; ValueAdded Processing; legal considerations, direct marketing, customer relations, and local market analysis. -- 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed 150 hours of combined hands-on training and educational courses, over a 4-month training period, culminating in their Certificate in Applied Agroecology as our first graduates -- All 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmers completed their business plans and presented them to family, colleagues and community members in our first graduation ceremony -- All 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates engaged deeply in participatory evaluation procedures at each project site upon completing the certification -- All 15 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates received hands-on training at PJs network of incubator farms, buffered with classroom-learning through MESA's online curriculum, to learn and practice proven strategies for building topsoil fertility, rehydrating farm ecosystems through on-farm water harvesting and conservation strategies, increasing biodiversity, preserving and creating new wildlife corridors and pollinator habitats and reduction and mitigation of on-farm CO2. These activities were accomplished through sustainable biomass recycling, mulching, on-farm water catchment, installation of water harvesting contoured swales, creating wildlife, pollinator, and beneficial predator habitats, and diversified planting strategies including integrating native plant habitat within productive farm plans. -- 2 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates have agreed to serve as educators and peer mentors for Cohort 2, beginning in January 2016 -- 8 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates obtained living wage employment with Planting Justice upon completion of the program, as fully employed urban farmers -- 5 formerly incarcerated or otherwise socially disadvantaged beginning farmer graduates are in the process of being matched with on-farm apprenticeships that are specifically aligned with their proposed project to deepen their educational experiences with established and successful local farmers

PUBLICATIONS: 2015/09/01 TO 2016/08/31
No publications reported this period.