TEENS FOR FOOD JUSTICE INC
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Mission Statement
Teens for Food Justice (TFFJ) fights food insecurity and diet-related disease through school-based, youth-led hydroponic farming, providing local, sustainably-grown produce to food desert communities and building health equity for all New Yorkers and beyond. TFFJ works within NYC Title I middle and high schools in food desert communities, training students to build/maintain indoor hydroponic farms, each capable of growing up to 10,000 pounds of produce annually, that is served daily at school lunch and distributed to the surrounding community’s food-insecure residents. Further, students learn/master nutrition/health skills to share with peers/neighbors, empowering them to lead themselves and others towards healthier futures.
About This Cause
TFFJ's program serves NYC Title I middle and high school students with curricular day STEM class integration with the farm and out-of-school-time food justice advocacy activities to support their academic, social, and emotional development. Students build and help manage our hydroponic farms, each of which can grow more than 10,000 pounds of produce annually, and all farm activities align with STEM curricula as well as state math/science standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Our model also includes comprehensive nutrition and health education and food justice advocacy skills training, which help students become educated consumers and creators of solutions to food inequity. - Curricular Day STEM Class Integration: TFFJ engages youth in all aspects of hydroponic farming, enabling them to grow up to 10,000 pounds of produce annually per farm as they integrate this content into their daily STEM classes co-taught by a TFFJ Hydroponic Farmer-Educator. - Food Justice Afterschool Program: TFFJ trains youth in nutrition/health as well as food policy, access, and advocacy. Students become educated consumers and creators of solutions to food inequity while supporting their academic, social, and emotional development. - Community Food Distribution: TFFJ distributes student-grown produce into each campus cafeteria daily and engages students to help lead ongoing food distribution initiatives for their communities. While New York City is home to many programs focused on youth and/or urban agriculture, TFFJ’s program is unique in its comprehensive approach to employing those elements as tools for food equity. We teach students how to grow healthy produce through a model that: provides a hands-on experiential laboratory for STEM and sustainability education; offers real, daily results and outcomes for youth; empowers students to become advocates for food justice within their communities; transforms what students consume at lunch every day into a healthier menu provided by the youth themselves; and gives food-insecure communities increased, immediate access to affordable healthy produce. TFFJ operates five farms in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan, serving 18 schools and 7,000 students and growing nearly 36,000 pounds of produce annually. Two more farms will be operational in the spring or summer of 2023, serving five additional schools and 2,500 additional students and bringing TFFJ’s total annual production to over 52,000 pounds of fresh produce.