More on our involvement with Mendocino County's kids and school gardens

For everyone who expressed an interest in the school gardens, here is some more information for you.

GENE, the garden-based nutrition education program, serves 32 schools from preschool to 12th grade in Mendocino County. The Gardens Project of North Coast Opportunities' Community Action Agency is proud to work with these school gardens, and together we reach more than 8,000 students and 1,000 families through gardening and nutrition events each year. This year federal funding for the program ended, putting these gardens at risk of closing.

The U.S. has an obesity epidemic, and we believe educating children about where their food comes from is more important now than ever. We hope to raise enough money to hire a garden coordinator for each school in order to keep the gardens alive and the students growing their own food.

Help fight childhood obesity and keep the gardens alive.

Creating Access to Local, Organic Food 

The Gardens Project is the coordinating agency for The Gardens Network, and facilitates the development of community-supported gardens throughout Mendocino County. 

Additionally, we support various projects including After School Nutrition Programs, Farm-to-Cafeteria, Food Stamp Outreach, and our Food Policy Council. The Gardens Project relieves hunger and inadequate nutrition in low-income neighborhoods, senior communities, schools, and youth enterprise projects by providing: 

• Education: We teach methods for growing organic food, as well as its nutritional, social, and economic benefits. We also offer leadership training for garden members and organizers.
• Nutrition/Physical Health. We do our best to bring a nutritious food supply to individuals, children, and families in a physically engaging, community-supported environment.
• Economic Development. We work to provide people with life-long, transferable, and self-sustaining skills in food production, cooking, surplus food sales, and reducing household food costs