Youth Greening Oakland

This year, PUEBLO has expanded its summer youth program Urban Youth Harvest into an educational, job training program called Youth Greening Oakland. This year, fifteen Oakland young people are learning urban garden design, how to build compost and worm boxes, mulching, composting and permaculture skills.
Working in partnership with the Oakland Unified School District, the City of Oakland's Parks & Recreation Department, the HOPE collaborative and supported by private foundations, PUEBLO has designed a full curriculum that employs students with knowledge of food justice, skills in gardening and landscaping, nutrition and culinary skills, as well as community building and outreach.
This summer's eight week program has focused on parks in East Oakland: Stonehurst, Madison and Tassafaronga, and has also supported the work of the Green Pioneers' garden at Castlemont High School. Most of the students live in these neighborhoods and are helping to bring improvements to their own community. Their outreach to the surrounding residents will help to ensure that the work that's being done this summer is sustainable by the community and that the residents nearby have input into the plans for these parks going forward.
PUEBLO is hoping to continue this work year-round as an after-school program and/or in conjunction with in-school curricula being offered in middle and high schools in Oakland.
These photos tell the story:

Created: 07-22-2011