The G.R.OWN Foods program (1) Helps girls learn about and practice healthy nutrition for themselves through gardening, which also provides critical outdoor activity and exercise; and (2) Offers a hands-on entrepreneurship opportunity for girls to plan and run their own Farmers' Market business.
78% of girls want to become entrepreneurs, but 34% of them don't know where to start, and 29% fear failure. Girls are also disproportionately experiencing poor nutrition and body image-related anxiety. Poor nutrition in children and adolescents leads to poor brain and body development, and hampers learning.
G.R.OWN Foods gets girls outside in their own garden, teaches them about healthy food sources and choices, and allows them to design and cultivate foods for their tables and for sale. Our program also makes tangible their dreams of business ownership by teaching them how to plan for and run a Farmer's Market business.
The girls' education and experiences in the program will lead to (1) healthier personal and family nutrition and outdoor exercise choices; (2) greater appreciation for challenges to healthy food supplies locally and globally; (3) inspiration to advocate for food security and healthy eating right where they live; (4) the skills and confidence to build and expand businesses of their own in the future; and (5) a sisterhood of like-minded positive peers.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
