Green Corps Urban Youth Program

Cleveland Botanical Garden's Green Corps Urban Youth Program will provide 55 Cleveland teens in 2008 and 70 teens in 2009 with project-based learning in urban horticulture and entrepreneurship. Teens will plant, cultivate, and harvest fresh produce in five urban neighborhood gardens part-time from May ' October, sell the produce at farmers' markets, and produce bottled foods using their harvest. The primary goal of Cleveland Botanical Garden's Green Corps Urban Youth Program is to help urban youth break the cycle of poverty that plagues many inner-city families by providing Cleveland teens with real-world educational, vocational, and social competence skills needed to achieve educational and/or workforce success. A second goal of Green Corps is to expand the program's capacity to serve more urban teens by establishing a new learning garden in 2009 in another Cleveland neighborhood. Green Corps engages and inspires urban youth through transformative experiences. Students learn essential 21st century skills such as: information, communication, problem-solving, interpersonal, collaboration, accountability, social responsibility; financial, economic and business literacy; and entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to better succeed as effective citizens, workers, and leaders. Progress will be measured by students' attainment of horticultural, educational, social, marketing, and financial skills in authentic settings during their employment. During the project's second year, Green Corps will create a fifth urban garden and track the number of students re-applying to the program. NCA/NCF