Eat, Learn, Grow: Enrichment for Underserved LA High Schoolers

K-12 STEAM education

Pilot or new project, program, or initiative (testing or implementing a new idea)

LA has a rich history of community gardens dating back to the early 20th century. In the post-war era, these gardens became a way for urban residents, particularly in underserved areas, to access fresh produce and green space. Today, community gardens in LA serve as vital spaces for education, recreation, and social interaction, contributing to the overall wellbeing of communities. Despite their importance, there is limited access as green spaces–especially in low- and middle-income neighborhoods–are disappearing rapidly. High crime, poverty, food insecurity–at-risk teens from underserved communities face constant hardship daily. Extracurricular activities play a crucial role in the development of underserved youth, fostering unity and social skills, enhancing academic and life skills, and increasing community pride and engagement. Establishing vineyards in underserved schools reestablishes lost history and increases neighborhood pride, informing how youth treat their community.

Plant the Vine will establish a pilot program in an underserved LAUSD high school. CAKE works with the 20 lowest-achieving schools in Los Angeles, offering a Healthy Life Enrichment Series focused on hands-on experience in culinary, healing, and entrepreneurial arts. Plant the Vine would partner with CAKE to create a multidisciplinary enrichment program pairing the history and impact of the grape in Los Angeles with the creation of nutritious meals. Plant the Vine will educate students about the history of Los Angeles as seen through the city’s viticultural past, with lessons ranging from pre-colonial history to DNA sequencing and climate change. Lessons will include hands-on components, with students splitting into smaller groups to either tend vines or cook grape-based dishes. Students will develop a grape-centered cookbook called Heard It Through the Grapevine , writing personal narratives alongside their recipes. Youth will pair Los Angeles heritage and their own personal narrative to build a more equitable future. When youth can see how they fit into the vibrancy that is Los Angeles, they begin to take pride in themselves and their community. Activities include workshops in:
Care of native & historic grapevines
Culinary arts
Regional cuisine where food is used for healing
Personal narrative
Cookbook content creation Students learn:
How history & food shape their lives
Culinary arts & food styling
Information on food and spices
Creative writing
Cookbook creation

There is a powerful link between how a person views their city, how they view themselves, and how they treat that city and the people in it. Neighborhoods with strong, supportive community environments foster better educational outcomes by reducing aggression and delinquency, both of which are associated with lower educational success. Enhanced community pride can increase feelings of responsibility and belonging among residents, which plays a critical role in crime reduction: communities with strong social ties and a high level of trust among residents are better equipped to implement informal social controls, which are essential for preventing crime. Positive perceptions of one's neighborhood are also associated with better health outcomes. With the simple but potent act of educating underserved students about the history of their city and engaging them in grape culture, we hope to empower them to sow knowledge, community pride, and greenery back into their neighborhoods.

Plant the Vine is committed to using data to continuously improve our programming. Our pilot program will be measured as follows:
Pre-surveys will be administered to student participants at the start of our pilot program (September 2024). These surveys will be 10-question inventories that measure each participant’s baseline pride in and perception of their city using Likert scale scoring.
Post-surveys will be administered following the conclusion of the pilot program at the end of the school year (Spring 2025). These surveys will feature the same 10 questions, and will be used as a point of comparison against students’ initial responses to assess the impact of the program.
Each survey will also leave room for qualitative feedback, soliciting feedback for components of the program that work well and components that could use improvement. Qualitative feedback will inform suggestions about how to make the program more impactful and what students would be excited to see included.

CAKE is an organization with years of experience. CAKE enriches, engages, and educates students on life skills through practical knowledge and hands-on experience in the culinary arts and restaurant hospitality industry. Through CAKE’s programs, youth are empowered with confidence and professional skills to enter the workforce and become ambassadors of health and wellness to their families and communities. CAKE will provide education about the nutritional aspects of grapes and grape products, teach students recipes involving grapes, and assist them in the creation of recipes for the cookbook. CAKE’s work will help increase student consumption of healthy, nutritious, delicious foods and increase awareness of how climate, culture, and food shape their lives.