Urban Agriculture and Embodied Stewardship Immersion Training Program

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Low-income communities in LA County have limited access to green space, opportunities to connect with nature, and mental health support. Green Arrow Co-Lab’s (GAC) targeted population within these geographic areas – youth impacted by the criminal legal system – suffer from disproportionately high levels of mental health challenges. Justice system involvement is a major determinant of lower levels of health equity, youth development, and community well-being. This disproportionately impacts BIPOC communities in LA County: over 90% of the youth population on active probation supervision, including those in custody, are Latinx or Black. Systems-impacted youth deserve mental health and wellness services that are culturally-tailored, trauma-informed, and focused on communal well-being. Unfortunately, LA County lacks such services. Our project specifically seeks to address a gap in current approaches that provide resources without attending to the development of the whole person.

GAC has successfully provided programming to over 270 youth ages 14-26. Our land-based educational programs include trauma healing techniques, restorative urban agricultural practices, career exploration, job training, leadership development, cooking classes, and garden stewardship.
GAC's recently launched Urban Agriculture and Embodied Stewardship Immersion Training Program is designed to incorporate cognitive, somatic, nature-based, and trauma-informed healing practices into an urban agriculture gardening curriculum.
Our curriculum aims to support justice-involved youth with regulating their nervous systems, building and expanding resiliency, learning land stewardship and food development, and providing opportunities for potential agricultural careers.
Participants engage in the program with a cohort of peers for 18 weeks wherein they engage in urban agriculture and healing/mental health training twice a week for 3 hours each session plus self study work including mindfulness practices and application of learnings in their daily life. They will gain an understanding of the impact of trauma, intergenerational trauma, racialized harms on mind, body and spirit, and the restorative process of healing. By developing this program from years of feedback from our community members about their needs and desires, we have developed a health-equity minded curriculum that centers healing within the body and mind.

Over the next three years, 50+ program participants will go on to work with 200+ system-impacted youth at our 6+ sites across the region, continuing the work of advancing access to mental health services, empowering job opportunities, and fresh food for our LA communities. As a result of our work, LA County will see formerly incarcerated youth leading fulfilling careers in urban agriculture and community support services, an expansion of our earth-based healing curriculum for more systems-impacted youth across LA County, and better access to fresh foods for youth and communities impacted by food apartheid. The County will be a more equitable, resilient, and environmentally just place to live—particularly for historically marginalized communities that have borne the brunt of environmental and systemic harm. Neighborhoods that face systemic disinvestment will instead be models of community power and holistic wellness.