20237050840532

To build thriving, resilient social and ecological communities, we must design food and farming systems that foster ecosystem health, adapt to climate change, and demonstrate that attainment of sustainable production, equity, and justice are synergistic goals.

In this project, the University of California, Santa Cruz, California State University Monterey Bay, Hartnell College, and the Agriculture & Land-Based Training Association will join forces to train a diverse generation of leaders in food, agriculture, natural resources, and human (FANH) sciences. These collaborating institutions have a demonstrated, successful record of FANH education and training. They have long supported innovative agroecology instruction and the recruitment and retention of underserved students through skills development, job preparation, mentoring, and building a sense of belonging. Additionally, they have a history of placing students in federal, industry, non-profit, and academic positions. However, the ongoing lack of a diverse FANH workforce nationally needs further addressing.

Our overall project goals are to:

1. Provide underserved students with culturally-relevant, inclusive mentoring, and experiential learning programming that result in improved belonging, leadership skills, and successful pursuit of FANH careers.
2. Provide significant material support through scholarships, fellowships, and student employment to facilitate academic success and career development.
3. Establish a replicable, regional educational hub that forms a learning community among multiple educational levels and institutions.

We will build on our past accomplishments at UCSC and partner institutions and will meet pressing challenges through three project objectives:

1. Create meaningful experiential learning projects (ELP) that will train students and others in FANH and community-engaged research, organic agricultural production, distribution, culinary arts, and agricultural technologies, providing them with practical job skills.
2. Provide student scholarship projects (SSP) to support students with jobs, paid internships, fellowships, scholarships, housing, emergency support, culturally-relevant mentoring, and career coaching to facilitate participation in FANH activities.
3. Create outreach and engagement projects (OEP) through youth engagement, diverse learning communities, and FANH career education.

To achieve project objective 1, we will support student and participant research opportunities and internships. We will support research programs for graduate and undergraduate students, provide training in sustainable agriculture production, food distribution and marketing for undergraduate students and for limited-resource, immigrant farmworkers. We will also support students in community-based research and in youth leadership academies that connect undergraduates with farmworker families to address issues of environmental sustainability, health, and environmental racism. Additionally, we will train undergraduates, MS, and PhD students in technical skills with drone technology and with geographic information systems.

To achieve project objective 2, we will financially support students to increase recruitment, retention, and graduation. We will provide mentoring, career counseling, and student support services. We will support new PhD students with fellowships, community college students with transfer scholarships, and create a scholarship program for undergraduates. Furthermore, we will provide housing scholarships and emergency cost scholarships for room and board, books, and class supplies. We will also offer robust career counseling, student-centered, culturally-responsive mentoring, counseling, and support services to position students for success in their careers.

To address objective 3, we will focus on enhancing youth understanding and awareness of FANH careers. We will involve youth and others in the design, execution, and evaluation of our project activities. Our projects will connect students with professionals through research, production, distribution, culinary activities, community-engaged work, and agricultural technologies, exposing students to multiple careers.

We expect that our projects will provide underserved students and participants at our institutions with the technical and soft skills needed for advancing their careers. They will boost student sense of belonging and support, provide greater financial stability and confidence, and increase the number of students interested in pursuing careers in FANH fields, especially with government agencies. In sum, our project will support FANH training that is disciplinarily diverse, community-engaged, equitable, and just. This will better attract and support the diverse future agricultural workforce that society needs to transform our FANH sectors and improve the sustainability of our agricultural systems.

Santa Cruz University Of California

10.237 - From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals

Institute of Youth, Family, and Community (IYFC) [USDA - NIFA]

Santa Cruz, California 95064-1077 United States

Single Zip Code

From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals (USDA-NIFA-ARPAED-009362)