The Food Project
For 15 years, The Food Project has been bringing young people from the city and the suburbs together to make a difference in the lives of people in the Greater Boston area. Each year, a diverse group of sixty youth, ages 14-16, enter The Food Project's Summer Youth Program and work to grow and distribute thousands of pounds of organic produce for people in need. Working in crews of eight to ten, these youth gain invaluable life and job skills of teamwork, accountability, civic participation, and communication.
During the seven and a half week program, youth manage a 31-acre rural farm and a two and a half acre plot of remediated urban land; they sell produce through two urban farmers' markets and a Community Supported Agriculture program; they prepare and serve lunches in local soup kitchens and homeless shelters; and they help some of Boston's top chefs prepare community lunches, where neighbors, youth, staff, and visitors come together to share the harvest. Youth also participate in four workshops each week, covering issues of diversity awareness, hunger and homelessness, sustainable agriculture, and personal reflection.
The teens that come to The Food Project are from a variety of ethnic and economic backgrounds. For many, it is their first job. However they are all looking for the same things: a paying job, meaningful work - something that contributes to their community, a chance to meet other teens and the opportunity to be outdoors during the summer.
Motivating youth to do farm work can be challenging. Farm work is not considered the cool thing to do. Image is a large concern for teens and weeding and getting hot and sweaty are not attractive to young people. However, The Food Project has skilled leaders working with our young people, who are masters at engaging and inspiring them to do this work and to come together as a community.
The Food Project is about young people working side by side on the land producing food for the hungry, learning together and relying on one another. It is our view that experiencing - first hand - the value of labor, service and collaboration contributes to building a diverse and effective community and develops a young person's self respect and respect for their peers.