About the coalition
Mission
We advocate for every California public school to have the resources, including long-term funding, to provide on-site garden-based instruction as an equitable and cost-effective way to instill environmental literacy across all grade levels.
Vision and goals
Vision
We believe that every student deserves to learn about the natural world around them through hands-on outdoor learning experiences that help young people become environmentally literate.
Main goal
Secure sustainable funding to install, maintain, and lead instruction in experiential school garden programs* statewide at all public schools for every grade band (TK-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12).
*We recognize and support all kinds of instructional school garden spaces (edible gardens, greenhouses, hydroponics, native habitat, pollinator gardens and more) as living classrooms, each with its own educational outcomes.
Sub-goal
Establish a system of support for launching and sustaining school garden programs, with a statewide infrastructure for leadership.
Three strategies
Government Relations
We work with the Legislature and state agencies
We work with legislators and state agencies on sustainable funding for school garden education, including the California Department of Education (CDE) on the rollout of California's Kitchen Infrastructure and Training (KIT) Fund.
Impact
We gather the evidence
We conduct research, gather evidence and publish case studies on what school garden programs do, and identify best practices for installing, maintaining and teaching in them across California.
Network
We connect the organizations doing the work
We cultivate a network of organizations across the state that support school garden instruction, and a shared vision for it.
The issue and the solution
The issue: school garden education programs do not have sustainable funding
California students face challenges to their health and their learning, and not every student equally: lower achievement, less enthusiasm for school, and more obesity, diabetes and anxiety. Climate change and extreme weather make them worse. A plugged-in screen culture cuts young people off from the natural world on top of it.
School garden programs answer all of these, and the research says so (our annotated bibliography collects the studies). But the lack of funding, of district awareness and buy-in, and of qualified instructors means only a few California public school students get the benefits.
The solution: fund the people who teach in the garden
Garden-based instruction is a cost-effective and equitable way to connect students with the natural world. It builds environmental literacy, agency and the knowledge young people will need for the climate they inherit. It gives every student access to nature, raises curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, puts healthy food in front of them, and eases anxiety through learning outdoors.
Who does what in the coalition
The leadership team is a self-selecting group of organizations with deep experience building school gardens and the programs that teach in them. It sets the strategy and runs our meetings and communications. The case studies, tools and resources come from it too.
The broader coalition is the member organizations and educators who support school garden education. The founding partners are the members who started it.
The ecosystem is anyone interested in our work: individuals and organizations that focus on school gardens but cannot commit to membership right now, and those working on neighboring ground, such as schoolyard greening and outdoor learning. Advisors are people and organizations with experience winning state funds, who meet with us as needed.
Leadership team
Rachel Black
Executive Director, Garden School Foundation
Grey Kolevzon
Co-Director, Growing Together
John Fisher
Director of Programs & Partnerships, Life Lab
Vicki Moore
Founder, Living Classroom
Linda Livers
Project Manager, SustainConsulting, LLC
Marjie Zarinelli
Curriculum Developer, California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (CFAITC)
Anna Jackson
Executive Director, Ventura County Farm to School
Member organizations
Members are organizations and educators who support school garden education across California. They take part in advocacy and government relations, contribute to the case for school gardens (case studies, surveys, practice profiles and data), and help advance our goal of sustainable funding for school garden education. 106 member organizations are listed so far.
Members joined by sharing their own affiliations. We're reviewing how each member is listed, as an individual or on behalf of an organization, and will update the list soon.
Since February 2022
Founding partners
A self-selected group of organizations with deep experience building school gardens, running instructional programs and advocating for them came together in February 2022 to test whether a coalition could work and to prepare its launch. Partners first convened in August 2023. They ran the concept meetings and a listening tour, surveyed partners, and identified leaders. They set up the working processes and shaped the strategy, the timeline and the communications. And they produced the first case studies, the school garden data report, the annotated bibliography and the resources we still use.
