By Chelsea Royer
Lately, I have been learning a lot about youth development in Grays Harbor County. It is a cause close to my heart and something that makes me feel excited and motivated to get involved. When speaking to those who work in the field of youth development, you’ll hear the common threads of societal issues. And though drugs, alcohol, and homelessness are all very serious problems, something often near the root of these is the issue of personal care and nutrition.
In Grays Harbor, we seem to be stretching between opposing ends of the spectrum: the obstacle of obesity and the dilemma of hunger and poverty. Either kids aren’t getting enough food or they are getting too much in the way of processed junk. The easy part is acknowledging that, “Houston, we have a problem.” The more challenging aspect is coming up with a solution. Sometimes, the best way to go about things is to borrow successful concepts from others and adjust them to fit our own needs.
The GRuB (Garden Raised Bounty) Youth Program is a Thurston County-based program with the following principles: “Through our GRuB in the Schools Initiative, disengaged and/or low-income students earn credits while learning about and contributing to their local food systems. We focus on the themes of Farming Self (personal development), Farming Land (sustainable land stewardship), and Farming Community (civic engagement & community service).”
Karolyn Holden, Matthew Zimmerman and Catherine Corkery are all employees of Grays Harbor Public Health and Social Services. After learning about GRuB, the team became excited to implement a “baby” program within Grays Harbor and titled it, “Cultivating Roots.”
An eight-week summer program, ten youth crew members will be recruited to start involvement by July 1. Zimmerman explains, “The program’s mission is to empower the youth to be part of community solutions. We base it on the GRuB concepts of, Farming Self, Farming Land, and Farming Community. In theory, if all aspects of our program work together, it’ll result in youth who have developed these skills for attaining their education and vocational goals as well as helping them become a part of community solutions.”
Holden adds, “The goal is to take youth from an awareness of their own situation…for instance maybe at my house food is an issue, but it’s also a social issue and what can I do at a community level to make things better? We’re excited to be giving youth the realization that they can have a voice at the table and be a part of a bigger solution…It’s really about empowerment.”
Thanks to their partnership with the Housing Authority of Grays Harbor and the involvement of Lisa Boone and Jerry Raines, Cultivating Roots was given a home base. Complete with a fence and raised beds, Zimmerman was enthused to report the local involvement when it came to donating materials. With approximately nine local businesses contributing to lumber, tools, soil, gravel and other building materials, the project has truly become a group effort.
Zimmerman expressed just how large a part the Housing Authority has played in the Cultivating Roots development by saying, “They’ve been amazing throughout the whole process. When we first started and we were looking for a place to go, they gave us this field and we built our garden and then they were like, ‘oh, do you need a place to store your stuff?’ and they built us an amazing shed. Every obstacle that we come into contact with they’re just knocking it aside for us.”
Beginning with plant-starts, tended by Mike Machowek and his horticulture class at Aberdeen High School, Cultivating Roots teens will spend between twelve and eighteen hours a week working in the community garden. Every other week, they will head out on a field trip to local farms, other community gardens, food banks, and the like. Students will be educated as to the entire food cycle – from how its grown and distributed, to how it nourishes. With a strong focus on leadership skills, Holden is hopeful that alumni from this year will be prepared to have a positive influence over the students of next year.
The program is designed to continue, grow, and spread. What makes me so excited about Cultivating Roots is the thought of how many layers it reaches. The problem isn’t just about food and it makes sense that the solution shouldn’t be single-faceted either. Cultivating Roots targets the why and the how of nutrition and food growth. It targets leadership skills, the concept of labor and reward and educating individuals to look beyond themselves to the greater problem. Not only does it have the potential to succeed, it has the potential for being an excellent model to future projects.
For more information, email Catherine Corkery at ccorkery@co.grays-harbor.wa.us.
