EFG Champion Program

In this stipended role, the EFG Champions lead garden management, maintenance, and use of the school site’s existing educational garden space(s) and its harvest. They connect their school garden, school food, Harvest of the Month and other programs together to promote access to nutritious food like fruits and vegetables at school for students, families, and staff. They do this in alignment with The Center.

An EFG Champion is someone who is: 

• Passionate about integrating gardening, food, and the environment into the school community. 

• Committed to making a culture shift at their school site around health and wellness for students, staff and families. 

• Emboldened to nurture a positive school and community food culture and promote school programs that encompass food/nutrition security and education around those topics. 

• Motivated to lift up environmental issues as they pertain to school grounds, gardens, food, and sustainability on their campus and in their community.

Who is eligible to be an Environment, Food, & Garden (EFG) Champion?

• Any school with an existing edible food garden with a commitment to completing requirements of the program throughout the year is eligible.

• Two (2)* members of the school community can apply to be part of an EFG school team, collaborating and working together to achieve common school-wide goals associated with the key elements of the EFG champion program. 

• 1 of your site’s EFG Champions must be a teacher or garden educator employed through the school. 

  • • If your site has a garden educator, this person should be an EFG Champion.

    • If your site has a community-based partner organization working on EFG components half-time to full-time, then that partner representative should be identified as the site’s second EFG Champion.  Please note all partner organizations should have an active and up-to-date contract with OUSD. 

    • School sites who have been identified as FoodCorps Service Member host sites can apply for only one (1) EFG Champion. The FCSM will act as the second EFG Champion for those school sites.

Note: Per the OUSD Policy, all schools with a school garden are required to have and identify a designated garden liaison aka person-of-record by the start of the school year even if they choose not to opt into this formalized EFG Champion program. This person-of-record will need to be identified and communicated to the District Garden Council. 

Learn more by reviewing the EFG Champion Program Overview for 2025-26!