GrASSROOTS Growers Alliance

Since 2011, The Paideia Urban Agriculture program has used our school farm as an educational platform to support curriculum and promote education through agricultural experiences. They employ regenerative farming practices to bolster hands-on student learning. Through the lens of food and farming, we also highlight the importance of community and the benefits of having healthy, sustainable food for everyone. These experiences connect students to other communities, and to the land that sustains them.

Since June 2018 this 2,000 square foot farm has had producing vegetable beds and a food forest operating on an old sports field. In this short time, students have grown and harvested hundreds of pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables. The farm also provides an educational platform that strengthens curriculum with hands-on learning that allows students to thrive. The farm also connects students to food, to the natural world, and to the community in which they live. Although the students and their families have been disconnected for generations, the GGA is creating bridges that connect this community to resources, opportunities and healthy food.

Women’s Metro Atlanta Transitional Center Food Garden and Training Program. This farm and agricultural training program began in 2019 to assist women who are transitioning out of the prison system. Program participants attend monthly workshops (assisted by Paideia High School students) that focus on agricultural skills training, horticultural therapy, and health and wellness. The primary goals of this program are to foster meaningful relationships between our communities while learning to grow and run an urban farm. We also equip the women with agricultural job skills that help to ensure successful transitions out of the prison system. The GGA lets these women become part of something transformational, allowing them to transcend the walls of the prison system as they work to build out a more equitable food system for everyone.