Our program was founded in 1995 by Margaret Hauptman, who wanted to provide jobs and training for homeless youth in the University District. Through her volunteer job at a drop-in center, she became aware of how street-identified youth were disenfranchised and so created a program that aimed to involve and empower youth. We started a small landscaping project and have grown into the two successful garden to market projects that we run today.
The garden is a perfect setting for a job skills training program for youth. Crewmembers learn valuable and marketable job skills in a supportive work setting. They learn how to plant, tend, and harvest organic vegetables, herbs, and flowers from seed for market, how to write a resume, cashiering, customer service, sales tracking and inventory, entrepreneurship and marketing skills, reliability, and how to be an effective employee. In addition, crew members go on field trips, participate in job-shadowing programs, learn about food security issues, perform community service projects, and cook meals using the produce that they grow.
We believe that each young adult that we work with holds the seeds of their own potential within themselves. For most, the seeds have not yet had the chance to be nurtured. Working in the garden provides an ideal medium to explore and strengthen a young person’s sense of connection with their goals, with the earth, and with their community.
