This program deploys an interdisciplinary approach to exposing youth to environmental and land stewardship through sustainable farming, entrepreneurship, and a vision of futurity that incorporates explorations of agriculture careers in urban and rural settings by engaging with agroecology. Defined as a practice that encourages a holistic approach to agriculture that aims to incorporate ecological, economic, and curiosity to design and manage sustainable food systems, the program will locate themes in the history of agriculture as a pathway for the participants to identify with their potential in the area of focus.
This project is based at the Center for Africana Studies and Culture (CASC) and Indiana University Indianapolis. CASC has been intentional about including sustainability into its inquiry and praxis as it relates to Black people’s lived experiences. The partner representing rural farming is Legacy Taste of the Garden (LTG) in Princeton, Indiana, that will help coordinate the effort by providing a site of learning and instruction around sustainable farming for the youth. Representing urban farming will be the Agrilab program at the Kheprw Institute, which provides experiential experiences for the participants in the program. All of the partners coordinate and implement the curriculum, provide facilitation in agribusiness, and help develop the aspects of futurity interwoven into the fabric of the project. LTG deploys its background as a legacy farming operation that is committed to passing on generational knowledge about how to obtain a lifestyle in agriculture, entrepreneurship, and self-sustainability. Kheprw Institute, an organization that is deeply committed to community empowerment, and its Agrilab, which expands food justice and entrepreneurship initiatives to create a culture of sustainability and growth rooted in community empowerment. Its urban farm, Octavia’s Visionary Campus, is a site of learning for the participants where they can have practical experience that merges theory with active learning.