Youth Allies’ Food Project is designed to 1) Educate the community about the ecological, economic, and health benefits of local, sustainable food; 2) Promote self-reliance through community gardening and local food production; 3) Help close the food gap by improving access for low-income communities to growing opportunities as well as healthy, organic food sources.

• The project includes research and training in sustainable food production for the youth leaders of the project including partnerships with the Santa Fe Community Farm, Kitchen Angels, and Farmer’s Market.

• Youth garden plots at three community gardens in the City of Santa Fe where youth host service-learning workdays with schools and other youth organizations to share what they’ve learned and engage others in local food production.

• Five Edible and Medicinal native species garden plots used to educate the community about local ethnobotany.

• Food Not Bombs which combines food from our gardens with food diverted from the waste-stream of local grocers in healthy, hot meals served to homeless and others in need at community parks. Food Not Bombs meals also includes educational presentations and literature about sustainability and food production.

The project design includes youth garden plots at three community gardens and five additional edible/medicinal demonstration gardens, 3-5 youth-organized community garden workdays throughout the year reaching at least 100 people, peer education trainings conducted in the Santa Fe Public Schools and Food Not Bombs meals at least twice monthly throughout the year.