Young Women of Color in the Pittsburgh Urban Farming Community

 Young Women of Color in the Pittsburgh Urban Farming Community is a paid  environmental education and urban gardening internship for young, women of  color ages 16-30 in the East End of Pittsburgh. This program partners with a  local, youth employment agency to hire the young women The teens, mentored  by a college-level female project director, will be growing their own food, selling  at local farmer’s market and learning the details of owning and operating a local  farm business. These internships will also be significant in providing nutrition  education to the young girls and to re-establish a relationship with healthy food,  local choices in food and ways of cooking the healthy food they grow.

Summer Internship Program takes youth 14-18 and places them at Healcrest for 8 weeks during the summer. For 25 hours per week, they are immersed into a positive gardening culture in which they learn to communicate effectively, accomplish tasks as a group, learn basic and some detailed skills in permaculture and biodynamic gardening. The youth are supported and mentor through the summer through educational sessions in which community leaders in the green and art sectors visit the youth on the farm and discuss opportunities for their future. Each day the youth evaluate the previous days experience and learn from each other the challenges and rewards of growing food. They also learn the entrepreneurial side of growing local food. By working the weekly market and learning how prep, bundle and package the product to make it appealing to the customer. You can email us at healcrestfarm@aol.com