Shaping the Future of Flint with Garden-Based Education

MACKENZIE THROWER, Crim Fitness Foundation Nutrition Program Manager

Flint, Michigan has long been in the national spotlight as a post-industrial failure. This community, with its crumbling infrastructure, lead-tainted water, and low performing school districts, paints a bleak picture for the future of what was once an epicenter of industrial might. Despite these crisis centered headlines, the residents of Flint share an optimistic view of their community and its future.

Today, Flint is a model of sustainable development and resilience thanks to the work of incredible community members. Flint’s new Master Plan is trenched in equity, community involvement and sustainability. Downtown development has exploded, supporting small business development and an effort to replace condemned properties with green spaces is transforming neighborhoods . Despite this important progress, Flint’s youth continue to bear the brunt of the problems inherited from previous generations.

To support youth in Flint, FoodCorps, a national nonprofit focused on increasing students’ access to and knowledge of healthy foods, has service members in the city’s schools. Each public school now features dedicated garden space with a FoodCorps service member providing education to support a school-wide culture of health. FoodCorps has been involved in the Flint community for nearly a decade. Over that time, student familiarity with and preference for fruits and vegetables have steadily increased.

The Crim Fitness Foundation, a community-based non-profit in Flint, hosts five FoodCorps service members and runs the Crim Gardens program. This program rekindles the narrative of good food in the context of family and community. FoodCorps members use the Crim Gardens curriculum which provides tools for hands-on learning in the garden, classrooms and lunchroom. Development and improvement of school garden sites, in collaboration with the FoodCorps program, ensures consistent garden-based nutrition education for Flint students. Simultaneously with this program, there has been a tenfold increase in the number of community and teaching gardens in Flint. With the assistance of local funding, Crim Gardens continues to incorporate a common-core tied curriculum with standardized garden features and educational signage throughout its 10 sites. Integrating local food production and healthy eating into a normal school day supports our youth to do the great things that this city needs to continue its ascent.

Contact Mackenzie Thrower if you're interested in supporting Garden-Based education in Flint at mthrower@crim.org. Find out more about the various programs offered by the Crim Fitness Foundation at www.crim.org.