Learning Gardens Institute

Learning Gardens Institute - Strategic Plan

What resources can we provide?

1. Guides to best practices and processes

Print and web-based information for site-based initiatives
Site-based needs and assets assessment
Site-based analysis and planning
Background in concepts of eco-literacy
Strategies for sustaining staff and community commitment

2. Trainings

Staff development
Gardening basics
Curriculum development and implementation

3. On-going support

Consultancy
Links to available resources

To whom will these resources be provided?

Schools (pre-K-12; esp. K-8)
Colleges
Afterschool programs
Summer camps

With whom will we facilitate partnerships?

Schools
Garden organizations
Government agencies
Businesses

How will we facilitate partnerships?

Networking with other organizations
Host regular meetings of teacher interest groups
Grant writing
Informational "open house" style meetings
Community outreach

Development - Phase 1 - 2008-2010

The work of the Learning Gardens Institute will include the following components:

Curriculum development
Continuing education
Leadership conferences or think-tanks
Educational research

LGI will pursue the first three components during its first two active years, while laying the foundation for site-based research to be conducted in subsequent years.

School and Community Involvement

Develop local leadership at schools capable of sustaining these garden and food programs on an independent basis by involving parents, neighbors and businesses in a supportive multicultural, intergenerational community dedicated to the long-term success of food and garden programs at each school.
Develop partnerships with existing school Site Councils, which oversee the full scope of each school program and exercise some decision-making power.
Develop an interactive tool to evaluate each school's site potential and community assets in developing its program.

Teacher involvement

Develop site-specific, classroom-based garden and food-based programs that can serve as models for other schools. These program models will serve as a resource in offering consultancy service to other schools and organizations.
Develop working relationships with three or four Portland schools during the next two years, targeting schools that show evidence of strong or emerging staff leadership in food- and garden-based education.
Generate and collect baseline data for use in longitudinal research on the impacts of food and garden-based education on students and their families.

Utilization and Dissemination of Information

Develop an LGI website that will serve as an ongoing resource for information about our initiatives as well as links to related research and supportive organizations in order to provide other schools with replicable process models for similar programs.
Media will be developed to document the process of school and community involvement in garden- and food-related projects.
LGI will develop a variety of media that highlights research on place-based and project-based learning, connections to the Oregon standards and pictures of students in action.