Community Food Education supports the health and wellbeing of communities experiencing poverty. We educate kids and adults about growing, buying, cooking, and eating nutritious foods. To further support this, we help make local, institutional changes that support the health of the communities we work with – and we center food as a tool to build community and work toward social justice.
Topics on this page:
COOKING MATTERS
Cooking Matters provides a six-week class series on healthy cooking skills, nutrition education, and food budgeting for adults, teens, and families living on low incomes. Each class is led by a team of three trained volunteers – Cooking Facilitator, Nutrition Facilitator, and Class Assistant – who work alongside a staff coordinator to facilitate fun, lively, interactive, and informative classes. Participants engage in educational activities and help prepare a shared meal.
Cooking Matters is a partnership of Solid Ground, the national anti-hunger organization Share Our Strength, and the No Kid Hungry Campaign.
FARM-BASED EDUCATION
Marra Farm Giving Garden
Since 1996, Solid Ground has cultivated a 3/4-acre Giving Garden on historic urban farmland at Marra Farm in the South Park neighborhood. Each year, community members, volunteers, and staff grow thousands of pounds of fresh, organic produce there. All the produce grown stays in the South Park community, nourishing residents via food banks, meal programs, health clinics, and other organizations.
Education
We host vibrant gardening, nutrition, and environmental education programs for young people, including hands-on field trips that engage the senses. We prioritize scheduling schools and organizations that serve a high percentage of students living on low incomes for these opportunities, and we’re proud to be able to offer them free of charge for these groups.
YOUTH EDUCATION
Solid Ground partners with elementary schools, afterschool programs, and community centers to engage students in interactive cooking, nutrition, and gardening lessons. We work in communities and schools disproportionately impacted by the inequities of our current food system, engaging students in conversations around food security, food justice, and the farm-to-table system. We recognize that no one is too young to become an advocate, so we intentionally create opportunities for learning and developing a sense of ownership of the food system.
Our lessons aim to foster positive experiences around food and nutrition, providing space for students to directly see, touch, and taste nutritious foods as they prepare recipes together. To further engage families in this work, we host Family Market Night events for elementary school students and their families to learn about the food system together.
For Current Community Food Education (CFE) Volunteers
Click the button for information on upcoming opportunities for trained CFE volunteers. (This page is for current CFE volunteers only. If you want to get trained to be a CFE volunteer, please contact volunteers@solid-ground.org.)
