Evaluating an Initiative to Increase Youth Participation in School and Community Gardening Activities

Abstract

Across the country, youth gardening opportunities are rapidly increasing, as is the need for documentation on successful strategies for working with young people. This paper describes the evaluation of the Greener Voices project, a three-year initiative created to increase youth participation in gardening activities through consultation, resources, and information provided to adult leaders at six sites across New York and Pennsylvania. The evaluation is highlighted to encourage others to think about ways to incorporate evaluation into gardening programs. Useful strategies include starting early with evaluation planning, using an underlying program theory or logic model, collecting data through multiple methods, coordinating evaluation and program planning, building theory into evaluation, and publicizing findings. Documenting lessons learned can contribute to the knowledge base in the youth gardening field.

Teens as Teachers in the Garden: Cultivating a Sustainable Model for Teaching Healthy Living

“…Many schools are inadequately equipped with the people, funds, materials, and training needed to achieve and sustain their school garden programming goals (Hazzard, Moreno, Beall, & Zindenberg-Cherr, 2011;Hazzard et al, 2012), resulting in fallow, unused garden beds. Overcoming these barriers is paramount to implementing and maintaining garden programming that successfully promotes healthy living education (Lekies & Eames-Sheavly, 2008). Leveraging cooperative partnerships linking schools, after-school programs, and community-based organizations could provide the needed resources to support sustainable school garden programming and enhanced learning opportunities for youth, families, and community members (Robinson-O'Brien, Story, & Heim, 2009).…”