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NY Sun Works receives $500,000 USDA GRANT for urban agriculture and climate education teacher training
Welcome Back! What better way to start the new school year than with a $500,000-sized vote of confidence from the Department of Agriculture?
NY Sun Works Executive Director Manuela Zamora announced a $500,000 professional development and agricultural literacy grant (PDAL) from the US Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA) to provide teachers in partner schools with comprehensive curriculum and technical training in hydroponic farming and sustainability science. NY Sun Works joins a cohort of prestigious academic institutions that totals $7.1 million in grants among 14 awardees. The grant will also help to expand the organization’s professional learning content with new modules in classroom management practices in a hydroponic classroom setting and adapting the curriculum and classroom to support high level special needs.
“We thank the USDA for recognizing our excellence in urban agriculture and sustainability science education and providing this transformative grant to bolster professional development for science teachers at new partner schools,” said NY Sun Works Executive Director Manuela Zamora. “NY Sun Works is deeply committed to empowering our city’s extraordinary science teachers who are preparing the next generation of scientists, urban farmers and climate activists to help find solutions to climate change challenges and food insecurity in their communities.”
NY Sun Works’ three-year teacher professional learning program includes one-on-one curriculum and technical farming training and mentoring as well as group professional learning sessions throughout the school year. This “train the teacher” approach, provided by NY Sun Works’ team of educators and hydroponic farming professionals, enables teachers to confidently implement the nonprofit’s curriculum and use the hydroponic systems effectively as teaching tools, in turn supporting an optimal learning experience for the students and building student interest in and engagement with urban agriculture and the related foundational sciences.
The PDAL grant under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative’s Education and Workforce Development program trains educators and school administrators in the food and agricultural sciences, helping them to develop and apply skills necessary for integrating food and agricultural science concepts in their classes; explore science career paths in agriculture as well as cultivate mentorships with leaders and faculty at four-year institutions. For more information about the grant and recipients visit this link.
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Harlem World: Manuela Zamora Commends AFT Resolution Backing Nationwide Climate Education Initiative
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NY Sun Works Receives $100,000 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Support Climate Education
July has brought exciting news for our growing community as our Executive Director Manuela Zamora released the following statement last week after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected NY Sun Works as one of only three organizations in New York and New Jersey to receive $100,000 grants to support climate education.
“I thank and applaud the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for making a $100,000 investment in students who are living in heavily climate-burdened communities of New York City. This grant will allow NY Sun Works to deliver our urban agriculture and climate education program to 8 partner schools — four in Brooklyn, two in Queens, and two in Manhattan – building students’ proficiency in inquiry-based climate and sustainability science, enhancing their understanding of urban agriculture’s role in sustainable communities, and expanding teacher knowledge of climate and environmental science.”
“This significant commitment will support the hands-on urban farming experience and teaching of sustainability science and climate education for NYC youth while also expanding access to fresh, healthy produce for students and their families. This funding will help an estimated 1,600 students grow vegetables and herbs – seed to harvest – year round in the classroom, while improving their learning outcomes and enriching their academic career.”
“The severe heat wave happening in New York City today only underscores the fact that climate change is the most existential crisis of our lifetime. Students, teachers and educators are hungry for more sustainability science curriculum in their schools – and NY Sun Works is the only organization in New York bringing both state-of-the art hydroponic systems and comprehensive sustainability science curriculum into the public school classroom at scale. Our transformative program is proven to increase climate and environmental literacy for teachers and students. With the help of our supporters at the EPA, we are empowering a new generation of Farmer-Scientists bound to build more sustainable communities for us all.”
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School’s Out, But Sustainability Science is Always In!
Summer is officially here, which means Farmer Scientists in schools around the city are enjoying the warm weather and some fun in the sun. While most of our labs close down while students are away, some remain open through the yearly break, with plants growing from seed to harvest as temperatures soar outdoors. We’re loud and proud about our stance that sustainability should be a year-round affair, but what does it actually take to keep a Hydroponic Classroom running for 365 days and counting?
Most of our classrooms that remain open over the summer do so to support their aquaponic tank systems, which utilize fish like Tilapia to grow plants. These systems combine nutrients produced by fish waste with plants growing above to create an almost entirely self-sufficient system! As fish keep on swimming, the plants floating above help keep waters clean for their waterborne friends. However, due to the animal component of these systems, they need a little extra TLC and can’t be left alone for long periods of time. Instead, our Grow Support Team specialists stop in regularly to keep fish happy and healthy, and ensure the system itself remains clean and fully operational. Aquaponics aside, other labs whose campuses remain open continue growing and harvesting throughout the summer for a variety of reasons including community harvests and other special programs, making full use of their cutting edge hydroponic farming technology.
One such school who has remained open for summer is the Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS), where students in 4th and 5th grade Summer Rising programs are diving into hydroponics thanks to a grant from the 2024 Urban Farms and Community Growers Program, which is run through the NYS Agriculture and Markets Department. As part of this program, almost 80 students are using water-based farming systems and soil-based alternatives to nearly double the school’s yield of fresh greens and veggies, maximizing the productivity of their school’s green space. They’ll also work to build a distribution pipeline of what they harvest, taking crops grown at school directly from plant to plate by sharing with community partners like Mixteca and the Center for Family Life in Sunset Park (CFLSP), who serve migrant families and asylum seekers. And finally, building on the first BUGS Harvest Festival held earlier this year, the summer farming program will help students and community members become both teachers and learners when it comes to urban farming, growing deeper roots throughout the school’s Brooklyn community.
We’re keeping the fish company, diving headfirst into hydroponic farming, and getting ready once more to reopen the rest of our labs come the start of next school year. But as we continue growing throughout the summer, climate education remains the core of our mission. Students are learning in labs, and plants are growing alongside them as they learn about the climate. Our team is growing to meet the moment and better support our community, so check out our website to learn more about current opportunities, and follow us on Instagram for more insights into what’s happening in our Hydroponic Classrooms this summer!
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EPA: NY Sun Works Receives $100,000 to Support Environmental Education
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Queens Chronicle: In School, Students Learn From Futuristic Greens and Machines
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From Seed To Harvest: Celebrating a Year of Climate Education
Summer is almost here, with schools hosting their final hydroponic harvests and students beginning to enjoy the sunshine. As we wrap up yet another year of climate education, it’s time to look back on some of our successes, and prepare for some of the amazing things still yet to come! From our annual Youth Conference to ribbon cuttings, harvests, science expos and more, there’s so much to be excited about when it comes to sustainability science in NYC.
This year, we hosted our first-ever Teacher Community Carnival, where educators from our partner schools came together for an evening of chit-chat and connection at Project Farmhouse in Union Square. A high note of the celebration was awarding our first NY Sun Works Educator certificates, which signify that a teacher has completed two years of technical training, hosted a harvest, and participated in NY Sun Works professional development sessions. We also introduced our newly revamped Farming Foundations curriculum, which this year received substantial improvements with new Climate Connections, which help students understand how their actions can influence the environment.
More recently, we made a wish for climate education in the new year, and thus far our wish has been granted as we plant the seeds of new partnerships around the city and welcomed nearly 100 new schools to our program! In February, we cut the ribbon at LaGuardia Community College with Representative Nydia Velázquez and University President Kenneth Adams, inaugurating one of the first post-secondary education partnerships of its kind. We also cut the ribbon on a host of other partner schools, where we look forward to growing alongside generations of young New Yorkers with sustainability in their hearts. We also launched our newly revamped website, which includes a map of all our school partners and beautiful new photos of our amazing NY Sun Works team!
In April, we welcomed the Harvard Business School Club of NY to the High School for Climate Justice, alongside members of our Board of Directors and students at the Manhattan high school. Members of the HBSCNY got a closer look at some of the cutting edge hydroponic technology used to grow food from seed to harvest, as students showed them around and even kicked off a harvest of their own! And shortly thereafter, we began preparations for our annual Youth Conference, where almost 1,000 students and educators from the five boroughs and beyond gathered at the Javits Center to present the independent climate science research they’ve been working on in their classrooms.
All in all, it’s been a year full of teaching, learning, and growing, both for us and our students. From little victories to huge successes, it’s been a whirlwind of climate education, and we couldn’t be happier to send off the school year with a bang. Whether you want to learn more about some of these events, or missed out on the magic that made them happen, check out our Instagram for snapshots into all the sustainability science that powered us through the 2023-24 school year!
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ASPDP – Energy, Water, Waste: Integrating Climate Education into Your Classroom
This course on simple sustainability and climate education offers teachers the unique opportunity to delve deeper into global environmental issues on a local level.
This six day course consists of 5 in person sessions and 1 remote session, both followed by 2.5 hours of independent asynchronous readings and projects that will be due two weeks after the final session. This course has been approved by the DOE After School Professional Development Program (ASPDP) and may be counted for three P or A+ CREDITS/45hours CTLE.
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Farmer Scientists Lead the Way Toward a Greener Future at the 13th Youth Conference
As our coverage of this year’s Youth Conference comes to a close, we wanted to shine the spotlight on those who give meaning to our mission – the students! With almost 1,000 students and educators from around the NY metro area in attendance, we were thrilled to connect with new partners, visit with long time friends, and celebrate the hard work of another generation of Farmer Scientists. Student presenters ranged from 2nd to 12th grade, with research subjects covering topics from using compost tea as a nutrient solution to the effect of water temperature on germination. We’re incredibly proud of all those who both took the stage to share, as well as those who made the journey to Javits to listen and learn!
Introducing the first session was once again Javits Center President and CEO Alan Steel, who shared his excitement about the return of the Youth Conference to the rooftop pavilion at North Javits. Steel has helped the iconic NYC convention center establish itself as a leader in the world of sustainable urban infrastructure, spearheading Javits’ successes in creating an environmentally friendly venue. Following opening remarks, presentations began with a session focused on students as Farmer Scientists, running investigations in their Hydroponic Classrooms. Using creative thinking and the scientific method, students investigated topics including the power of mushrooms, the best way to grow strawberries hydroponically, and anticancer potential of synergizing lycopene and garlic. Before the closing of this session, students also heard from Damali Wynter, the Assistant Commissioner of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets about how agriculture relates to all our everyday activities, and how young people can use any skill set they’re passionate about to make a difference in the world of sustainability.
During the next session, in addition to student presenters, we were honored to hear words of support from a few of our other supporters, including US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and US Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), who shared their excitement about our student showcase and support for quality climate education in NYC. This second session was all about students as innovators, creating their own hydroponic systems and designing solutions to current climate challenges. Research projects in this session included a hydroponic custom rescue lab intended to save plants from malfunctioning systems, as well as an automated tower system, self-sufficient irrigation systems, and a study on germination in different growing substrates.
Finally, in the third session of the morning, we heard from Daniella Piper, Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of New York Power Authority. Piper spoke to her experience growing up in an agricultural community abroad, and how that perspective shapes her approach to innovation and sustainability. Following that, students dove into the session revolving around climate action, with students acting as global citizens engaging in community events and expanding the learning beyond their Hydroponic Classrooms. A few topics that were shared included testing how decomposers like worms help soil become better for plant growth, the impacts of contaminants in tap water on urban agriculture, and the strength of healthy healing herbs. Closing this session, we also heard from US Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10), who sent our students off with a message of sincere support.
After the official close of this year’s conference presentations, we were equally excited to dive headfirst into our second-ever College and Career Fair! High school students in our Workforce Development Program had the unique opportunity to connect with a variety of organizations and universities in the realms of urban farming and sustainability, as they pursue certification in Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA). Additionally, they met with members of the NY Sun Works Associate Board for resume and cover letter reviews, and volunteers from EY also provided mentoring in professional networking! And of course, reporting live on all the climate education was our Youth Press Team, which allowed students of nearly all grade levels to interview fellow students and guest speakers after their presentations.
These students have truly done something worth celebrating, and we are incredibly honored to play our part in empowering so many young New Yorkers to grow a greener future. Additionally, we are thankful for the parents and families who helped prepare them for their big day, the teachers who stewarded them along the way, and all those whose passion and dedication helped the day flourish into such a success. If you’d like to watch the full conference recording or individual student presentations, check out our YouTube channel. For more information on the Youth Press Team, click here.
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Student Journalists Ask Hard Hitting Questions at the 13th Youth Conference
In the wake of our 13th Annual Discovering Sustainability Science Youth Conference, we’re turning our ears to the student journalists who reported live on the event as part of this year’s Youth Press Team! With so much climate education and sustainability science on stage, it was vital we captured the moment, and channeled the phenomenal energy of our partner schools through the lens of the students themselves.
This year, our Youth Press Team was nearly double the size of last year’s, with 13 young New Yorkers taking on the role of junior reporters and interviewing both their student peers and guest speakers about their research and work. Our student reporters ranged in age from 3rd grade to high school seniors, and created thoughtful journalistic articles summarizing their perspective on the conference. These experiences also included interviews with a few of our guest speakers, including Damali Wynter, Assistant Commissioner of the NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets, and Daniella Piper, the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer of New York Power Authority.
Thank you to Mariama, Basma, Yaleez, Juselys, Syeda, Jayden, Pharamond, Valentina, Jane, Matilda, Nilema, Cameron, and Aether for lending their voices to reporting at the conference. Click on each student’s name to check out their final works. A special thank you to Ms. Bobb, Ms. Larosa, Ms. Casimir, Ms. Rogers, Ms. Pinckney, Ms. Chan, and Ms. Giannella for helping support their students throughout the process!
