Apr 6, 2021
Editor’s note: The following information is derived from an interview Agritecture conducted with Katherine Soll, CEO & Founder of TFFJ, and Renae Cairns, Advocacy and Community Engagement Manager of TFFJ.
The Mission Behind It All
Arising from a program engaging teens in meaningful community service programs that benefit marginalized populations, Teens For Food Justice has been working since 2009 to feed communities and ensure a food secure future for all through empowering teens. As a non-profit organization, Katherine remarks that they believe their mission to be “to end food security in a generation, by galvanizing a youth led movement to bring good quality, affordable, fresh, healthy food access to the communities across New York.” Given the neverending national food security concerns, Katherine adds that they “work to eradicate the really discouraging and far reaching health implications of food insecurity that plague our low income communities, particularly those of color.”
What is so unique about TFFJ is the way they teach teens. Instead of simply providing free produce to the community, or empowering teens to learn about agriculture in general, they teach them “how to build and manage hydroponic farms - high capacity vertical hydroponic farms within their schools, that are able to grow thousands of pounds of fresh produce annually, that is then served in the cafeteria every day at lunch.” So, not only do the students learn about controlled environment agriculture and get to build out these systems, they also get to taste the fruits of their labor, and support their surrounding communities.
Alongside raising the next generation of farmers, TFFJ also works to create the next generation of food policy-makers. Katherine adds that TFFJ gives “them the ability to study the policies that have led to food apartheid and food insecurity across our communities and our nation and to look at the kinds of advocacy skills and techniques that can help them to build a more just food system that can lead themselves and their communities towards healthier futures.”
Reimagining Education For Covid Times
Given the changing state of the planet, the TFFJ team was challenged to continue educating the youth on food security whilst maintaining social distancing protocols. They pivoted to create an online after school program called the Food Justice Collective.
According to Renae Cairns, starting this Spring 2021, the program will introduce “food justice, health equity, and advocacy and activism to middle and high school students across New York City and Washington DC. Students are going to work in small cohorts of their peers, and work really collaboratively to identify, understand and develop solutions to real world food issues that affect our communities.”
Renae adds that the intention behind this program is to be “a deep dive into what food justice is and means to our young people and the next generation, and to put students at the forefront of creating the ideas, creating the solutions that they think are going to propel our food system towards one that's truly just and truly equitable.”
In response to the enduring covid-19 pandemic, Renae remarks that “it has underscored how important food justice is to our health as individuals, to our health as communities, and to our health as a nation, so we really felt like it was important to adapt our specific afterschool programming to the online and remote learning space so that students could engage in meaningful ways to influence how our structures and how our policymakers are thinking about food, and about the issues that really matter to to our young people.”
Starting A Social Movement
To galvanize a food justice movement, you really need to be putting the youth at the forefront of the conversation, and that is exactly what TFFJ is doing. Renae adds that the online afterschool program, “at a pretty fundamental level, is putting students and young people from New York City in conversation with, and in collaboration with students in Washington D.C.” Given that food security rates and concerns differ from zip code to zip code, Renae believes that being in conversation about the health disparities themselves, and being able to offer different perspectives is a really valuable opportunity. Katherine adds that “in the remote world, it elevates the ability for our students to get in front of policymakers, civic leaders, and business leaders.”
In thinking about all the recent youth-led movements, Renae remarks that “there's so much leadership from young people - climate justice movements, and the Black Lives Matter movement - and food justice is no different. And, I think it really sits at the nexus of a lot of these social areas that young people care so much about.” In regards to their careers, Renae says that the “after school program will not only equip our young people to speak about food and food-related issues in ways that can affect them personally as well as their communities, but also translate to their careers going forward.”
This is certainly the beginning of a youth-led social movement. Katherine builds on to Renae’s comment by adding that “for all of our students, they're joining us after a full day of remote learning, but they're choosing to be here, because they feel that this is giving them an opportunity to exercise their voice - they're in power, it's giving them the skills that they are looking for.”
Interested In Becoming A Food Leader?
The online Food Justice Collective will be running from April to June 2021. It is open to all students, and is a completely free program. The cohort runs Monday through Thursday, and allows for lots of flexibility for students so that you’re able to fit it into your schedules with ease. All you’ll need is an internet-enabled device, whether that's a smartphone, a tablet, or a computer, to be able to join. Fill out this form and/or reach out to Renae to get started!
