Seeds for Learning

Harvesting New Opportunities

Seeds for Learning is a school-based farm and entrepreneurship program, the first of its kind in Philadelphia. With Seeds for Learning, Foundations and its local partners provide non-traditional educational opportunities, hands-on learning, and 21st century skills training for students throughout the city and at its inaugural site, Martin Luther King High School. In school, after school, on the weekends, in the summer – Seeds for Learning runs all day long and all year long, exemplifying Foundations' commitment to creating uninterrupted learning experiences for underserved populations.

The program's three primary components equip students with practical knowledge about nutrition, science, finance, and the environment, as well as valuable experience in entrepreneurship, teamwork, and communication.

• The Farm Program: Under the guidance of a full-time farmer, students plant, maintain, and harvest crops in a dedicated field on school property. A fully equipped greenhouse, constructed by the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation, allows for a year-round growing season and contains laboratory space for experiments. Throughout the year, students from the region visit the farm for lessons in science, agriculture, and nutrition.
• The Marketplace Program: With the assistance of a faculty advisor trained in entrepreneurship, students operate and manage a cooperative food business. They package and price the farm's produce, nutritious snacks and beverages, flowers, and seasonal items such as pumpkins and gourds, which they then sell at food stands on school grounds and at local markets.
• Community Lunch: Once a week in the summer, student-farmers collaborate with local chefs to create healthy meals for community members using produce from the farm. Last summer, students served more than 300 diners, free of charge. A commemorative Community Lunch cookbook is planned using recipes and photographs from the students' summer experience.

Through its green initiatives, including Seeds for Learning, Foundations strives to help our nation's most vulnerable students learn to be good stewards of the earth, their community, and themselves. And Seeds for Learning is growing, with three additional sites in Philadelphia and planned expansion into other municipalities nationwide.

Read about our summer programming at the Seeds for Learning Farm.