Growing Early Childhood through Head Start Gardens
Gardens offer untapped potential in low-income communities
This blog post is part of NHSA’s initiative, the Year of Whole Health.
Head Start strives to provide at-risk children with the support they need to reach their full potential in school and in life. Head Start recognizes good health and nutrition as the foundation of school readiness and child development, and takes a comprehensive approach to supporting and promoting the health and well-being of children and families.
This approach includes high-quality health and nutrition standards that are required to be culturally and developmentally appropriate, meet the nutritional needs of all individual children, follow the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and USDA recommendations, and served as family-style meals to promote staff-child interactions and healthy socialization.
However, we believe there is untapped potential for garden projects in Head Start and Early Head Start programs which can further improve the health and development of children in vulnerable communities, where fresh foods are most scarce.
That’s why NHSA is joining forces with the Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation to begin a three-year Garden Grants Initiative. Through this initiative, we will work with Head Start programs across the county to teach children, families, and communities how to grow their own fresh foods — for life.
Our multi-year initiative will make garden grants, garden kits, educational curriculum, and garden training available to all Head Start programs with the goal of creating more edible gardens for young children and their families. In line with NHSA’s Year of Whole Health initiative, the partnership also includes a webinar series to share information about how to create and sustain a successful Head Start garden program and the benefits for children, families, staff, and the surrounding community.
In addition to the Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation, NHSA has also partnered with the National Farm to School Network to celebrate Farm to School Month and to spread awareness on this critical issue. In celebration of Farm to School month, NHSA is expanding our reach, resources, and partnerships with the overall goal to increase access to gardens, fresh foods and nutrition education materials for children, families, and staff across the Head Start field. NHSA is encouraging all early care and education programs to grow a garden of their own in hopes that each garden will stimulate healthy child development, family and community engagement, and sustainable locally sourced foods.
Numerous benefits to starting gardening early
Gardens and the fresh foods they provide in early care and education programs offer numerous benefits, ranging from increased access to nutritious and local foods for children in their vital years of development to improved physical activity and hands-on learning related to agriculture, health, and nutrition. But not only does gardening contribute to positive child health outcomes, it also fosters healthy interactions and social skills between children, teachers, and families. Additionally, when schools and communities support local food systems, the surrounding economy thrives.
Research to support these many benefits has grown in recent years and as a result, local fresh foods and gardens have spread through communities and schools. However, most families in vulnerable communities are still food insecure and often live in areas with little to no access to fresh foods, also known as “food deserts.” Far too often, low-income children and families lack access to basic fresh foods.
Year of Whole Health: October focus on nutrition and gardening
The Year of Whole Health Initiative is dedicated to providing resources and support to Head Start families, staff, and communities for specific areas of health, which were identified as priorities for the field through surveys and other outreach. This month’s resources, webinars, and tools are dedicated to nutrition and gardening to help improve healthy food access for children and families and to foster a lifelong love of gardening.
How can you get involved?
Through NHSA’s partnerships with Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and the National Farm to School Network, we encourage all families, teachers, and program leaders in Head Start and across the early care and education field to share educational materials and resources with your communities to find ways of incorporate gardens into your programs and schools. Below are a list of ways you can do this:
- Visit the NHSA & Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation Garden Grants Initiative website to apply for a grant for your Head Start or Early Head Start program and learn about future webinars, educational materials, and other resources. In case you missed our first Garden Grants webinar on October 24th, search through the KidsGardening resource website to learn more about how to begin your own garden.
- Join us in celebrating Farm to School month! Check out NFSN’s Celebration Toolkit for ideas on how your community, school, or program can spread awareness and support locally sourced foods.
- Read through NFSN’s Growing Head Start Success with Farm to Early Care and Education report to understand more about the role Head Start can play in promoting farm to ECE. You can also search other helpful resources in NFSN’s resource database to understand more about the benefits of gardening and supporting local fresh foods and how you can spread this initiative to all children and families in need.
- Search through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) online community to learn more about nutrition regulations and guidance for meals in your Early Head Start or Head Start program and how to become a Child Nutrition Professional through the CCNP Certification Program.
If you have any additional questions, please contact sneil@nhsa.org.
Happy Nutrition and Gardening Month!
