The Food Literacy Project

The Food Literacy Project’s mission is youth transforming their communities through food, farming, and the land leveraging food and sustainable agriculture, youth leadership, cross-sector partnerships and neighborhood assets, working toward a vision for a healthy and equitable community where people and places thrive.

The Food Literacy Project has engaged over 60,000 youth, families, and community members in hands-on learning and leadership development experiences with healthful foods and farming since 2006.

Our work focuses on addressing the root causes of food insecurity by expanding youth leadership, employment, career development and civic engagement opportunities enabling young people to discover their power and drive community and food system change. Young people are capable community leaders, and this work positions them as drivers of personal and social change.

The Food Literacy Project is guided by our values:

ENERGY: We are bold and inspired by our community.

ROOTS: We are grounded and purposeful, connected with people and dedicated to sustainably addressing community needs.

DISCOVERY: We embrace the joy of learning by doing.

CULTIVATION: We bring great care to our work and relationships; we nourish growth in our community, and in turn, are nourished ourselves.

ABUNDANCE: We leverage our community’s diverse assets to achieve personal and social change.

JUSTICE: We pursue fairness and equity.

Why We Do It

We believe in the power of youth to change our community. Louisville faces extreme health disparities and inequities with the burden of multidimensional poverty and food insecurity disproportionately impacting residents in historically marginalized south and west Louisville neighborhoods. The Food Literacy Project cultivates a new generation of leaders to increase fresh food access and build our community’s capacity to embrace health and wellness, justice, and equity. We help young people discover their power so they can become drivers of community and food system transformation.

What We Do

The Food Literacy Project engages youth, families, and neighbors in hands-on learning experiences with fresh vegetables and farming on our 10-acre urban farm. We utilize food and sustainable agriculture to encourage youth leadership and address belongingness, education, employment, food security, and overall health. Our participants cultivate the knowledge and leadership skills needed to thrive and drive community change.

How We Do It

The Food Literacy Project employs a holistic approach to address the root causes of hunger and food insecurity through our Youth Community Agriculture Program (YCAP), Field-to-Fork Program, and food access initiatives.

• YCAP encourages youth to claim their power and use their voice to bring positive, lasting change to the community. Youth manage an active urban farm and community hub where they simultaneously plant, cultivate, harvest, and distribute fresh vegetables to neighbors — in addition to driving multiple Youth Participatory Action Research projects each year. Check out the Spring 2022 crew's podcast on food access here and highlights from the Summer 2024 crew's season here.
• Field-to-Fork Program guides families of Pre-K-8th graders through a journey of learning by discovery, as they gain gardening and cooking experience and receive weekly produce shares grown at the farm.
• The Food Literacy Project works towards more equitable food access through initiatives and community partnerships in south and west Louisville.

The Future

The Forever Home Plan: create a vibrant hub for urban agriculture, youth development and employment, fresh food education and access, community engagement, and cultural exchange. 

This fullest expression of our “hub and spokes” vision include: 

• Expanded employment and leadership opportunities tailored to meet the needs of young people 

• Neighborhood-based Field-to-Fork programming for children of all ages, including increased summer programming and winter cooking classes 

• Events hosted on-site for neighbors to “learn by discovery” about where their food comes from 

• Infrastructure for programs to be moved indoors rather than canceled during inclement weather 

• Youth-grown produce distributed from the urban farm, offering neighbors a consistent, accessible source of fresh food 

• Spokes (partner locations) where programming is already happening and will continue to grow 

How You Can Help

The Food Literacy Project will need approximately $6 million over 3 years for land and infrastructure to establish the Forever Home in Southwest Louisville and activate the site through youth development programs, field-to-fork activities, and community engagement. This year, we must raise more than $850,000 from individual supporters like you to make our Forever Home dreams a reality.  Your gift today will help to purchase the Food Literacy Project’s Forever Home and support youth-driven change happening on and around the farm.