Our flagship Bronx program at the Walton Campus (comprising five schools including The High School for Teaching and the Professions, Celia Cruz Bronx High School of Music, International School for Liberal Arts, Discovery High School, Kingsbridge International High School) is transforming neglected school spaces—a place where students spend 15% of their lives—into community-powered gardens and nutritious food hubs.

In a city with few career development opportunities for youth under 16, our year-long environmental and climate justice curricula, combined with our Summer Youth Employment Program, train approximately 52 young people each year, ages 14–15, in urban agriculture, hydroponics, gardening, advocacy, digital media and design, and community sustainability. The program also creates pathways for peer mentorship to new cohorts, alternative learning, apprenticeships, and career and technical education (CTE) in agriculture throughout their four years of high school.

Transforming the Walton Campus a Living Classroom:

At Walton, the garden turns the entire campus into a community-designed classroom rooted in science, culture, and memory.

• Students co-create the sustainability plan for their campus- including foundational training and mult-year garden planning based on ancestral knowledge, scientific research, and urban agricultural practices.

• Students lead phytoremediation efforts- testing soil, mapping contamination, and planting native species to restore land health and local ecosystems.

• Students earn credentials: CDOS diploma seal (awarded in 2023) and the Civic Readiness Seal (in progress for 2025)—connecting action-based learning to college and career pathways.

• The garden space spans roughly 5,000 sq. ft, transforming the campus into a multi-lawn food system and climate learning hub, with the potential to reach over 3,500 students.

• The produce harvested will be integrated into school lunches, used at school events, and distributed throughout the curriculum—offering real food access to nutritious produce in a neighborhood historically deprived of it.

• Students also engage in statewide policy campaigns, through partnerships with CRETF and the Climate Psychology Alliance of North America.

• Since 2021, we’ve trained over 210 students, averaging 52 youth per year through our Summer Youth Employment and climate education programs at Walton.

At its heart, the Walton Garden is a place where food becomes a medium for science, green-skills, healing, youth leadership, and collective power.

Our work in Queens is rooted in intergenerational learning, food justice, and community skill-shares. Through public school collaborations, urban agriculture projects, and our annual Earth Month Convergence (EMC), we’ve created pathways for BIPOC communities to build knowledge, grow food, and organize for systemic change—all within one of the most culturally diverse yet environmentally burdened boroughs in NYC.

In 2025, the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens hosted the fourth annual Earth Month Convergence, our flagship community event organized by and for BIPOC and youth leaders, educators, grassroots organizers, Indigenous elders, artists, and community members. The EMC offers workshops, skill-shares, and hands-on creative spaces designed to build autonomy, center marginalized voices, and deepen community infrastructure. Alongside the EMC, our partnerships with Queens Community House and The Connected Chef have supported school-based food justice education, curriculum development, and student-led school gardens.

How we’re making Queens a Living Classroom:

In Queens, the classrooms extend beyond school walls into gardens, block-printing tables, art builds, and community spaces where knowledge, culture, and organizing intersect.

• School-based food justice programs with Queens Community House and The Connected Chef have engaged elementary and middle school students in hands-on growing, harvesting, and cooking.

• Students co-created communitys garden at PS149 and MS210, harvested microgreens, and explored topics like land access, systemic racism, and food waste through our foundational Food Justice Curriculum.

• Through field trips to The Connected Chef, 12+ elementary school students saw urban agriculture in action, helping them visualize food justice beyond textbook lessons and in real-world practice.

• In 2025, The Earth Month Convergence which hosted 16+ workshops and skill-shares, welcomed 160+ attendees and partnered with 15+ community orgs, growing into a cross-borough and global movement space rooted in joy, art, healing, resistance, and climate justice.

At the Community Roots Charter School, we’re developing a location-specific, year-round curriculum rooted in environmental and food justice, social-emotional learning, and cultural foodways.

Program Highlights include:

• Hydroponics systems and garden integration

• Project-based learning, green skills training, and student employment opportunities

• Laying the foundation for borough-wide activation

We’re also active in Manhattan and Upstate New York, where we:

• Host curriculum design sessions and community events

• Lead Professional Development Trainings at NYU and Teachers College, Columbia University

• Organize field trips to Gael Roots Edu Farm and Grandpa Farms, where students experience hands-on urban agriculture, sustainable farming practices, and food justice in real-world settings