NJ: Our Roots Youth Program

JerseyRoots School Year Program
The JerseyRoots School Year Program is a social justice leadership afterschool program for low-income students in Camden. During the school year students are engaged in rigorous workshops that help develop their political thinking and supports their leadership growth. Students learn about issues that are directly affecting their community and find ways in which they can tackle the issues through speaking their truth and the community’s truth. Throughout the school year, students participate in actions and community events to organize around the issues. Students part of the program also engage in planning community events, cooking, and farming during the school year program. The previous year, students showed up to testify at Camden City School Board meetings in order to get a lease for the Resilient Roots Farm and to go against the school board closing down schools that would affect over 700 students and staff combined. Our biggest win was getting the lease for the farm from the Camden School District after the district had put our farm on sale without any notice.

Resilient Roots Food Justice Internship
Resilient Roots Food Justice Internship is one of VietLead's six-week paid summer programs for twelve Camden and Pennsauken high school students to learn about the connection between food and social justice issues in our communities by working intergenerationally alongside elders, adults and young children in our half-acre plot, Resilient Roots Community Farm. During the six week duration, students conduct community interviews from their elders, and community members to hear their stories. With these stories the youth of Resilient Roots create an art project that depicts the stories they hear and their own through art forms such as murals, videography, photography, painting, and more. The culmination of the internship is presented out at Resilient Roots Food Justice Internship final community event; our BBQ. At the BBQ, the community, neighbors, and family are invited out for an evening of food and to hear the students final projects on what they have learned throughout the summer.

Seeds Summer Camp
10 Southeast Asian children from low-income, working class families in Camden and Pennsauken were recruited to our 6-week summer camp, which focused on academics (reading, math, and science) and had projects and field trips connected to our Resilient Roots Farm. High school students from the RR Summer Internship led gardening and cooking workshops with the children

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