Media Contact: Lorenzo Cuevas

E-mail: LC@weareufe.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Urban Farming Education Partners on National Science Foundation Grant

September 2, 2020 - Phoenix, AZ - Urban Farming Education will be partnering in the following National Science Foundation (NSF) grant, “Comunidad de Ciencia: Building Latina STEM Interest through Community Cultural Wealth and Familial Problem-Based Learning” seeking to increase 5th and 6th grade Latina interest in science. The grant was written by Dr. Short-Meyerson (University of Wisconsin, Oshkosh), Dr. Peter Rillero (Arizona State University), and Dr. Jimenez-Silva (University of California, Davis).

Urban Farming Education’s Small-Area, Raised-Bed Farm System (SARBIF) will be one of two activities that Latinx families will engage in over a seven-week program in an approach called Family Problem-Based Learning. The other program is a seven-week rocketry program. The programs will be implemented in both Avondale, AZ and in Woodland, CA over a three-year period. Rigorous data will be collected, including analyzing videos of family’s interactions and controlled-group studies on several outcome measures. The project embraces the Community-Cultural Wealth of Latinx communities, translanguaging, and bonds formed as fertile environments for growth and developing science interest.

The award was announced on August 27, 2020. It is part of the NSF Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AIFS) program.

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‍Press Availability:

Michael McMahon, Co-founder of Fresh Food Collaboration and Founder of Urban Farming Education

Peter Rillero, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Science Education at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Arizona State University

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About Urban Farming Education

Our mission is to build gardens and conduct programs designed for education, sustenance, ecotherapy, social impact, and urban farming for profit. We specifically serve schools, domestic violence shelters, homeless shelters, foster care prevention centers, and the disabled and elderly.

Our gardens and programs are fertile sites for both community and personal development, engaging with the ever-present global concerns around food sustainability and environmental issues.

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