Fresh Start Youth Program
Learning, Serving, Growing
the gardeners to the neighborhood and
community as a whole." -- Peggy Steele-Olson
Managing Partner, Baroness Properties
In 2018 the youth garden began as a backyard project for the neighborhood kids. The project quickly evolved through the participation of local youth organizations. In its first year it served more than 40 local youth. In 2020, the youth garden began another transformation as it merged with Coffeyville’s Re-awakening as part of the Neighborhood Initiative. After months of planning, we as a team, are proud to say that Fresh Start will have multiple locations throughout Coffeyville in 2021!
There are several reasons why connecting our youth to locally grown food is important but to cite a very compelling rationale: Most American youth are at least three generations removed from the family farm. Without youth gardens like the ones springing up all around the country, many kids would not have the opportunity to experience growing food and certainly not the means to pursue it as a career. Studies show that there are not enough young people interested in growing food for our communities to replace the generation of farmers before them.
Fresh Start puts emphesis on the positive effects that ultra-locally grown produce has on our lives as a community as well as the positive effects on our local economy. Fresh Start offers hands on garden-based learning aimed to spark interest in the local food system. All the while turning vacant lots throughout Coffeyville into revitalized, productive places of beauty.
