June 22-27, 2025 - Apply by January 22, 2025

What?

Every year, the School Garden Support Organization Leadership Institute provides an opportunity for school garden professionals from across the country to collaborate, learn from one another, and develop resources to share with a national audience. In this way, we all become able to better support school gardens in our regions, and also advance the national school garden movement.

School Garden Leaders at the 2020 Leadership Institute!

Who Attends SGSO Leadership Institutes

The 2025 cohort will be comprised of up to 20 teams of two. Teams may be individuals from the same organization or individuals from different organizations collaborating on school garden work in a region or district.

For 2025, we are particularly seeking teams of two interested in:

  • Developing or are working to enhance, school or school district farm/garden to cafeteria programs.

  • Enhancing trainings for garden-based educators planned for 2025-2026.

  • Approaching garden education with a lens of equity and inclusion.

 

Where?

The 2025 Leadership Institute is planned to take place at University of California at Santa Cruz.

40 minute drive from San Jose Airport (SJC)
and 1 hour 15 minute drive from San Francisco Airport (SFO). 

UCSC Conference Services provides lodging in campus apartments and three meals are provided in dining halls. Cell service is limited in some areas of the campus.

 
 

Sliding Scale Cost to Attend:

Fees include lodging, all meals (minus one dinner on your own), and transportation from SJC or SFO airport to conference center and back to SJC or SFO.

$0 - Fee for individuals from organizations with annual budgets of $0-$250K
$200 - Fee for individuals from organizations with annual budgets of $251K-$500K
$350 - Fee for individuals from organizations with annual budgets of $501K-$750K
$500 - Fee for individuals from organizations with annual budgets of $751K-$1M
$650 - Fee for individuals from organizations with annual budgets over $1M

 
 

Working Together to Build a Diverse Cohort, and an Equitable and Inclusive Event:

Having a group that brings a diversity of perspectives will make the Institute, and also the broader school garden movement, stronger. Life Lab is committed to advancing equity and inclusion as we cultivate children’s love of learning, nourishing food, and nature through garden-based education. Fulfilling this mission requires that we learn about and confront barriers of oppression. We understand that racism is at the core of many intersecting inequities. For these reasons, we are particularly seeking applicants from communities where systemic racism creates barriers to nature, wellness and experiential education (such as a lack of access to nature areas, to fresh fruits and vegetables, or to experiential education programs). We will also take into consideration other identities and life experiences that are often underrepresented and/or marginalized in the field of garden education. Here is a study where you can learn more about the need for antiracism in the field of environmental education: http://beetlesproject.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Examining-Equitable-and-Inclusive-Work-Environments-in-Environmental-Education.pdf

 

Why?

School gardens have tremendous lifelong benefits for children. Research has shown that when children participate in a school garden program, they show marked improvement in nutrtion; social emotional skills; environmental attitudes; scientific achievement; and attitudes toward learning (www.lifelab.org/resources/why-school-gardens).

But school garden programs need support in order to unlock their full potential. Without well-trained educators, strong curriculum, and supportive networks, garden programs often become underutilized or even forgotten. With support, however, they thrive, become institutionalized into school cultures, and inspire children for decades.

Regional School Garden Support Organizations have emerged as a key determinant in the success and sustainability of school garden programs across the country. This Institute is designed to provide SGSO leaders with the inspiration and information they need to effectively support school garden programs in their regions, and to share best practices with other SGSOs nationally.

Questions? Contact Kelsey Cerdas kelsey@lifelab.org

 

Join the School Garden Support Organization Network E-list to to receive future institute announcements and updates on upcoming events or join the SGSO Network Google Group to be part of a national dialogue of school garden support organizations.

 
 
 

Hosted by Life Lab and Whole Kids, a project of Whole Foods Market Foundation, in partnership with the SGSO Network.