Community Partners
This project would not have been possible without the support of many other organizations and mentors. Many of them I got in contact with while planning our Community Gardening Education Event, and I have showcased all of their missions and information below.
My community partner organization for my Brodhead Service Fellows project was The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB). ISB is a nonprofit research organization, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, but with engagement globally. They research innovative solutions in areas such as infectious disease, chronic disease, cancer, health, and environmental issues. Their work directly serves the scientific community as well as public health. Another large component of their organization is community and student education programs, which is how I initially became familiar with ISB in high school through their Systems Thinkers in STEM Ambassadorship. This high school program was what initially made me interested in the intersection between environmental issues as a social determinant of health. Since my project this summer was very linked to that same topic, I sought out support from my mentors at ISB, Claudia and Sarah.
I chose to work with ISB because of their commitment to developing education programs in STEM that challenge students to think about their world in new ways. From my personal experience, I found the ISB programs to encourage students to think independently and creatively about real-world issues. My mentors, Claudia and Sarah, have a lot of experience with organizing various educational programs and that was invaluable while lesson planning for the Boys and Girls Club students. They were able to review my lesson plans and make suggestions to make them more engaging for the students’ age range. In addition, my mentors were very helpful with big picture planning during the initial stages of my project. It was hard to know where to start such a large and long-term project. Through meetings with Claudia and Sarah, they helped me break down a list of items that I would accomplish early on before meeting with the Boys and Girls Club.
My host organization was the Boys and Girls Club of South Puget Sound D.A Gonyea branch. I was very grateful to have the help and support of Makenzie, Taylor, and Ciara at the branch, who were also eager to get this project implemented. The Boys and Girls Club of South Puget Sound’s mission is ‘to inspire all young people, especially those who need us most, empowering them to reach their full potential as productive, caring, responsible members of their community’. As a whole, they serve 8000+ youth, have over 11,000 programming hours, and have served more than 130,000 meals and snacks to their students. They are hugely impactful to the youth of the South Puget Sound area, including Tacoma. Through the Boys and Girls Club, families can have access to low-cost childcare and find many other resources for their kids. Also, students are provided with nutritious meals in the summer months when free or reduced school meals are unavailable. Since the Boys and Girls Club has run many similar programs and grants, they had a great organizational structure that made it efficient to start up the garden project. I enjoyed working with the staff of the D.A. Gonyea branch, who were all so committed to caring for the students there.
I initially reached out to the Boys and Girls Club because I had personally experienced the wide range of programs and resources that the organization provides to the community. Through a meeting with the BGCSPS regional manager, Makenzie, she suggested that the D.A. Gonyea branch had a great open space for a gardening program. From there, the project came to life!
