Emerson Fellow: Ariana de Leña »
18th Class, 2011-2012
Field Placement: Growing Power (Chicago, IL)
While supporting daily farm operations, Ariana performed a needs assessment with school garden educators, community members, and urban agriculture practitioners in Chicago to help boost the long-term sustainability, food production and education value of Chicago’s school gardens. She developed a guide to school gardening in Illinois based on Growing Power’s agricultural practices and state education standards and piloted a complementary educators workshop to help them plan, implement and troubleshoot school gardens.
Hunger Free Community Report:
Room to Grow: A Guide to School Gardening in Illinois is a comprehensive guide for teachers that includes tools and information for planning, developing, and maintaining school gardens. It also includes garden-based curriculum that are linked to Illinois state education standards.
Policy Placement: National Family Farm Coalition (Washington, DC)
Ariana is developing an education campaign around land access and the impact on family farmers, ranchers, fishers, and gardeners. She is also conducting outreach to family farmers to help increase their knowledge of existing USDA programs.
Pre-Fellowship Education/Experience:
A Seattle native, Ariana studied environmental justice and development at Occidental College and UC Berkeley. She has conducted research on Latino participation in community gardens, interned with the Environmental Justice and Climate Change Initiative, volunteered as a youth mentor , and worked in Honduras as a Youth Outreach Worker on youth empowerment through environmental, sexual and community health initiatives. Ariana also worked at a youth gardening program and interned with the Pacific Institute’s Community Strategies for Sustainability and Justice program.
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