As we confront inequity in all areas of life, we believe that educating young minds and preparing them for future leadership is of the utmost importance so that they can still thrive and shine in all circumstances in their lives. So we designed programs to make both our children and our community a thriving success.
Our Farm to early care and education(farm to ECE) program is a natural extension of the Little One's Farm Stand as well as the Farm to Families programs. Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE; formerly Farm to Preschool) connects child care providers to locally grown, healthy foods. As a result, children increase their nutritional awareness while parents are engaged in issues related to child nutrition. Farm to ECE activities includes vegetable taste testing, family celebrations with healthy foods, edible gardens, menu changes, and other planting resources. Through these programs, we are able to offer increased access to healthy, local foods, gardening opportunities, and food-based activities to enhance the quality of the educational experience in our center as well as in the community at large. More about this national movement can be found below.
We partnered with The Common Market to bring Farm Fresh produce to families. This partnership solidifies our commitment to bringing local, fresh, and healthy food to the community. We support our Farmers and the work they do and we want to make sure that we build a food access bridge between the farmers and the families. Access to fresh good food is a right that we believe everyone should have.
The Hand, Heart, and Soul Project supports high-quality early education. We also participate in policymaker education awareness events throughout the year which highlights the importance of holistic environments, and the intersectionality between education, health, and nutrition. Focusing on social and emotional competency in children and adults is also critical as we embed our work.
We support an annual Back to School Block Party for our community. We gather partners from across the city to bring a premier event showcasing student talent, vendors and resources to support our families.
Family involvement is central to holistic communities. We partner with early learning programs to provide taste test kits as an additional way to initiate or increase family involvement.
The Hand, Heart, and Soul Project early education garden program helps children to connect with nature, grow food, and learn sustainable practices that do not harm the climate or environment. Our holistic and culturally relevant programming encourages hundreds of children and their teachers to participate in nutrition and agricultural education activities
During farm stand season, on the first and third Wednesday of each month we present the Little Lions Farm Stand, held at Little Ones Learning Center to increase community access to fresh produce.
We offer community cooking demos and more!