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Community Information

Name

Camden, Camden County, NJ

Location

508 Lakeland Rd., Blackwood, NJ 08012

Outcome

Teen

Geographical Type

Central City

Organizations

5

Market Statement

Program Implementation

In Fall 2023, Camden County 4-H began a partnership with the Neighborhood Collaborative Community Gardens to deliver the Food and Agriculture Changemakers Program to Camden, NJ teens. A part-time employee was hired in winter 2024 and then teens from the Mastery High School Garden Club were recruited to join the program. Fifteen (15) students participated from spring 2024 to Sept. 2024 where they completed online and classroom lessons, followed by an intensive summer maintaining multiple gardens around the city. Fresh produce grown at the gardens was distributed to the community and area food banks. Youth also engaged in composting and vermi-composting, with the compost being used in all the community gardens. A new pocket garden was created on a city lot in May 2024 with the help of 40 volunteers. NCCG also took over the care and management of the rain gardens at Cooper’s Poynt Family School, which is the largest rain garden in Camden. Two important 4-H programs that Camden teens attended was the South Jersey 4-H Teen Conference in May 2024 with nine youth and two chaperones participating in this day-long event at the Monmouth County Park System. Then four Camden teens completed a five-day NJ 4-H STEM Ambassador Program at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. They worked directly with a variety of professors involved in STEM by learning about their research, visiting their labs, and taking part in hands-on experiments and activities. The teens learn about the role of a 4-H STEM Ambassador and then create a plan for teaching STEM back in their home communities. At the start of the new school year in September, there was a turn-over of program participants and 11 of the 15 students discontinued their participation. In regrouping for the fall, the remaining students continued their work in maintaining the gardens, creating educational coloring books about the environment, and taking part in numerous community events. They did not complete the post-test since the response rate would be so low and not useful in comparing pre- and post-survey data or complete individual Food Systems Action Plan. Instead, they put all of their efforts in maintaining what the larger group had previously managed.

Community Integration

The Camden site worked with Neighborhood Collaborative Community Gardens (NCCG) in North Camden, a non-profit organization with 8 years of experience in community-based garden programming and initiatives. Recruitment was conducted with the assistance of NCCG, who already had a strong partnership with Mastery Charter High School and worked with teens in a garden club. These same students became participants in the Food and Agriculture Changemakers Program, completed online and classroom lessons in spring 2024, in preparation for caring for multiple gardens throughout the summer. In conjunction with NCCG, students participated in many community events from a May 2024 garden build on a city-owned lot in Camden to the October 2024 Harvest Fest hosted by NCCG, as well as tabling at the Salvation Army Kroc Center’s 10th Anniversary event. NCCG also collaborates with numerous organizations and agencies across the city, including the Camden Mayor’s Office, Campbell Soup Foundation, Subaru, NJ Tree Foundation, Center for Aquatic Sciences at the Adventure Aquarium, Delaware River Compost, NJ American Water and Camden Community Partnership. Community is at the heart of the program and their long-standing relationships in the city have benefited the Camden County 4-H Program.

Technology Integration

A small group of Camden youth participants are involved in managing NCCG’s social media channels, as well as creating educational coloring books about environmental topics. The students develop the topic, research, plan and storyboard each book, then students contribute pages to each book by drawing images in ProCreate. In fall 2024, two youth participants also created a 17-min. video on nearby Petty’s Island and its environmental significance through the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main project.

Sustaining

Sustainability planning for the Camden site is focused on seeking additional funding; continued partnership building; and tapping into local resources. Additional multi-year funds are sought through state and federal sources with NCCG submitting grants every few months. NCCG also participates in the Camden Summer Youth Employment Program annually, which allows for 10 Camden youth to engage in workforce development skill-building through urban gardening. A modified version of the program will be piloted at a Camden high school in Spring 2025 where the students will be taught the basic curriculum on food systems. Hydroponic units will be used to provide the hands-on learning.

Form A - Age Group by Ethnicity and Race

	Pre-K	K-6	Youth (Grades 7-12)	Parents
Total Participants	0	0	15	0
Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino	0	0	15	0
Not Hispanic or Latino	0	0	0	0
Race
White	0	0	1	0
Black or African-American	0	0	3	0
American Indian or Alaska Native	0	0	0	0
Asian	0	0	0	0
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0	0	0	0
Persons indicating more than one race	0	0	11	0

Form B - Poverty Risk Factor

Total Number of Children Pre K: 0

Percent in Poverty: 0.00%

Total Number of Children K - 6: 0

Percent in Poverty: 0.00%

Total Number Youth Grade 7 - 12: 15

Percent in Poverty: 28.50%

Form C - Staff and Volunteers by Ethnicity/Race

	Extension Staff (FTE's)	Other Paid CYFAR Project Staff (FTE's)	Youth Volunteers	Adult Volunteers
Total Participants	0.00	0.50	2.00	1.00
Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino	0.00	1.00	2.00	1.00
Not Hispanic or Latino	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Race
White	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Black or African-American	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
American Indian or Alaska Native	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Asian	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Persons indicating more than one race	0.00	1.00	2.00	1.00

Approximate hours contributed by Adult Volunteers: 1000.00

Approximate hours contributed by Youth Volunteers:500.00

Form D - Computers and Technology

Computers at all sites funded through sources other than CYFAR: 4

Form E - Youth Delivery Methods and Program Contents

Form F - Adult Delivery Methods and Program Contents

Form G - 4-H Clubs

Total Number of Clubs: 1

Total Number of Children K - 6: 0

Total Number of Youth Grades 7 - 12: 15

Total Number of Youth Volunteers 0

Total Number of Adult Volunteers 2