Print This

Preview

Community Information

Name

Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ

Location

Room 4B, 830 Bergen Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07306

Outcome

Teen

Geographical Type

Central City

Organizations

6

Market Statement

Program Implementation

Hudson County site staff collaborated with Camden and State staff to continually meet and review project deliverables and outcomes throughout the pilot program year. The team designed and implemented evaluation tools including pre- and post-Common Measures, an internal pre- and post-evaluation test, and a focus group protocol; and began the process of assessing the data compiled from these tools. The team, across both sites, also piloted its virtual and in-person curriculum in Spring 2024, welcomed its first-year cohorts, met monthly for coaching sessions with a CYFAR coach, worked with community partners and community sites and implemented its first year of programming. The programming began in May 2024 with online and face-to-face programs relating to food systems, urban gardening including soil science and plant science, along with lessons on food justice and food insecurity. The intensive part of the program took place in July and August 2024 when the Hudson County cohort met 3 days a week to steward the garden, plant, develop garden infrastructure, welcome community partners, and more. Participants in Jersey City collectively completed 750+ hours of service in the garden by the end of the program.

Community Integration

Before kicking off its virtual sessions, Hudson County focused on recruitment efforts in Hudson County, building relationships with school practitioners and partnering to deliver school-based workshops at key underserved public schools as a way to mediate barriers to entry for youth to apply to the program. We received over 80 applications and received direct feedback from youth on how to make the program marketing more appealing to youth in the area and what incentives may attract the youth we aim to serve. When piloting the program, Hudson welcomed the Jersey City chapter of the Feminist Bird Club to host a birding workshop for youth participants to connect with nature and learn more about birds and their role in the food system. Changemakers tested their knowledge by hosting a group of elementary youth for reflections in the garden with the Changemakers. As part of our commitment to directly address food insecurity in Hudson County, we developed a partnership with Hunger Free UIC, a mobile food pantry in Hudson County. Changemakers harvested produce they grew in the garden on a weekly basis to donate to the pantry.

Technology Integration

As part of their food systems action projects, all youth participants used technology in the planning phase of their projects and many used technologies in the implementation phase of their projects. Some of the projects included: a food scraps cookbook, a guide for sustainable garden practices, and more. Program participants at Hudson expressed a desire to showcase their projects long-term. We started internal conversations about rolling out a website where Changemakers projects can be featured as part of a larger project to also feature projects that teens in similar programs of ours have worked on and are working on in the community.

Sustaining

We met bi-weekly with our program evaluator to develop an evaluation protocol that assess key indicators of our program that will help us evaluate program effectiveness against other similar programs as part of our larger internal conversations around program sustainability within our team and with our community partners. We are also continually evaluating our ‘Food Systems Action Plan’ toolkit and outline to ensure that youth projects are achievable and our ability to follow up with youth on their progress is possible and sustainable.

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	2	0
Not Hispanic or Latino	0	0	11	0
Race
White	0	0	1	0
Black or African-American	0	0	4	0
American Indian or Alaska Native	0	0	0	0
Asian	0	0	8	0
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0	0	0	0
Persons indicating more than one race	0	0	0	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: 26.40%

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	1.00	2.00	1.00	4.00
Ethnicity
Hispanic or Latino	0.00	1.00	0.00	0.00
Not Hispanic or Latino	1.00	1.00	1.00	4.00
Race
White	1.00	1.00	0.00	2.00
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	1.00	1.00
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Persons indicating more than one race	0.00	1.00	0.00	1.00

Approximate hours contributed by Adult Volunteers: 48.00

Approximate hours contributed by Youth Volunteers:72.00

Form D - Computers and Technology

Computers at all sites funded through sources other than CYFAR: 7

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: 0

Total Number of Children K - 6: 0

Total Number of Youth Grades 7 - 12: 0

Total Number of Youth Volunteers 0

Total Number of Adult Volunteers 0