Local nonprofit Urban Roots is the only nonprofit in the state to secure  grant money from the USDA this cycle. The group was allocated nearly $75,000 to to kick start a new program called Gardening to Grow in three Washoe County Schools this year.

"We will be building three school gardens and placing one of our teachers at each school," said Fayth Ross, Executive Director of Urban Roots.   "They will be there once a week throughout the entire school year.  We're also doing some teacher training so those teachers will know how to embrace that garden and make it part of their curriculum."

The nonprofit will be working with students and teachers at Hidden Valley Elementary,  Vaughn Middle School and the Reno-Sparks Indian colony.

"Our community used to grow gardens a long time ago when we were more agricultural," said Arlan Melendez, Chairman of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony.  "Farming and growing things has always been part of the Native American culture, so I think it's a great thing to get our children back to really learning what our roots are and how we grew things across America.   I think it's a really good idea to get them interested in growing things and eating healthy, so we're looking forward to this partnership and I think its going to be great."

With the new gardens, lesson plans, and field trips to the Urban Roots farm on Second Street, the hope is students take some of this education home with them.

"We're partnering because anything that helps students and families engage with where their food comes from is a win for the whole agriculture community," said Rebecca Allured with the Nevada Department of Agriculture. "Kids are one of the greatest ways to really engage and educate families and parents."

These three schools were targeted because of the impact the program could have on eating habits and food insecurities.

"We're going to be able to see so many more kids than we ever thought possible before," Ross said.   "It's going to be so exciting to get them to the farm as well, and it will be great timing because by then our teaching  kitchen should be complete, so we should be able to see a lot of kids and get them this knowledge that they need."

Urban Roots has been fundraising to put a teaching kitchen on the farm to provide the entire farm to table experience.

More information: https://www.urgc.org/.Â