CitySprouts

CitySprouts is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts that partners with public school teachers and other school staff to develop outdoor classrooms and gardens in local school yards. CitySprouts also collaborates with local farmers, restaurant chefs and the Cambridge Public School District (CPSD) food service program to bring urban school children the experience of growing, preparing and eating good, healthy food.

CitySprouts is a district-wide program in all 12 of the city's public elementary and middle schools. During the fall and spring, CitySprouts staff supports teachers' use of the school garden as an outdoor classroom during the teaching day. CitySprouts staff devote 10 hours a week in each partner school between April and November to oversee garden maintenance, coordinate its use, and to assist teachers who extend their classroom lessons into the CitySprouts garden. About 75% of the Pre-kindergarten - 8th grade teachers in Cambridge Public Schools report using their school garden for teaching purposes at least one time and as many as twenty times for science, math, history and other subjects.

CitySprouts is currently working with the Cambridge Public School District to integrate the gardening program into the science curriculum for all grade levels.

CitySprouts summer youth program connects youth to their local food system and builds connections to the urban natural environment. Teams of middle school youth from each of the city's schools maintain the school garden and take field trips to farmers' markets and rural and urban local farms.

Milestones

 * In 2010 CitySprouts began consulting with schools in the Boston area.
 * CitySprouts was one of six area nonprofits selected as a 2008 Social Innovator by the Cambridge-based Social Innovation Forum.

Mission
The CitySprouts mission is to develop, implement, and maintain beautiful, resource-rich school gardens in collaboration with public school communities. Integrated into the curriculum, CitySprouts gardens inspire teachers, students, and families with a deep, hands-on connection to the food cycle, sustainable agriculture, and the natural environment.