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Press Release

Urban Roots Hosts 6th Annual Tour de Farm

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Location and Date Urban Roots invites members of the Greater Austin Area to join them in fundraising to support their work to empower youth and nourish the community at 6 P.M. on April 5, 2017 at 7651 Delwau Lane, Austin, TX 78725. The Event and Purpose More than 200 guests gather each spring for Urban Roots’ Tour de Farm, a dinner event filled with motivational stories from current youth interns, a beautiful three-course meal cooked by many sought-after Austin chefs, and farm tour led by youth interns. Last year, $119,000 was raised by the guests, sponsors, and host committee, which goes to further Urban Roots’ reach in the communities it serves. The Tour de Farm proceeds benefit the Austin community by honoring Urban Roots’ mission of using sustainable agriculture to transform the lives of young people and increase access to healthy food in Austin. Registration To sign up for the event, please email Lashawn Moore at lashawn@urbanrootsatx.org.

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“We had a great time at the Tour de Farm Event. Would recommend it for next year. What a great concept for changing the lives of Austin's youth,” 2015 attendee Van Thomas said.

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“Simply a great place that is helping Austin's youth and volunteers understand where the food comes from and how it gets to its destinations. The staff and other volunteers are always great and it never feels like "work" with the great benefit that you are giving back to the community. The food harvested goes to local food banks and shelters to be used to feed people, while other portions go to their farmers market so that reinvestment can happen back into the farm,” 2015 attendee Troy Howard said.

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After attending Tour de Farm, 2015 attendee Alex Hernandez said, “Urban Roots is a youth development program that reaches out in so many ways. The high school aged interns did a great job of leading us around the farm. 40% of the produce from the farms goes to food banks and soup kitchens while the rest gets sold through farmers markets and CSA boxes, also assisted by the youth! I now have a much better appreciation for what it takes to get the food from the ground to our markets.”

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For more information or to register or donate online, please email: emily@urbanrootsatx.org About Urban Roots

Urban Roots’ mission is to use food and farming to transform the lives of youth and inspire, engage, and nourish the community. The creative practice of hiring youth to grow nutritious food in the center of an underprivileged neighborhood while encouraging their growth as leaders and exceptional citizens has been an impressive concept, and their success is shown in the numbers. Since opening in 2008, 235 youth leaders have graduated, $365,650 has been distributed directly to youth in the form of stipends, 6,569 hands-on volunteers have worked on the farm, 4,100 grade school students have engaged in interactive educational farm tours, 258,417 pounds of produce has been harvested, and 103,797 pounds, or 180,000 servings, of produce has been donated to 12 different local hunger relief partners, of which 11,000 pounds was donated in 2015.

Urban Roots has reached over 128,000 people in the Austin area. They have increased access to nutritious food by working a booth from April to August and November to December each year at the Sustainable Food Market Center Farmers’ Market downtown every Saturday morning from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. They have created a safe-haven in east Austin for community members aged 14 to 23 years old to learn how to grow food, lead volunteers, prepare and serve food at a local soup kitchen, and master communication skills. Kaya, Urban Roots youth intern said, “Urban Roots has created a community where I feel comfortable opening up about my opinions. They make it feel like my voice matters in my community.” Paid interns participate in educational farm tours, community volunteer days, and sharing the harvest with the public through their Hunger Relief Partners. The 2016 Hunger Relief Partners are AIDS Services of Austin, Amala Foundation, Caritas of Austin, Casa Marianella, Manos de Cristo, Meals on

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Wheels and More, Neighbor 2 Neighbor, Serafina HOPE Food Pantry, and Travis County Health and Human Services: Palmer Center Food Pantry. Youth farm interns learn about the struggles of hunger and issues related to food shortages in Austin, and Urban Roots donates 40% of their food to local pantries and soup kitchens. To Sign up for the Urban Roots e-newsletter, please visit: https://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin?v=001t23upCUpnhFjGTAm88d_t42KFNFefauKNvqUhGzTAVBCocZTOcEML9lMrq71Z5v-K1jb0m5tv9xI-oldch9LIiHbpRiGklow To add Urban Roots on Twitter, please visit: https://twitter.com/UrbanRootsATX?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor To add Urban Roots on Facebook, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/urbanrootsatx/ Media Contact: Director of Communications Lauren Evans lauren@urbanrootsatx.org 512-750-8019

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Origin Story

Urban Roots strives to use food and farming to transform the lives of youth and inspire, engage, and nourish the community. The creative practice of hiring youth to grow nutritious food in the center of an underprivileged neighborhood while encouraging their development as leaders and exceptional citizens has been an impressive concept, and the numbers show their success.

Since opening in 2008, 235 youth leaders have graduated, $365,650 has been distributed directly to youth in the form of stipends, 6,569 hands-on volunteers have worked on the farm, 4,100 grade school students have engaged in interactive educational farm tours, 258,417 pounds of produce has been harvested, and 103,797 pounds, or 180,000 servings, of produce has been donated to 12 different local hunger relief partners. In 2015 alone, 11,000 pounds were donated.

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Between 2000 and 2010, Austin experienced gentrification. Following this, Austin’s African American population was concentrated in east Austin. During this time, private fundraising was given to particular school districts, widening the gap between the lower-income east side, and the wealthier west. Along with real estate, aspects of the food industry were renovated. Food trucks arrived, and farmer’s markets became popular again.

Urban Roots’ objective was to engage youth in long-term, team-based service through

paid internships, but with food and sustainable agriculture added to that framework. Breez Smith, a Gonzalo Garza Independent High School student, was blown away by Urban Roots’ diverse realm of food cultivating combined with service and leadership aspects. He grew up in east Austin, experiencing the detrimental effects of gentrification for the people who used to reside there.

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"I'd never eaten many vegetables before Urban Roots," says Smith. "It opened my mind up in that way. We can all connect through food. There's always someone in every family—a grandma, maybe—who'd grown food, so you can talk to people about it."

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He talks about the way Urban Roots has affected his life. Smith abused drugs in his

teenage years, and through Urban Roots he has found purpose. Smith said, "I remember moments when we'd lead farm tours for visitors. We were able to impart knowledge onto a doctor who had no idea about growing food. Even if just a handful of the kids in the program get that sense of leadership, then that ripples out into the community. Another buddy of mine from the program, we're in a hip-hop group and we've got tons of opportunities to spread knowledge in the community. There's a lot of momentum to spread this word about getting healthy. We grew something like 35,000 pounds of food in a few months! It's beautiful and it all happens out there with the bugs and the dirt!"

Urban Roots has reached over 128,000 people in the Austin area. They provide easier

access to nutritious food by working a booth from April to August and November to December each year at the Sustainable Food Market Center Farmers’ Market downtown every Saturday morning from 9 A.M. to 1 P.M. They also serve as a safe-haven in east Austin for community members aged 14 to 23 years old to learn how to grow food, lead volunteers, prepare and serve food at a local soup kitchen, and master communication skills.

Kaya, Urban Roots youth intern said, “Urban Roots has created a community where I feel comfortable opening up about my opinions. They make it feel like my voice matters in my community.” Paid interns participate in educational farm tours, community volunteer days, and sharing the harvest with the public through their Hunger Relief Partners.

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The 2016 Hunger Relief Partners are AIDS Services of Austin, Amala Foundation,

Caritas of Austin, Casa Marianella, Manos de Cristo, Meals on Wheels and More, Neighbor 2 Neighbor, Serafina HOPE Food Pantry, and Travis County Health and Human Services: Palmer Center Food Pantry. Youth farm interns learn about the struggles of hunger and issues related to food shortages in Austin, and Urban Roots donates 40% of their food to local pantries and soup kitchens in addition to volunteering there.

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Urban Roots continues to make a positive impact in the community to this day, following their guiding principles of providing a high quality, transformational experience for youth and community members, celebrating rigor and meaningful, hard work, building strong relationships, cultivating intentionality in the work they do, engaging the work with a spirit of celebration and joy, and honoring and respecting diversity.

Executive director, Max Elliott, cofounded the nonprofit with the desire to create a sustainable agriculture program in Austin in order to benefit youth and the health of the community. Elliott has a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from Tulane University, a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Essex in Colchester, England, and a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Texas, all of which he has used to work with Austin Community Gardens, many local organic farms including Tecolote Farm, Oasis Gardens, and Pure Luck AAA Goat Dairy, and on the City of Austin/Travis County Sustainable Food Policy Board from 2009 to 2011.

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Urban Roots’ goal is not to simply grow food. It is to nurture and inspire youth job skills and build leaders who can discuss disparities in diverse environments and solve issues that arise. "We are more than a food organization," Elliot states. "We want to build healthy food ambassadors and we use food as a tool to give youth voice, confidence, 21st Century job skills and an ability to articulate their experience."

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Mission Statement with Rhetorical Analysis Original:

The Food Trust's mission is to ensure that everyone has access to affordable, nutritious food and information to make healthy decisions. Working with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers, we've developed a comprehensive approach to improved food access that combines nutrition education and greater availability of affordable, healthy food.

Revised:

The Food Trust’s mission is to provide everyone access to health education and affordable, nutritious food by working closely with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers, and policymakers.

Rhetorical Analysis:

The Food Trust’s original mission statement was far too long. Its word count is 49, whereas the new mission statement I wrote is only 26. In order to shorten and simplify the original mission statement, I combined the two sentences into one, cutting out unnecessary, repeated information. For example, apart from who The Food Trust works with—neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers and policymakers—the second sentence simply repeats the information in the first sentence using different words. As strong mission statement tells the reader three things—why your organization exists, whom it serves, and how it serves them. In my edited version I state why The Food Trust Exists—“to provide everyone access to health education and affordable, nutritious food, whom it serves—“everyone”, and how it serves them—“by working closely with neighborhoods, schools, grocers, farmers, and policymakers” to “provide everyone access to health education and affordable, nutritious food.” A powerful mission statement is short and to the point, and this accomplishes that objective.

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Letter of Intent December 10, 2016 Edward P. Henry Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago 1313 E. 60th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 Dear Mr. Henry,

I appreciate the time and energy Rosemary Bernstein and Abigail Ross have put into talking with us about how our program and plans can fit with the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s funding goals, and the confidence they have in us and what we do. Consequently, on behalf of the staff and Board of Directors at Urban Roots, I am highly honored to submit this Letter of Inquiry familiarizing you with Urban Roots, a youth development organization that uses food and farming to transform the lives of young people and inspire, engage, and nourish the community. We ask, with the utmost respect, for your consideration of a $30,000 grant to help us transform the lives of young people by enhancing child development and improving the nation's ability to prevent all forms of child maltreatment.

Established in Austin in 2008, the mission of Urban Roots is to use food and farming to transform the lives of young people and inspire, engage, and nourish the community. Urban Roots allows youth to develop leadership skills through the practice of growing fresh, healthy food in neighborhoods in need. Urban Roots provides paid internships for young people aged 14 to 23 years old, education farm tours, community volunteer days, and sharing our harvest with the community through Hunger Relief Partners.

There is an immense need for programs like Urban Roots in low-income neighborhoods. Nutritious foods create healthy young people and minds, and leadership skills youth learn through Urban Roots are crucial. Our program reaches over 16,000 people each year. Since 2008, 235 youth leaders have become healthy, productive, civically engaged community members, graduated, and continue giving back to the community. There are 6,569 hands-on volunteers on the farm and 4,100 grade-school students have engaged in interactive educational farm tours. Over 100,000 pounds of produce has been donated to 12 different hunger relief partners, and $365,650 has been distributed directly to youth in the form of stipends.

The guiding principles of Urban Roots are to provide a high quality, transformational

experience for youth and community members, celebrate hard work, build strong relationships, cultivate intentionality in our work, engage our work with a spirit of celebration and joy, and

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honor and respect diversity. With your help, we will build and strengthen our program in order to reach and benefit more youth and reach the goals we have set for the following three years:

• The Food and Leadership Fellowship for college-aged young people will launch • Create a process for testing new programs that align with the Urban Root’s guiding principles • Provide compelling opportunities for new partners to join our mission • Refresh and teach Urban Roots guiding principles to board, staff, and youth members • Strengthen program evaluation

Because of your interest in developing a new generation of leaders that will enhance child

development, we genuinely hope that the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation will join us as our partner in this influential program.

Urban Roots’ budget is $260,000 of which $30,000 remains to be raised. Therefore, your gift of $30,000 for Urban Root’s future improvements will allow us to take incredible strides in these underprivileged neighborhoods. Investing in Urban Roots will help to create the leaders of the future. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at 512-750-8019 or email me at max@urbanrootsatx.org. We wholeheartedly appreciate your invitation of this Letter of Inquiry and hope you will see that what we plan to achieve aligns with your goals. Sincerely, Max Elliott, Executive Director

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Social Media Campaign—Facebook Event

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