Event
Aligning Outdoor Learning & Farm to ECE

teacher with young children in outdoor garden

Date

Event Type

Webinar

Topic

  • Curriculum and Teaching
  • Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
  • Program Design and Management

Tags

  • Children's Health and Wellness
  • Gardening and Farming

The Natural Start Alliance recently partnered with the National Farm to School Network for a webinar, “Aligning Outdoor Learning & Farm to ECE.” Explore resources below for connecting Farm to Early Care and Education and outdoor learning. 

About the National Farm to School Network & Farm to ECE

The National Farm to School Network is an information, advocacy and networking hub for communities working to bring local food sourcing, school gardens and food and agriculture education into school systems and early care and education settings.

Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) brings three core elements-gardening, food and agriculture education, and local food purchasing-into every type of ECE setting. We will explore farm to ECE's natural alignment with outdoor learning and learn how the Hand, Heart and Soul Project has utilized farm to ECE and outdoor learning together to provide quality child care and connect to the community.  

In 2021, the National Farm to School Network and Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems surveyed early care and education (ECE) providers across the country to better understand current initiatives, motivations and challenges in applying farm to ECE activities in early care and education settings. More than 2,900 providers in 26 states and Washington, D.C. responded and shared the benefits and challenges of connecting young children to healthy, local foods, gardening, and food and agriculture education through farm to ECE. Explore the survey and accompanying series of briefs here!

About the Hand, Heart and Soul Project

The Hand, Heart, and Soul Project is a boots-on-the-ground organization for healthy children, families, and communities. It cultivates wellness through equitable access to nutrient-dense foods, holistic education, and advocacy.

Resources: 

Speakers

  • Wande Okunoren-Meadows

    Wande Okunoren-Meadows (she, her)

    Wande Okunoren-Meadows is the Executive Director of the Hand, Heart, and Soul Project and the Director of Community, Quality, and Engagement at Little Ones Learning Center in Forest Park, GA, a 3-star quality rated and a member of the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Her success spearheading a community garden at the center prompted a recent visit from Georgia’s First Lady, Sandra Deal, to promote nutrition and wellness among young people as keys to early childhood education. The center’s distinguished Farm to ECE program has served as a national model and recently the center opened up the Little Lions Farm Stand, which helps address access and equity issues. She and her mother recently co-founded the Hand, Heart, and Soul Project, which nurtures and advances the community's needs by creating equitable access to quality educational, nutritional and collective resources. Wande works with several impact organizations including the National Farm to School Network's Advisory Board, the Union of Concerned Scientists' Good Food For All Executive Steering Committee and was appointed and served on Governor Deal’s and Georgia’s first Early Education Subcommittee. She is a recipient of numerous awards including the Nikki Randall Servant Leadership Award presented by the Georgia Women’s Legislative Caucus, and a governance committee member of the Big Green DAO which is focused on shifting and decentralizing philanthropy.

  • Sophia Riemer Bopp

    Sophia Riemer Bopp (she, her)

    Sophia Riemer, MPH, RDN, works to develop and expand equitable food systems and farm to ECE programming and infrastructure through her role as Program Manager with the National Farm to School Network (NFSN). Sophia's work aims to expand the farm to ECE movement through  network building, resource development, and information sharing. Sophia has national, state, and local experience in farm to school and ECE as the previous coordinator for Washington State’s Farm to ECE implementation grant and manager of a California Bay Area farm to school nonprofit. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Sophia is a registered dietitian with a Master's Degree in Public Health Nutrition from the University of Washington and received her Bachelor’s degree in Physiology & Metabolism from U.C. Berkeley.