Contact: Shironda Brown, Training Project Coordinator, NC Farm to Early Care and Education, sewilli3@ncsu.edu
Thanks to a generous charitable contribution from PNC Bank, the NC Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) Initiative will host its first Farm to ECE “2.0” Institute for past Farm to ECE Collaborative participants, farmers and Extension agents. This Institute will take place Sept. 10, 2022, at the NC County Extension office in Guilford County.
Launched in 2016 by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems, the NC Farm to ECE Initiative enhances the health and education of young children by developing systems and experiential learning opportunities that connect children and their families with local food and farms. It encompasses activities in ECE environments that incorporate local foods through meals and snacks, taste tests, lessons, farmer visits, cooking, growing food and/or community and parent involvement.
The Farm to ECE “2.0” Institute will showcase and build upon the impactful work taking place in child care communities across North Carolina to produce nutritious fruits and vegetables and contribute to children’s positive experiences with fresh, local food, while addressing food and nutrition security for our youngest N.C. residents. The event will include a keynote address, hands-on activities and informative sessions on such topics as gardening, racial equity, cooking with and for children and local food purchasing.
“NC Farm to ECE brings together the resources of the state’s food economy and education system to help provide children and families with information and access to local, nutritious food,” said Jim Hansen, PNC regional president for Eastern Carolinas. “As an advocate for early childhood education, a facilitator of growth for the local food and agribusiness sector and a supporter of the institutions administering this program, PNC is proud to help fund this regionally significant work.”
Watch how the Cherokee Elementary Pre-K farm to ECE program impacts children in the school, their homes and the community and how sensory garden experiences facilitate learning at the Gibson Elementary Pre-K Program.
For more information about the Institute, please contact Shironda Brown, Farm to ECE Training Coordinator, at sewilli3@ncsu.edu. Learn more and find updates: cefs.ncsu.edu/food-system-initiatives/nc-farm-to-early-care-and-education