Building Resilience in Oakland’s School Gardens

Common Vision

“I found a purple flower!”

“I see 5 pumpkins!”

“Hm I think there's more than that. Did you really look in there?” Wanda calmly guided an energetic crowd of first graders through the garden space. They were on several missions: find an insect that could fly, count the number of pumpkins, and find the rainbow of colors in the garden.

Wanda Stewart is one of the co-directors of Common Vision, a nonprofit working at four schools in Oakland Unified School District (OUSD). Common Vision has a three-pronged approach to improving the health and wellness of the school communities: garden education (including composting and vermiculture), food recovery and distribution, and tree planting. Between gardening and the distribution of high-quality nutritious food, Wanda aims to shift perceptions of healthy eating.

Before being set free in the garden, the kids had crowded around Wanda with the promise of being allowed to hold a worm. They reviewed the golden rule – how would they want to be handled if they were a worm?  It mostly worked – the kids waited turns, gently held the worms, and exclaimed about how squiggly and slimy they were. Through garden lessons with Wanda, the kids were learning about biology and ecology, and also about cooperation and kindness.

For these benefits to persist, school gardens need to prioritize long term sustainability, which can often be a challenge. Derek Emmons, the director of Common Vision's tree planting efforts, pointed out that a school garden being associated with a non-profit is a factor that can make school gardens more sustainable.

The Center

OUSD has several overlapping approaches to helping school gardens thrive. I met with Kat Romo, the School Gardens and Living Schoolyards Program Manager, at The Center, another name for OUSD's Central Kitchen, Education Center, and Instructional Garden. She described the constellation of work and programming that takes place at The Center and how gardening activities are coordinated throughout OUSD.

One program provides a stipend for a dedicated person to take the lead on caring for each school's garden. Called Environment, Food, and Garden (EFG) Champions, each champion is responsible for managing the school's garden, harvesting and sharing produce, coordinating the Harvest of the Month program, and more. The EFG Champions receive seedlings, support, and technical assistance from The Center. Across Oakland, 109 schools participate in garden-based activities, collectively harvesting 23,100 pounds of produce over the past three years.

Early Childhood Education

Yet another layer of garden support comes from CalFresh Healthy Living, UCCE Alameda garden education in preschools across the district. I visited one preschool garden class with a garden-based nutrition educator, Yolanda Silva. She led the students in pretending to be a seed in the garden. As kids shouted out what kind of seed they wanted to be, I noticed they were remembering fruits they had grown and tried from the garden – golden berry, watermelon, and grapes.

“Every time Miss Yolanda comes to our school and takes us to the garden, I have noticed that my students show interest, curiosity, and engagement” the students' teacher, Mrs. Audrey Ollero, shared. When we walked through the garden later, Yolanda shared her observations of gardening's positive impact on the children.

She said that garden work helps kids practice fine motor skills like picking up individual seeds, and helps them learn basic science, and practice gardening skills. Though the kids are very young, she told a story of one family where the preschooler taught their older sibling to plant seeds, and this inspired the family to start growing some of their own food.

A Diverse Approach

From visiting gardens and learning about garden programming throughout OUSD, I learned that there are many factors that sustain their school gardens. Pairing with a nonprofit, paying stipends to dedicated garden leaders, centralized garden coordination, partnership with Master Gardener volunteers, and partnering with garden-based nutrition educators all contribute to the robust garden programming in OUSD. It seems that this diversity of approaches makes the district's school gardens resilient.

Learn More

For more information on Oakland Unified School District's programming, visit The Center's School Garden website.

Information and resources for school garden programming:

• The Kids Garden Community is a “free community supporting individuals, families, and organizations with the skills, tools, and connections to garden with kids”. The community shares funding opportunities, resources, and advice. 
• LifeLab School Garden Resources has free garden education activities, curriculum, webinars, garden design tips, and more. 

Read more