If I Were Asked to Help Build a Food and Agriculture Service-Learning Project in Augusta
A field note on schools, farmers, food access, and the systems needed to connect them
A federal funding opportunity crossed my desk recently that immediately caught my attention.
The USDA Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program is designed to increase children’s knowledge of agriculture, improve nutritional health, strengthen food and garden education in schools, and connect students with leadership and career opportunities in agriculture.
It supports the kinds of activities many of us have been discussing for years: school gardens, farm-to-school partnerships, experiential learning, student service projects, producer engagement, nutrition education, leadership development, technical assistance, and stronger relationships between schools and the communities around them.
Individuals are eligible to apply. So are schools, universities, nonprofits, businesses, foundations, government agencies, and partnerships among them.
Naturally, I began thinking about what this could look like in the Augusta area.
Not as a promise that I could assemble and operate an entire federal project by myself. Not as another program that depends on one person carrying all the relationships, logistics, communications, and expectations.
I thought about it from my Civic Architect perspective:
If I were invited to consult on a project like this, how would I help the right people build it together?
I Would Start With A Strong School-Community Network
I would not begin by trying to serve every school in Richmond County.
I would begin with one school or a small cluster of schools where agriculture education, student leadership, community food access, and career development could be intentionally connected.
Cross Creek & Hephzibah high schools would be an obvious place to begin the conversation because I have relationships with the FFA advisors there. I have seen the curiosity students bring to agriculture when they are allowed to experience it beyond a textbook.
Some of the Cross Creek students were interested in horticulture. Others were drawn to entrepreneurship, landscaping, environmental science, culinary arts, animal science, photography, technology, social media, or community service.
My substitute teaching experience helped shape my thinking around the AgLab Institute and the idea that agriculture education does not have to lead every student toward becoming a traditional farmer.
It can introduce them to an entire food and agriculture economy.
The planning underway for the T.W. Josey College and Career Academy should also be part of the longer conversation. A service-learning pilot launched before the academy opens could help identify which partnerships, curricula, student supports, and community relationships will be needed later.
The Richmond County School System, its CTAE leadership, agriculture educators, school nutrition personnel, and participating principals would have to be central partners - not simply recipients of a program developed somewhere else.
I Would Connect the Classroom to Real Community Work
A school garden can be valuable.
But a few raised beds alone do not make a service-learning program.
The strongest model would allow students to apply what they learn to a real community need.
Students might help grow food for a community distribution project. They might develop educational materials for younger children. They could conduct a local food-access mapping project, assist growers with communications, help plan a taste test, document the history of an area farm, or support a farmers market outreach campaign.
Some students could help build planting schedules or food-safety materials. Others could create photography, video, social media, graphic design, or public information products.
A student interested in agriculture business should have a different pathway from a student interested in horticulture, nutrition, public service, engineering, communications, or culinary arts.
The project should leave room for all of them.
That is where service learning becomes more than volunteering. Students are learning, solving problems, working in teams, communicating with adults, practicing leadership, and seeing how their skills connect to the life of their community.
I Would Put Farmers and Producers at the Table Early
Farmers should not be called after the project has already been written.
The funding announcement is clear that applicants should demonstrate existing community support, engagement with school districts and agricultural producers, relevant food and agriculture experience, evaluation capacity, and at least three meaningful letters of support.
I would begin by inviting a small group of growers and food-system practitioners to help identify what students should understand about agriculture today.
That conversation could include legacy farmers such as Loretta and Samuel Adderson and W.B. and Lynn Brown, along with representatives of Starlit Roots, Half of An Army, and other local growers who understand production, markets, land, weather, labor, and the realities of running an agricultural business.
Growing Augusta and Augusta Locally Grown should be part of the conversation because of their experience with farmer training, market development, food access, and community agriculture.
The Belle Terrace Community Garden and the Concrete Farm are community gardens that operate in urban spaces, bringing strong educational programming.
The South Augusta Farmers Market could provide a living laboratory where students learn about producers, customers, pricing, marketing, food access, and community engagement.
The STOP Mobile Farmers Market could help students understand that growing food is only one part of the system. Transportation, distribution, affordability, scheduling, communication, and trust all determine whether food reaches the people who need it.
UGA Extension in Richmond County could provide technical support in horticulture, food safety, nutrition, soil health, production, and youth development.
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and Farm Service Agency could be invited as technical and career-resource partners where appropriate.
These names are examples of the people and organizations I would invite into the design process. They are not a claim that any of them have committed to a specific proposal.
I Would Add a Workforce and Leadership Layer
The opportunity is not limited to gardening and nutrition.
It also calls for leadership development, mentoring, shadowing, teamwork, problem-solving, communication, professionalism, and preparation for agriculture-related careers.
That opens the door for a wider partnership table.
Augusta Technical College could help students understand technical and postsecondary pathways.
WorkSource CSRA and the CSRA Regional Commission could help connect the project to workforce-development systems.
The Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Augusta could help extend learning beyond the school day and create opportunities for younger students to participate.
Golden Harvest Food Bank and other food-access organizations could help students understand hunger, distribution, logistics, and the relationship between local agriculture and community nutrition.
Local chefs, food entrepreneurs, landscapers, market managers, environmental professionals, agricultural communicators, and small-business owners could serve as mentors or career speakers.
The goal would not be to bring everyone into every meeting.
The goal would be to create a clear structure in which each partner knows why they are there, what they are responsible for, and how their contribution supports students.
I Would Be Clear About My Own Role
My role would not be to present myself as the nutrition scientist, the school food-service director, the formal evaluator, or the federal grants administrator.
Those responsibilities require their own expertise.
My work would be the architecture around the project.
I would help:
Identify and organize the partners.
Clarify roles and responsibilities.
Design the school-community-producer engagement structure.
Connect classroom learning to community service and career exploration.
Help translate broad goals into practical activities and tools.
Develop communication and participation systems.
Support curriculum, toolkit, and implementation-resource development.
Document lessons, challenges, and promising practices.
Help build a sustainability plan that does not depend on one grant or one person.
This is the same lens I bring to farmers markets, teaching farms, agriculture education, food-access initiatives, community programs, and civic work.
The question is rarely whether good people care.
The question is whether the structure allows them to work together effectively.
I Would Design Sustainability at the Beginning
This grant provides support for up to two years.
That means the sustainability conversation cannot wait until the final few months.
The application must explain how the project could become self-sustaining after the initial federal investment. Reviewers will also consider the project’s merit, relevance, expertise, viability, and evaluation plan.
I would ask several questions from the beginning:
What parts of the program could become part of an existing agriculture, science, nutrition, or CTAE course?
Which activities could continue through FFA, after-school programming, or student organizations?
Could teachers be trained to continue the model?
Could participating farmers be compensated for future training or school engagement?
Could the farmers market, Extension, or a community partner host annual student activities?
Could curriculum and service-learning materials be packaged for use by other schools?
Could the future College and Career Academy absorb and expand the strongest parts of the pilot?
What local funding, sponsorship, institutional support, earned revenue, or in-kind resources could continue the work?
A project is not sustainable because an application says it will be.
It becomes sustainable when its strongest pieces are attached to institutions, budgets, job responsibilities, partnerships, and community demand.
What I See
I see the possibility of a South Augusta food and agriculture service-learning network that connects students to the full system surrounding food.
Not just planting.
Production. Nutrition. Distribution. Business. Communication. Leadership. Service. Careers. Community.
I see students learning from farmers and farmers gaining stronger connections to schools and future workers.
I see school nutrition personnel helping students understand how food moves into a cafeteria.
I see students using communications, technology, business, and creative skills to support local food systems.
I see a pilot that could inform the future College and Career Academy while producing practical benefits now.
And I see a role for myself—not as the person who claims to do everything, but as the consultant who helps the people already doing the work build a stronger structure around it.
That is how I would approach a project like this.
Start with the assets already here.
Put schools, students, farmers, and community partners at the same table.
Define the work.
Build the system.
Document what we learn.
Then create something Augusta can sustain, improve, and eventually share with other communities.