Teens for Food Justice

Teens for Food Justice Food justice for equity through in-school hydroponic farms and youth-led advocacy programming across NYC. Instagram:

Our after-school program trains youth, ages 12 to 18, to build and maintain indoor hydroponic farms that serve as local sources for fresh food and centers for nutrition and health education in their schools and communities. Students use cutting-edge hydroponic technology to grow substantial quantities of crops for their school, families, and neighbors. They are trained to become health and nutriti

on ambassadors who teach skills for healthy eating, shopping, cooking, fitness and lifestyle behaviors to others. Through their own, their peers’, their families’ and their neighbors’ involvement, these young leaders will be the catalysts for a grassroots food justice movement in their community. The Need:
Teens for Food Justice addresses one of NYC’s most critical challenges: getting nutritious food and health resources to those most in need. Sixteen percent of New Yorkers are food insecure and undernourished; 1 in 4 children live in households lacking sufficient food. And, even when healthy choices are available, they are often underutilized due to lack of familiarity with how to shop for and prepare the food. The TFFJ youth-led program brings these resources to food desert neighborhoods, exposing families to foods and lifestyle habits that improve community health, while building the next generation of advocates in the fight for food justice.

Juneteenth honors freedom, including the freedom to grow and choose your own food. Today, we're highlighting Mariah Midd...
06/19/2026

Juneteenth honors freedom, including the freedom to grow and choose your own food. Today, we're highlighting Mariah Middlebrooks, a Black Farmer-Educator building that freedom in Denver.

Mariah runs TFFJ's hydroponic farm at Bruce Randolph School, where students grow food for school meals, a parking lot mobile market, and citywide distribution through We Don't Waste ().

She grew up in this neighborhood, an area that has faced food access barriers for decades. Now she works alongside students, as they take ownership of their own food system and build paths into agricultural careers.

Food sovereignty is freedom.

Click the link below to read Mariah's story.
https://teensforfoodjustice.org/blog/tffj-spotlight-mariah-middlebrooks-farmer-educator-denver-co/

Say hello to the first eggplant from The Scholars' Academy's experimental bucket systems! 💜 Experimental bucket systems ...
06/16/2026

Say hello to the first eggplant from The Scholars' Academy's experimental bucket systems! 💜

Experimental bucket systems let students test crops outside the standard hydroponic system, without using electricity or pumps.

TFFJ alumna Keiara K. emceed a Bronx food policy rally alongside state legislators, physicians, and community organizers...
06/11/2026

TFFJ alumna Keiara K. emceed a Bronx food policy rally alongside state legislators, physicians, and community organizers, calling on Albany to pass three bills targeting predatory food marketing and restaurant menu transparency.

Keiara came up through TFFJ's Food Policy internship at Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus, where she studied how legislation affects communities and practiced real advocacy. She testified at City Hall. She spoke at a national webinar as the youngest voice in the room. And then she ran the mic at a rally pushing for change.

Read her full story here: https://teensforfoodjustice.org/blog/tffj-alumna-keiara-k-steps-up-to-lead-at-bronx-food-policy-rally/

Congratulations to Mo Urzola Tellez, TFFJ's Senior Hydroponic Systems Coordinator, on being named a 2026 Rising Star by ...
06/10/2026

Congratulations to Mo Urzola Tellez, TFFJ's Senior Hydroponic Systems Coordinator, on being named a 2026 Rising Star by the Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center! 🌱

Mo has been keeping TFFJ's school-based hydroponic farms running across New York City and Denver since 2020, doing the behind-the-scenes technical work that makes everything else possible. This recognition is well deserved.

Read more about Mo and the full list of awardees on our blog linked below!
https://teensforfoodjustice.org/blog/keeping-tffj-farms-growing-mo-urzola-tellez-named-2026-rising-star-in-new-york-citys-food-policy/

The Far Rockaway Educational Campus farm is wrapping up for the summer, and we're making sure every plant finds a good h...
06/09/2026

The Far Rockaway Educational Campus farm is wrapping up for the summer, and we're making sure every plant finds a good home. 🌱

Teachers just took home seedlings, and an herb giveaway is coming up next.

At the 2026 Student Leadership Conference, the projects students brought spoke for themselves.Scholars' Academy students...
06/04/2026

At the 2026 Student Leadership Conference, the projects students brought spoke for themselves.

Scholars' Academy students made lip balm and body scrub from hydroponically-grown herbs and had attendees scan commercial products using the EWG Healthy Living app. Urban Assembly Maker Academy made farm-grown condiments and ran a taste test against store-bought brands. Goldie Maple Academy dehydrated hot peppers into spice flakes and designed the packaging. DeWitt Clinton created a spice blend, recipe, and produce bag from dehydrated farm crops. MS053 launched a product line turning harvested roots into jewelry. Students from MLK Jr. Educational Campus designed accessible compost containers, made botanical prints, and created coloring pages. Urban Assembly Unison School merged its hydroponics and 3D printing clubs to design and print herb planters.

Full recap at the link below. Photos by Jennifer Cuciti.

https://teensforfoodjustice.org/blog/roots-of-power-celebrating-our-2026-student-leadership-conference/

Look at this corner! Mushrooms, marigolds, nasturtiums, eco bricks, spice blends, compost jars, worms. Every TFFJ farm h...
05/29/2026

Look at this corner! Mushrooms, marigolds, nasturtiums, eco bricks, spice blends, compost jars, worms.

Every TFFJ farm has a dedicated space for students to experiment with crops outside the main system, and DeWitt Clinton's is thriving. 🌿

The worm castings from Murry Bergtraum Educational Campus () made it to Pace University's garden, where Lauren Peters of...
05/28/2026

The worm castings from Murry Bergtraum Educational Campus () made it to Pace University's garden, where Lauren Peters of Corn Sisters Circle () led a rematriation planting workshop with native corn, bean, and sunflower seeds. Rematriation is the process of returning seeds, land, and ecological knowledge to Indigenous communities, centered on the roles of Indigenous women as traditional stewards of these resources.

Students grew the soil. The community planted the seeds. This is the kind of reach a TFFJ farm can have.

Shout out to Francesca W., MBEC's Farmer-Educator, for hauling the bin and building the partnership that made this possible.

We're honored to receive a $100,000 Innovation Grant and a $10,000 Operating Grant from Impact 100 NYC () to expand acce...
05/21/2026

We're honored to receive a $100,000 Innovation Grant and a $10,000 Operating Grant from Impact 100 NYC () to expand accessible farm-based programming for students with disabilities across all seven of our New York City farms.

Nearly one in four students across TFFJ's 24 partner schools is classified as having a disability. Most have not been able to access farm-based experiential learning — even though the multi-sensory, active, project-based environment of a hydroponic farm is precisely the kind of setting where students with disabilities often do their best learning.

Over the next two years, we will train educators in inclusive instruction, redesign our Hydroponics 101 curriculum using Universal Design for Learning principles, and equip our farms with tools that make the physical work of growing food accessible to more students.

The goal is not a separate program for students with disabilities. It is one program, built for everyone.
Food justice means access for everyone. Students with disabilities deserve to grow food, lead on the farm, and contribute to the communities around them. Not as observers. As leaders.

Click the link below to read the full blog post.
https://teensforfoodjustice.org/blog/tffj-receives-100000-innovation-grant-from-impact-100-nyc/

Thank you to Impact 100 NYC for believing in this work and making it possible. 🌱

05/21/2026

Our 2026 Student Leadership Conference brought together 122 students from 11 schools under the theme Roots of Power, celebrating the idea that real change grows from the ground up.

Thank you to West End Labs, the Levitt Foundation (), Narrative 4 (), GrowNYC (), NYC Public Schools Office of Food and Nutrition Services (), Cornell University Cooperative Extension (), and Community Food Advocates for making this gathering possible.

Thank you to our workshop leaders, volunteers, board members, farmer-educators, and staff. Thank you to TFFJ alumni emcees Ambreal K. and Wascar S. for showing what student leadership looks like beyond graduation.

More photos and videos coming soon. 🌱

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