AUNI organizes school day, after school and summer learning opportunities for more than 10,000 students and their families at 20 public schools in Philadelphia. UNI’s ecological approach to nutrition education includes hands-on experiences for students to grow, cook, consume and sell healthy foods. Sayre and University City High Schools, the High School of the Future and the Community Farm and Foo
d Resource Center at Bartram’s Gardens, the AUNI Youth Development program provides paid internships to approximately 75 high school students during the school year and 100 students during the summer. By teaching healthy cooking classes, tending school gardens, and operating local farmer’s markets, AUNI interns increase the access of local, organic, affordable, nutritious, and culturally relevant food, create the tools for self-reliance through food sovereignty, provide a space for all to deepen their relationship to the land, our food and each other, and improve community and school health while building their leadership capacity and developing academic and job-related skills. Additionally, interns involved in AUNI’s Youth Development program play a lead role in advancing youth-led solutions to improving community food systems through participation in multiple regional and national networks and conferences.
