land immersion intensive
Each cohort participates in a 5-night, 6-day camping and stewardship intensive at Grandpa Farm and gain hands-on organic farming experience, develop plant identification and land care skills, practice safe tool use and nursery management, and deepen their relationship to land and collective responsibility
Through the Land immersion Intensive program, participants can earn up to 24 required hours toward a Landscape Nursery Manager apprenticeship aligned with the New York State Department of Labor syllabus.
what this looks like in practice
Across land and communities, youth participate in this program through hands-on work, collective learning, and community-based projects.
ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE EDUCATION
Youth engage with environmental and food justice through frameworks including the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and the Black Space Manifesto, grounding their learning in these traditions while bringing them into practice through dialogue, land-based projects, and civic engagement.
urban agriculture AND CULTURAL FOODWAYS
Youth design and cultivate garden beds, choosing crops native to the land they are working with and the cultural traditions and foods meaningful to their communities. In the Bronx, youth have chosen to grow crops such as cowpea, squash, spinach, pinto beans, and strawberries.
soil healing and ecological practice
Youth test soil for pollution, study environmental harm, and practice composting, remediation, and land-based care in alignment with Learning Standards for Career Development and Occupational Studies (CDOS). Through this work, they build relationships between land care, healing, and resilience.
community partnerships
Youth collaborate with community organisations like Socrates Sculpture Park, Grandpa Farms, Climate and Resilience Education Task Force (CRETF), contributing to projects and campaigns focused on land access, climate education, and community-led development.
Land Stewardship Projects
Youth co-design and activate community garden spaces, transforming underutilized land into hubs for learning, food production, and community gathering.
CIVIC EDUCATION AND ACTION
Youth lead workshops, facilitate peer learning spaces, and present their work publicly. They also engage in civic advocacy, including educating policymakers in Albany on climate education, mental health, and environmental justice.
community partnerships
Youth collaborate with community organisations like Socrates Sculpture Park, Grandpa Farms, Climate and Resilience Education Task Force (CRETF), contributing to projects and campaigns focused on land access, climate education, and community-led development.
Land Stewardship Projects
Youth co-design and activate community garden spaces, transforming underutilized land into hubs for learning, food production, and community gathering.
CIVIC EDUCATION AND ACTION
Youth lead workshops, facilitate peer learning spaces, and present their work publicly. They also engage in civic advocacy, including educating policymakers in Albany on climate education, mental health, and environmental justice.
YOUTH LAND LAB
A two-year program for BIPOC youth that moves from classroom learning to land-based practice to public leadership.
Combining environmental justice educations, hands-on urban agriculture, green workforce pathways, and youth leadership development.
a two year leadership pathway
Across two years, youth move from foundational learning into land-based practice and public leadership, taking on increasing responsibility through facilitation and community engagement.
In Year One, youth build foundational knowledge in environmental justice, food systems, and urban stewardship, while identifying local environmental harms, and develop land-based responses.
In Year Two, returning youth deepen their technical skills and step into roles as urban architects and stewards of green hubs, peer mentors, workshop facilitators, and youth leaders. After the completion of the two years, participants return as alumni, interns, and collaborators, continuing to shape future cohorts.
learning, land, and leadership
Previously known as Seeds of Sovereignty, our Youth Land Labs is a two-year land stewardship and food justice leadership pathway integrating environmental justice education, urban agriculture, workforce development, and youth organizing.
In neighborhoods shaped by environmental racism and food deserts, our Youth Land Labs offer critical skills in cultivating food across hydroponic and soil-based mediums, rooted in permaculture principles that employ the consultation of local Indigenous stewards, in order to bridge education with action.
Youth lead every aspect—from planting and harvesting to curriculum co-design, seed saving, and teaching community members leaving them with lifelong skills.
