Grants for Education in Organics
Before launching SLO Chai, co-founder Joel Pace worked as a high school teacher in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties. Seeing first-hand the need for reconnecting youth with food systems and the environment, and the possibilities for raising children’s self-esteem and connections to their own communities, he raised funds to create the Eco-Outreach Program through the Humboldt County Office of Education.
Today, SLO Chai supports teachers who are bringing environmental themes into the classroom. We donate 1% of profits and fundraise on behalf of sustainable educators through our High $5 for Teachers Program.
In April 2007, SLO Chai allocated its first Sustainable Educator Grant to Laura Lopez - an environmental educator working through the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County (ECOSLO) - who is incorporating organic gardening into her curricula for high school students. We look forward to directing future profits toward other teachers who are creatively bringing sustainability into the classroom.
Give teachers a High $5! SLO Chai is helping fundraise for sustainability education by directing customers to our non-profit partners. Support teachers today by making a contribution to ECOSLO. Just enter "High $5 for Teachers" in the gift information field along with your donation information.
About ECOSLO's Community School Garden Program
Mission
The ECOSLO Community School Garden Project seeks to teach students horticulture skills, natural resource stewardship, and social values through integrated academics and a school garden. Through this program ECOSLO hopes for students to be instilled with a great respect for where their food comes from, to value landscapes and open space, and to be empowered with a means to be a contributing and capable member of their community.
Service and Learning
In 2001, with a Cesar Chavez grant from the Governor's Office of Volunteerism and Service, ECOSLO partnered with the San Luis Obispo County Office of Education to establish the Community School Garden Program. Students at community schools have not succeeded int he conventional school system for a variety of reasons. The community schools are their last opportunity in the public school system and a percentage do return to standard public school.
Currently, there are four SLO County schools participating in the garden program. Students work in the garden once a week under the tutelage of Laura Lopez, a local horticulturalist and the Garden Program Coordinator. Activities include: establishing perennial gardens, composting, mulching, pruning, seed saving and sowing, plant propagation, weed control, nutrition and food preparation, community service, and field trips to various nurseries, farms, and gardens. By shrinking the gap between the youth and our natural environment, the program encourages these students to simply be aware of and care for the earth, and at the same time provides them options for applying themselves during school and after graduation.
For more information about the Community School Garden Program, contact ECOSLO, 805-544-1777 x4 or Laura@ecoslo.org.
Learn More About SLO Chai
