ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Through its three main initiatives‚ Growing a Just Food System, Youth Empowerment, and Farm-Based Learning ‚ Added Value has many accomplishments, including:
- Growing 12 tons of fresh produce for donation, sale and consumption — with the food flowing through:
- our farmers market,
- the guaranteed shares in the harvest we offer for payment or work on the farm (known as a CSA),
- the local restaurants who’ve partnered with us to expand the availability of fresh responsibly grown local food, or
- local food pantries for the needy
- Serving as a daily educational/work site for more the 152 teens through our youth programs, creating opportunities for the youth of South Brooklyn to expand their knowledge base, develop new skills and positively engage with their community through the operation of a socially responsible urban farming enterprise,
- Generating $70,000 in revenue for youth stipends,
- Creating $120,000 in local economic activity,
- Leading workshops for more than 1300 schoolchildren annually on how food grows and the importance of growing food responsibly,
- Providing in-depth, standards-based educational programming for more than 280 elementary school students,
- Conducting ‚In-Service Days‚ for more than 25 partner organizations,
- Building the largest community compost program in NYC that is run entirely with sustainable resources, either human power or solar power,
- Hosting service-learning and informational sessions for youth and adults from as close as Carroll Gardens and as far away as Columbia, South America, and
- Creating opportunities for 3,850 people to volunteer, donating an average of 10 hours of service towards community improvement.