180 Learning Gardens Coming to Nation’s Most Under-Served Communities
Colorado based non-profit, The Kitchen, has announced plans to create 180 Learning Gardens throughout the state of Colorado, and in additional U.S. cities including Chicago, Los Angeles and Boston.
The Kitchen community is a non-profit established in 2011 as the philanthropic arm of The Kitchen family of restaurants. The Learning Gardens were created as places where kids enjoy playing and teachers feel comfortable and capable of teaching in.
In addition to 21 gardens already planted by The Kitchen, 60 more will be constructed in Chicago and throughout Colorado, and 60 more across the country in under-served neighborhoods.
The gardens will be designed to help combat childhood obesity—which affects more than 35 percent of the nation’s children, according to the International Obesity Task Force. Raising more than $1.3 million for the Learning Garden grants, much of the of funding for the project comes from The Kitchen’s partner, JP Morgan Chase. Prices for the gardens range from $395 to $50,000 depending on the structures. On average the gardens will cost approximately $15,000 each.
The Learning Gardens include raised planting beds, art poles, shade structures and irrigation systems, designed to be easy, affordable and scalable, the Gardens are modular and can be moved to create multiple designs and sizes.
The gardens will be used to improve the relationship between children and their food. In a statement, entrepreneur Kimbal Musk, co-founder of The Kitchen said, “Every 60 minutes our children in this country are getting sicker. Every 60 minutes, more than one child is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. And almost 60 percent of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are obese.”
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Image: USDAgov
