Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation Hosts First-Ever National School Garden Summit

In an effort to strengthen and expand school garden-based education in local communities, the
Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation will host the inaugural Growing School Gardens Summit, April 22 through 25 in Denver, CO. As the first-ever national gathering focused entirely on school gardens, the Summit will unite more than 400 educators and leaders from across the country working to sustain school garden programs at the school, regional and national level. These educators – and the nonprofit organizations they represent – operate learning gardens at more than 6,000 school campuses, providing hands-on nutrition, science and academic instruction to an estimated 2.5 million students each year.

“Sprouts is committed to improving children’s nutrition education, and we believe our investment in school garden education is one of the best tools available to advance this mission,” said Lyndsey Waugh, Executive Director of the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation. “Hosting the Growing School Gardens Summit is an opportunity to level-up our impact by focusing on how we can empower school garden educators, understanding that through this support we will have an even greater and lasting impact on students.”

The Summit comes at a time when evidence backing the benefits of student participation in school garden programming is leading more schools to invest in the creation of these outdoor learning spaces than ever before.

“The number of organizations using gardens as learning spaces continues to grow each year and, with this, comes a greater demand for teacher training and peer-to-peer learning,” said Life Lab Program and Partnerships Director John Fisher, who is also a co-founder of the School Garden Support Organization Network, a professional learning community of more than 4,500 educators. “The Summit provides this space and also raises awareness for the effectiveness of school gardens in teaching children that establishing healthy eating habits early in life will lead to better health outcomes as they become adults.”

Starting on Earth Day, Friday, April 22, the four-day Summit will have an innovative recipe for learning, including more than 115 dynamic workshop sessions and lightning talks led by school garden professionals. There will be field experiences to explore Denver’s robust school garden scene, an Emerging Leaders program to support young professionals in the field and inspiring networking opportunities designed to leave educators feeling empowered and appreciated in their work. Keynote Jose Gonzales, founder and director emeritus of Latino Outdoors will be in attendance, along with special guest DJ Cavem, Grammy nominated eco-hip hop artist and culinary climate action ambassador, who will serve as event emcee for a plant-based dinner planned in collaboration with four local student culinary programs.

Centered on a commitment to equity and inclusivity, 25 percent of all attendees are receiving scholarship assistance to remove the financial barrier of attending. In total $65,000 in scholarships have been awarded with support from The Republic of Tea, who has backed Sprouts’ school garden programs since 2018. An all-star committee comprised of 40 individuals, representing 30 organizations, helped shape and create the Summit.

Since its inception in 2015, the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation has granted $15 million to more than 300 nonprofit partners which have brought hands-on, garden-based learning to 1.5 million children and provided nutrition education programs to an estimated 900,000 K-12 students. Sprouts Farmers Market covers all the Foundation’s operational expenses. For more information, including a complete schedule of events, roster of core planning team and additional media assets, click here or follow #growingschoolgardens on social media.