The Young Urban Farmers

Young Urban Farmers (YUF) is a program of Athens Land Trust providing Clarke County high school students with sustainable agriculture and entrepreneurship education, work experience and personal development. YUF participants experience a full year of farm life at Athens Land Trust’s two urban farms.  In order to directly connect sustainably-produced food with a healthy lifestyle, the students participate in a six-week Cooking Matters course.  Students enrolled in the YUF program also engage in a variety of activities exploring the themes of food justice, learning where our food comes from and how we engage in food systems.  Throughout the program year, the students develop business plans, create sustainable agriculture-based products, and sell these products at the West Broad Farmers Market.

Athens Land Trust is in need of funds to continue paying the students' salaries.  Currently, each Young Urban Farmer is paid a wage of $7.50/hour.  We feel that continuing to offer this “real-world” education is invaluable to the students.  Not only does a wage put money in the students' pockets and help them to support their families, but - more importantly - it builds self-confidence as the students begin to learn first-hand the privileges and the responsibilities that come along with earning a living.

The funds earned through this campaign will provide immediate support, helping to maintain the work-study structure of the YUF program.  While these funds will not provide a long-term solution, they will support the program until we can secure a more permanent source of funding for the students' wages.  All donations made to this campaign are tax-deductible.

Please join us in being a part of a program that helps young people to find their way.  There is not a more important task at-hand - after all, these students are our future.