The SWOOM Farmers Market at Atwood Community Gardens

NEXT Steps is pleased to announce our second year partnership with Debra Robinson and the SWOOM Market Project to launch the SWOOM Farmers Market at Atwood Community Gardens.  (Market opens Thursday, June 7th (4-8pm)!!! Atwood Community Gardens is located at 779 Atwood Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30310. Our growing partners for the 2012 SWOOM Farmers Market will include:

• Batdorf and Bronson Coffee Roasters (Dancing Goat, Downtown Decatur, GA)
• Life Essentials Market (West End Atlanta, GA)
• Mother Clyde Memorial Community Garden (West End Atlanta, GA)
• Patchworks City Farms (Atlanta, GA)
• Atwood Community Gardens & Urban Farm (Atlanta, GA)
• Metro Atlanta Urban Farm (College Park, GA)
• East Lake Community Learning Garden (Decatur, GA)
• The Atlanta Community Food Bank (Atlanta, GA)
• Westview Community Garden (West End Atlanta, GA)
• ….and many, many more!

Our History.  Summer 2011, Ms. Robinson mentored our kids from the Westview Community (a USDA nationally recognized food desert in West End Atlanta) and taught them how to setup and manage the Wholesome Wave and the EBT/SNAP programs at the West End Atlanta Beltline Farmers Market at Space Atlanta Restaurant.  NEXT Steps provided business development training in the form of farm management, marketing, customer service and special event management.  Our growing partner and youth instructor was Master Gardener Sister DeBorah Williams of the Mother Clyde Memorial Community Garden — a staple in the Historic West End District and founder of the West End Atlanta Beltline Market.

Our Upcoming  Activities & Events.  One of the first promotions we will host at Atwood Community Gardens is the 2012 Youth Culinary Tour (click link to download flyer).  It is a Chef mentoring promotion for young culinary artists (18 &under ) to teach their peers how to cook fresh,  naturally grown produce at local urban gardens and farms in the Metro Atlanta area. Through a partnership with the Hands On Atlanta Civic Leadership Program,  The 2012 Youth Culinary Tour will occur every 3rd Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Atwood Community Gardens, Truly Living Well Urban Agriculture Center and the East Lake Community Learning Garden from 4-8pm.

Our second activity at Atwood Community Gardens will be the Herb & Farm Summer Internship Program in partnership with the Mayor’s Youth Program, the Harland Boys & Girls Club and the Break Away Alternative Spring Break Program with Georgia State, Georgia Tech and Emory University.  This 8 week S.T.E.M.-based summer training program will teach middle and high school schools the transferable business development and management skills that come from managing and operating a farm and outdoor event facility. Our university partners will provide college mentors to work with these kids during the month of June to demonstrate how farm tasks are directly related to career pathways in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (S.T.E.M.).

Lastly, in a partnership with FILM Atlanta, we will be creating a two-year documentary project about the impact SWOOM and NEXT Steps will have on the Westview Community Food Desert.  We want to use this medium to continue our mission to create a culture of health in food desert communities throughout Metro Atlanta through public awareness promotions and educational training sessions that address issues of health, the food movement and culture.

For More Information. Click the links to learn more about SWOOM Atlanta and the NEXT Steps Youth Entrepreneur Program.

NEXT Steps YEP Receives the GuideStar Exchange Seal

For Immediate Release

Atlanta, GA –The NEXT Steps Youth Entrepreneur Program (NSYEP) received the GuideStar Exchange Seal, a leading symbol of transparency and accountability provided by GuideStar USA, Inc., the premier source of nonprofit information. The Seal demonstrates to NEXT Step‘s vast support-base our deep commitment to nonprofit transparency and accountability. See NSYEP’s Guidestar Profile

“We have worked hard to showcase our progress toward our mission, and our long-held belief in being transparent about our work, to our constituents,” said SPOKESPERSON. “As a GuideStar Exchange member, we use their platform to share a wealth of up-to-date information about our work to our supporters and GuideStar’s immense online audience of nonprofits, grantmakers, individual donors, and the media.”

In order to be awarded the GuideStar Exchange Seal, NEXT Steps had to fill out every required field of our nonprofit report page on www.guidestar.org, including our annual report, photos, and latest news articles, etc.

“I encourage you to check out our profile on GuideStar to see what we’re all about,” added Dana Jewel Harris, Executive Director of NSYEP. “We are engaged in exciting initiatives like the 2012 Young Chef Tour and our 3rd Annual 2012 H&F Summer Training Program.  Partnerships with Hands On Atlanta’s Civic Leadership Program and the Mayor’s Youth Program have helped make our urban agriculture, S.T.EM. training and youth entrepreneur programming sustainable and successful.  We are thrilled to have another platform for communicating our advancement and progress.”

About the GuideStar Exchange

The GuideStar Exchange is an initiative designed to connect nonprofits with current and potential supporters. With millions of people coming to GuideStar to learn more about nonprofit organizations, the GuideStar Exchange allows nonprofits to share a wealth of up-to-date information with GuideStar’s many audiences. Becoming a GuideStar Exchange member is free of charge. To join, organizations need to update their report pages, completing all required fields for membership. The GuideStar Exchange Seal, acknowledged as a symbol of transparency in the nonprofit sector, is displayed on all Exchange members’ report pages.

To learn more about the NEXT Steps Youth Entrepreneur Program, please visit us at
Website: www.nextstepsyep.org
Facebook: NSYEP Atl
Twitter: @nextstepsyep
Wordpress: nextstepsyep.wordpress.com

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News Contact:  Dana Jewel Harris | djharris@nextstepsyep.org

Let The Summer Training Begin!!!

For the past two weeks, I have been attending orientation training and webinars for the Mayor’s Youth Program and the Georgia Teens Work summer employment programs for kids.  I’m really excited about the opportunity to partner with these organizations to offer students  a chance to learn business plan development skills that are tied to the urban agriculture industry. 

To date, there have been 10 lucky kids assigned to work at the new Metro Atlanta Urban Farm.  What I’m hoping the kids will take away from this experience is the fact that they are excited about telling their peers they got to work on an inner-city farm.  In addition, they will be providing a lot of input into the development of an ”edible schoolyard” curriculum designed to help transition the Atlanta Public School Lunc System into a local produce driven purchasing system. 

The farm will introduce the kids to three successfull inner city gardening and farming demonstration models:  community garden plots, commercial farm plots, and an edible schoolyard. Good stuff, right?!

We’re still in need of a couple of supplies  (i.e., 15-passenger van and garden toolkits). If you know anyone that can help us out, please let them know about all the cool stuff we’re doing. 

Check back with me later to see how the kids are doing or visit the NEXT Steps website at www.nextstepsyep.org.

Don Shomaker – A Superman in College Park

May 10-14, 2010.  When we attended the Historic College Park Neighborhood Association meeting back in April, we were referred to the most wonderful wood craftsman ever.  His name is Don Shomaker and his wood shop is called Out Yonder.  Luckily for us, he lives “right around the corner” from the farm.

So we gave Don a tour of our beautiful Victorian home to show him all the wood fixtures that had been removed from the home – the stair railing, the pocket doors, the fireplace mantles, etc.  Don says he can help.  His first project . . . replacing the stairs.  Don and William started on a Monday and finished by Friday in time for our Open House that Saturday (May 15th). 

All I can say is “Wow!” 
Thanks Don!

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