Research & Practice
Advocating for Farm to Early Care and Education in WA
Farm to ECE is as movement that aims to bring school gardens, agricultural education, and/or locally produced foods to the early care and education setting. The Washington state farm to ECE community of practice is under development, but the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) recently obtained grant funding to build a statewide coalition. The goals of this statewide coalition are to develop and advance sustainable farm to ECE networks across Washington state in order to strengthen the statewide community of practice.
To reach these goals, the coalition decided to produce success stories to lift up a variety of current farm to ECE programs. The coalition also needed a stakeholder-centered success story template in order to produce the desired success stories. The student reviewed background information on state early care regulations, farm to ECE, and the use of success stories as a public health tool. They gathered feedback from the statewide coalition about which programmatic aspects of farm to ECE and types of programs should be highlighted. Using this information and lessons learned from reviewing farm to ECE success stories, a success story template was created. The template was then used to engage three different farm to ECE programs and gather information about their operations, strategies, and outcomes. The success stories were drafted and shared to the programs for feedback. They will be soon be published by the statewide farm to ECE coalition.
Materials Available
Project Type(s): MPH Practicum, PH Concentration Poster
Author(s): Allie Seroussi
Program(s): Master of Public Health, RDN Training
Year: 2021
Adviser(s):