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Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services, North School Street, Honolulu, HI

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Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services - ‘Āina Accountability to Our Ancestors

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Kokua Kalihi Valley Comprehensive Family Services - ‘Āina Accountability to Our Ancestors

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https://hoouluaina.org/curricula/best-practices-aina-education

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Rural Action Inc, Hocking Hills Drive, The Plains, OH

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Forest Farming in Action: Developing Educational Resources to Support Forest Farming in the Appalachian Region
https://ruralaction.org/

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Featured Story

Rural Rambler

By Keri Johnson, AmeriCorps VISTA member
Lou Driever is one of the most recent members to join Rural Action. He was introduced to Rural Action through an Appalachian Beginning Forest Farming Coalition event at United Plant Savers Goldenseal Botanical Sanctuary.

Though Driever isn't a resident of southeast Ohio, it didn't discourage him from joining Rural Action and attending its workshops.

"I enjoy when I can get off the farm for a couple days, meet folks and see what we can learn together." His ... Read More

Recent News

By Amy Nicolai, AmeriCorps AORC Member
The Rural Action Environmental Education team (plus Trevor from Camp Oty'Okwa) road-tripped to the Edge of Appalachia's Eulett Center for a day of peer training ... Read More

Meet Maria Bonner, Rural Action's newest Zero Waste program co-director! Maria was previously the Zero Waste Program Manager, and she is stepping into this new role alongside co-director Ed Newman. ... Read More

By Keri Johnson, AmeriCorps VISTA member
Rural Action has endorsed loans through Kiva for businesses and producers, including Snowville Creamery, Wildcat Ridge Farms, and Green Edge Gardens. These loans support integral ... Read More

Rural Action is a membership-based nonprofit organization based in Appalachian Ohio. Since 1991, our mission has been to build a more just economy by developing the region's assets in environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable ways.

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Building a more just economy in Appalachian Ohio | Rural Action

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Rural Rambler By Keri Johnson, AmeriCorps VISTA member Lou Driever is one of the most recent members to join Rural Action. He was introduced to Rural Action through an Appalachian Beginning Forest Farming Coalition event at United Plant Savers Goldenseal Botanical Sanctuary.

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LiKEN (Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network), Nicholasville Road, Lexington, KY

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LiKEN (Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network)

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LiKEN (Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network)

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Sharing Successes in Forest Farming Across Central Appalachia
https://likenknowledge.org/

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Our History Betsy Taylor founded LiKEN in 2015 after consultation with partners from two decades of work in asset‐based community development. Mary Hufford,

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Partnering for Agroforestry in the Midwest
https://www.savannainstitute.org/

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Savanna Institute | Laying the groundwork for agroforestry in the Midwest

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An agroforestry podcast and blog by the Savanna Institute

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Building Tools and Materials to Promote Silvopasture Adoption
https://agroforestry.frec.vt.edu/

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ABOUT US

Virginia Tech's agroforestry team is a collaborative, trans-disciplinary group of faculty and staff working to advance and expand these practices and systems in temperate and tropical regions through innovative research, education and outreach programming.
What is Agroforestry?
Agroforestry is the intentional integration of agricultural and forest management practices that are designed to create greater economically and environmentally sustainable farming systems and more aesthetically pleasing landscapes.

We focus on the following in our research and communication:

New Markets, New Products, New Values

Adoption, Adaptation, Permanence

Advances in Technology and Operations

Economic Insights and Financial Tools

Production Science

Environmental Benefits

Culture, Communication, Context

Policy and Practices

International Agroforestry

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Virginia Tech's agroforestry team is a collaborative, trans-disciplinary group of faculty and staff working to advance and expand these practices and systems in temperate and tropical regions through innovative research, education and outreach programming. What is Agroforestry?

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Agroforestry Outreach in the Hawaiian Islands
https://www.zoehastings.com/agroforestry-case-studies

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Agroforestry case studies

Browse the map and the links below to learn about different agroforestry systems in Hawaiʻi. This collection of resources was made in collaboration with agroforestry practitioners across Hawaiʻi with funding from the USDA National Agroforestry Center.

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ZOE HASTINGS - AGROFORESTRY CASE STUDIES

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Agroforestry case studies Browse the map and the links below to learn about different agroforestry systems in Hawaiʻi. This collection of resources was made in collaboration with agroforestry practitioners across Hawaiʻi with funding from the USDA National Agroforestry Center.

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Silvopasture Producers of California
https://www.strategyresearchscience.com/

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Strategy Research Science designs, conducts, and manages research and special initiatives for nonprofits, businesses, educational institutions, foundations, and news organizations.

Coupling scientific research with grantmaking and grantwriting expertise, Strategy Research Science supports organizations to rethink the gaps in their understanding and their organizational capacity.

We help you ask and answer the right questions.

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Strategy Research Science designs, conducts, and manages research and special initiatives for nonprofits, businesses, educational institutions, foundations, and news organizations. Coupling scientific research with grantmaking and grantwriting expertise, Strategy Research Science supports organizations to rethink the gaps in their understanding and their organizational capacity. We help you ask and answer the right questions.

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National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)

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National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT)

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Texas Urban Agroforestry Project
https://attra.ncat.org/urban-agroforestry-bringing-the-jungle-back-to-the-concrete-jungle/

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Cities are notorious for being devoid of flora and fauna. They don't call it the concrete jungle for nothing! But it doesn't have to be that way. In this blog, we're going to talk about how we can bring a little bit of jungle back to the concrete jungle with something called urban agroforestry.

Urban agroforestry is the intentional use of perennial trees and shrubs to improve the sustainability and resilience of urban farms and communities. Urban areas often deal with issues such as pollution, water contamination, heavy metal buildup in soils, the heat island effect, stormwater and runoff issues, lack of habitat for wildlife, a lack of connection to nature for humans, and food insecurity. Trees can be used to address many of these issues. Whether on urban farms, in parks, in residential areas, or in other urban areas, there many ways you can utilize trees in an urban setting, depending on your goals. Let's explore a few examples of urban areas in Texas that are utilizing urban agroforestry.

Festival Beach Food Forest, Austin, Texas

Festival Beach is a public park in the heart of downtown Austin, Texas, that was converted into a food forest in 2014. Food forests are sometimes called multifunctional woody polycultures, edible forest gardens, or edible perennial landscapes. All these terms refer to food-producing systems designed in ways that mimic forest ecosystems, with multiple vertical layers of perennial and annual vegetation, one on top of the other. Typically, food forests have up to seven vertical layers, which could include tall overstory trees, shorter understory trees, shrubs, vines, annual plants, sprawling groundcover, and root crops. By arranging plants in these multiple layers, you can take advantage of the vertical space in small urban spaces, and you can produce a wide variety of food. It's not the most efficient system for harvest and maintenance, so arranging trees like this is not the best approach if your goal is to be a production farm. However, it's a great option if you're looking for a way to provide a forageable source of food for the community or your family in a small urban setting.

In the case of Festival Beach Food Forest, the city of Austin partnered with a nonprofit, Fruitful Commons, to create this edible forest on municipal public parkland. Festival Beach is completely open to the public and is managed by a team of trained volunteers. Day or night, anyone can come to this space to forage for food and medicine, rest, enjoy the beauty of nature, birdwatch, and socialize with other people. To learn more about Festival Beach food forest and other public food forests in urban areas, stay posted for new ATTRA videos and publications on the way.

Garcia Street Farm, San Antonio, Texas

Garcia Street Farm is a 4-acre production and education farm in the middle of San Antonio that is utilizing alley cropping to improve the farm's resiliency in the face of climate change, provide habitat for wildlife, and increase yield. This farm is a partnership between Alamo College and the San Antonio Housing Authority, and it primarily produces vegetables, cut flowers, and fruit.

Alley cropping is an agroforestry practice that consists of rows of trees interplanted with understory crops in the alleyways between tree rows. Alley cropping systems are great anywhere - not just in urban areas - but they are especially good for urban areas because they tend to "overyield," meaning they produce more crops per acre than a monoculture would. In urban areas, which are often tight on space, alley cropping can help your farm produce more per acre than you otherwise would be able to. The trees in alley cropping systems also provide habitat for wildlife such as birds, bats, and insects, which is of huge importance, especially in urban areas where there isn't usually much animal habitat. In areas impacted by both extreme heat and extreme cold, such as San Antonio, the trees in alley cropping systems provide shade for understory plants during the summer, while providing a buffer to cold wind during the winter. Stay posted for videos and publications about Garcia Street Farm to see exactly how they are using alley cropping to improve their farm resilience.

Keepers of the Garden, Corpus Christi, Texas

Windbreaks are a common agroforestry practice consisting of one to three linear plantings of trees, typically planted on the perimeters of fields, to protect crops from wind and erosion. Windbreaks can be utilized in any space - urban or rural - to slow wind, provide privacy, buffer odors and pollution, function as wildlife habitat, and sometimes produce harvestable products.

Keepers of the Garden is a small production and education farm in the heart of Corpus Christi, Texas, and while this farm does contain a food forest, it has also utilized windbreaks around the perimeter of the farm. This farm is in the middle of the city and is surrounded by lots of buildings and busy streets, so these windbreaks, once fully grown, will function primarily as a privacy barrier and as a buffer to odors from the nearby road. In hot and humid climates such as Corpus Christi, species like Seagrape (Coccoloba Uvifera), make good windbreaks, as they grow tall and dense, have evergreen leaves for year-round wind protection, and provide harvestable fruit in addition to buffering wind. Stay posted for more videos about the other ways Keepers of the Garden has utilized trees in its urban agroforestry farm.

Photo: Katherine Favor 2022

Onion Creek Floodplain, Austin, Texas

The City of Austin is currently in the planning stage of a large urban agroforestry project in the Onion Creek Floodplain. This area has historically suffered many catastrophic floods, and it is predicted to suffer many more floods in the future. This area was previously occupied with residential housing, but the City bought out and demolished 815 homes and is now planning to restore the area. The goals behind this project are to: 1) protect the residents of Austin from flooding; 2) protect the environment from negative impacts of erosion; and 3) protect water quality. Utilizing trees in the form of urban agroforestry is one way to satisfy all these goals.

The first step in this project was to undergo an extensive process of community outreach and engagement to figure out what the community wanted to see done with this newly fallowed land. One idea the community expressed the most interest in was an urban agroforestry project - one in which edible trees would be planted in the area where houses once were. Trees are a great option for this space because this area is still in danger of future floods, meaning no permanent structures may be built in this zone. Trees, with their deep roots, have a better likelihood of withstanding future floods, and their fruits and shade could be enjoyed by the community when floods are not occurring. There are many stages in the planning process for a large-scale municipal restoration project such as this, but within a few years, the city of Austin may very well have a community food forest in the Onion Creek Floodplain.

These are just a few examples of folks in Texas who are utilizing urban agroforestry, but there are so many other ways to do it, too. NCAT is partnering with the USDA Agroforestry Center to create videos, podcasts, and publications about urban agroforestry, so stay posted for more resources on this topic soon. And reach out to an NCAT Sustainable Agriculture Specialist if you'd like to talk more about this one on one.

Related ATTRA Resources:
Agroforestry: An Overview Episode 240. Urban Agroforestry for Dryland Environments Episode 44. Opportunities in Agroforestry
Other Resources:
USDA National Agroforestry Center The Center for Agroforestry Savanna Institute Forest* A *Syst USDA Plants Database This blog is produced by the National Center for Appropriate Technology through the ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture program, under a cooperative agreement with USDA Rural Development. ATTRA.NCAT.ORG.

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Urban Agroforestry: Bringing the Jungle Back to the Concrete Jungle

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Cities are notorious for being devoid of flora and fauna. They don't call it the concrete jungle for nothing! But it doesn't have to be that way. In this blog, we're going to talk about how we can bring a little bit of jungle back to the concrete jungle with something called urban agroforestry.

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Community Harvest Agroforestry Program
https://washingtonparks.net/

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A ROCK, A RIVER, A TREE ........ A PARK FOR ALL PEOPLE!

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Rock Creek Park

* Spanish version of ROCR map

All over the world, city parks are on the front lines of meeting the most urgent needs of public health, including physical, mental, nutritional, developmental, civic, environmental, and economic health. DC is the greenest major city in North America, with an unmatched wealth of public green spaces of all kinds available to meet the needs of all our communities. Yet, we are profoundly disinvesting in these resources, especially the critical programs needed to make them safe, vital, and equitable for all. As a result, a parks and greenspace system that could be a world-class model is appallingly lacking in the most basic resources for maintenance, operations, programming, protection, sustainability, and community engagement and accountability. This is especially troubling at a moment when safe access to fresh air and nature is key to surviving the multiple pandemics of COVID-19, racial injustice, food insecurity, unemployment, discrimination, and poverty.

In 30 years of continuing service to communities across DC, Parks & People and our tens of thousands of citywide members, volunteers, partners, and participants have discovered over and over that a healthy, equitable outdoors is essential to the lives of all our people. Yet, all too often, we have seen strong community initiatives for health and safety undermined by disinvestment in the most basic elements of outdoor health, safety, and equity. Too many of our parks in poor black neighborhoods are severely unmaintained, unprogrammed, and unaccountable to their communities. When parks become blights, they hurt everyone around them. Instead, parks and green spaces can be green engines to help meet essential community needs: healthy stress relief, violence prevention, food, play, exercise, cognitive development, job training, readiness, employment, transportation, art, and community.

Here are ways to boost public safety, health, and justice by shifting funds from to community- and park-based approaches, at fractions of the hourly cost of far less effective police-based approaches:

Investing more in food security through intensive community agriculture via the DOEE Office on Urban Agriculture and community partners, modeled after sites such as Washington Parks & People's Marvin Gaye Community Greening Center t hat simultaneously grow food, jobs, arts, learning, environmental sustainability, and community year-round;

Removing the discriminatory disincentive to city contracting with nonprofit community partnerships in the city's contract and procurement policies, thus enabling funds earned in community contracting to be continually reinvested in the community;

Shifting the MPD's failing Environmental Crimes Unit function to a more empowered enforcement arm of the DC Department of Energy and the Environment to stop dumping on poor neighborhoods exemplified by such long-entrenched illegal dumping sites as the toxic dump at 4214 Hunt Place NE next to the Watts Branch stream and Marvin Gaye Park;

Shifting DGS's weak and unaccountable land stewardship functions to the DC Department of Energy and the Environment, and boosting contract compliance and equity on grass mowing, park lighting and playground repairs, graffiti removal, and trash pick-up; and

Investing in community-based park partnerships such as Friends of Oxon Run Park, Friends of Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, Ward 8 Woods, Washington Parks & People, and other APACC member organizations to make the city's vast parks system into zones of peace and opportunity for all.

English version of ROCR map Versión en Español del mapa Tweets by WashingtonParks

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A ROCK, A RIVER, A TREE ........ A PARK FOR ALL PEOPLE!

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Spanish version of ROCR map All over the world, city parks are on the front lines of meeting the most urgent needs of public health, including physical, mental, nutritional, developmental, civic, environmental, and economic health. DC is the greenest major city in North America, with an unmatched wealth of public green spaces of all kinds available to meet the needs of all our communities.

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Trees Forever, West 8th Avenue, Marion, IA

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Agroforestry in the Upper Midwest: Educational Materials for Accelerated Adoption
https://treesforever.org/

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What's Happening

What We Do: The Impact of Trees

Native landscaping, prairie plants the trees of their future all while learning skills that will ready them for career pathways.

Drop By

80 W 8th Avenue
Marion, IA 52302

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What's Happening What We Do: The Impact of Trees Water Quality Initiatives Trees Forever works with landowners and communities to improve water quality by establishing streamside buffers that reduce soil erosion and decrease pollutants runoff. Roadside Improvement Native landscaping, prairie plants and trees along our roadsides and trailsides are critical elements to managing stormwater, snow,...

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Regenerative Design Group, Chevalier Ave, Greenfield, MA

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Silvopasture Practices for Land, Animal, and Farm Resilience
https://www.regenerativedesigngroup.com/

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Regenerative Design Group - Greenfield, Massachusetts

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Regenerative Design Group is a worker-owned design firm working at all scales of regenerative land use planning + design.

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Quivira Coalition, 2nd Street, Santa Fe, NM

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Southwestern Tribal Agroforestry Outreach Project
https://quiviracoalition.org/

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The Quivira Coalition builds soil, biodiversity, and resilience on western working landscapes. We foster ecological, economic, and social health through education, innovation, and collaboration.

Our helps ranchers develop plans and management strategies for restoring and building resilience on slope wetlands, grasslands, and other working landscapes.

Our helps to ensure that living and working knowledge of these practices, and the landscape itself, is stewarded into the future.

Our Education program, including our annual conference and open source publications, creates a space for our coalition to share ideas and resources, and for the general public to learn about the critical role working lands play in the health of our food systems, communities, and our planet.

Our Carbon Ranch Initiative is working to build the capacity of producers, land managers, and technical service providers to implement land management practices focused on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change.

At the foundation of all our work is the concept that well managed working rangelands and forests are two of the most effective, efficient, and immediately viable paths to remedy the devastating impacts of climate change.

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The Quivira Coalition builds soil, biodiversity, and resilience on western working landscapes. We foster ecological, economic, and social health through education, innovation, and collaboration. Our helps ranchers develop plans and management strategies for restoring and building resilience on slope wetlands, grasslands, and other working landscapes.

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Future Generations University, Franklin, WV

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Finding Value in Appalachia’s Riparian Buffers
https://www.future.edu/

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At Future Generations University, your community IS the classroom. Our innovative approach allows you to learn skills needed to create a resilient community for today's challenges.

"Future Generations University incorporates what we like to call in Peace Corps a "I do, we do, you do" approach through community labs. It allows students to be guided by the instructors while applying learned skills to real life issues. The labs are my favorite aspect of the masters program because it's a unique approach to learning."

-KAYCEE, USA

"You are given the opportunity to earn a Masters degree by completing a community service project of your choice, in a community of your choice, while being given the money and tools to do it. The Segal Education Award was matched dollar-for-dollar, making this masters program very affordable."

-ASHLEY, USA

Since 2003, Future Generations University has been teaching the methods proven effective in facilitating and scaling community change throughout its 30 year history. With a mission to create truly inclusive learning pathways, Future Generations has reduced the barriers to higher education by making communities the campus, and connecting students in a virtual learning hub from all around the world using accessible technologies. Fully accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, our graduate school has alumni from 40 countries and our world-class faculty are active community practitioners, so students learn from those who do.

Masters of Arts in Applied Community Development

Rolling Admissions for Fall 2020 - Learn more from our Informational Webinars

Join a world-circling community of experts and like-minded classmates dedicated to sustainable advancement of their communities

Go at their own pace, taking a single course at a time or three, finishing a Masters degree in two, three or four years, or a Certificate in as short as a year.

Attend class from home, office, or mobile device - No need to relocate to learn

See best practices in action from our country partners on field-based courses, in countries like the US, Nepal, India, and Peru.

Earn credit for previous professional experiences to save money and graduate early

Our future depends on leaders building on the successes of their communities and, together, building their collective capacity to create and lead sustainable change. The Master of Arts degree in Applied Community Development calls for student creativity, leadership,self- discipline, and passion for learning the art of facilitating change. Our distributed learning model offers students the flexibility to complete programs while working and living in their community. With opportunities for research, field courses, internships, and professional specializations, this degree fits student interest and career goals while also benefiting their home community.

Popular certificates such as Community Development, which builds a skill base in creating a sustainable future for students' communities, can be a first step to the Master's program. Courses can also be taken as a stand-alone for-credit.
Individual Courses include:

Introduction to Community Change

Going to Scale

Sustainable Communities

Change Your World

Monitoring & Evaluation

Nonprofit Management

Resource Mapping

Social Entrepreneurship

We are committed to empowering local people by giving them a voice and visibility. Alumnus Vincent Omara (Class 2017) is working with the Ik and Tepeth indigenous people in the mountainous area of Karamoja, helping to ensure their rights.

"When food is perceived to be scarce, the price goes up and the poorest become even more vulnerable." Faculty Dr. Dan Robison is an agroecologist who lives in Bolivia, blogs about the urgency of cultivating our gardens.

From climate action to experiential education to saving the bees, a spotlight on Future Generations University internship program and how our resilient North American students are pivoting their community based work in the time of COVID-19.

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Future Generations University | Solving Global Problems with Local Solutions

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At Future Generations University, your community IS the classroom. Our innovative approach allows you to learn skills needed to create a resilient community for today's challenges. "Future Generations University incorporates what we like to call in Peace Corps a "I do, we do, you do" approach through community labs.