Agriculture Education Program Serving Youth in USVI

The Center for Educational Growth (CFEG), an education-based nonprofit organization and hybrid online and in-person school, developed a virtual and in-person youth sustainable agriculture education program on St. Croix with grant support from the Southern SARE program. This model program exposes young people to agriculture in the Virgin Islands and encourages them to become entrepreneurs in the field. The grant allowed the program to purchase materials, take students on field trips to different farms, and incentivize students to create business plans for their own farms. The program also included virtual classes, summer programs, internships, and projects on sustainable farming. Southern SARE reports that this program specifically aimed to address the issue that students in the Virgin Islands lack connection to farming, despite living in a rural area with abundant farmland that is underutilized for environmental and agricultural benefits.
Related ATTRA blog: Rooted Revival: Navigating Agricultural Hurdles in the US Virgin Islands