L-R: Orlando Housing Authority President Vivian Bryant; Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack; Rural Development Florida State Director Richard Machek and Rural Development Florida Single Family Housing Program Director Daryl Cooper participated in a business roundtable in Orlando, Fla., last Friday. They discussed the USDA Rural Development Home Refinancing Pilot Program which is available to USDA borrowers in 19 states.
When most people think of Orlando, Florida, they envision exciting theme parks, Cinderella’s castle and a mouse with big ears. But when USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack visited Orlando on February 24th, it was with a different vision in mind. Read more »
Tags: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, homeownership, Housing program, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Orlando, Rhode Island, Rural Development, South Carolina, Tennessee, Tom Vilsack
Rural Development
I recently had the pleasure of visiting Wheat Street Gardens, a unique urban garden, located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, Ga., not far from the famous civil rights historical Ebenezer and Wheat Street churches. The garden was once a housing project that was demolished and many of the former residences’ families still come to the garden telling stories of where their parents used to live and reliving the memories as they purchase fresh fruits and vegetables grown in the garden. The old housing project land, owned by the Wheat Street Church, was donated for the garden.
Truly Living Well Center for Natural Urban Agriculture (TLW), which is a 501(C)(3) Non-Profit, runs the garden, which produces organic vegetables, fruits, and herbs, grown without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or herbicides. The garden is also a farmers market selling as a direct farmer to the community and welcomes customers who spend Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. Read more »
In August I went back to school with students in Albany and Newton, Ga., to see how healthy school meals help students get their “S.W.A.G. on” and prepare for success.
In Albany, 400 Sherwood Acres Elementary Magnet School students celebrated school breakfast, many wearing S.W.A.G. t-shirts, which stands for “Students with Academic Greatness!”
Vanessa Hayes, Dougherty County Schools Director of Child Nutrition Services, explained, “We understand that good nutrition is the fuel for the educational vehicle.” Read more »
Tags: Audrey Rowe, Chefs Move to Schools, CNR, FNS, Georgia, HealthierUS School Challenge, Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, Let's Move, National School Breakfast Program, National School Lunch Program, Newton
Education, Food and Nutrition, Let's Move
On June 9th, the USDA Food and Nutrition Service kicked off the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) — “Food That’s In When School Is Out”, in Atlanta by visiting the Marietta Community Center in Marietta, Georgia as part of USDA’s first ever National SFSP Celebration Week. The Center provided free meals and a nutrition class on the new USDA MyPlate to 50 wonderful children, as feeding kids during the summer can pose a challenge to some parents when school meals are no longer available.
Although the SFSP program is completely dedicate to helping kids during the summer, when they are most vulnerable to experiencing hunger because school is out, our participation rate on this program is only 17%, but USDA is doing everything it can to get more meals to children during the summer months. We need to be sure that every child who should be receiving a summer meal gets one because no child should ever be going hungry. Although our National School Lunch Program is serving more than 21 million children during the school year, we are only serving 3 million children through SFSP, so clearly there is still a long way to go in reaching all the children who are eligible for this program, and we need everyone’s help to pitch in. Read more »
Tags: Atlanta, Bobby Cagle, Don Arnette, FNS, Georgia, Kevin Concannon, Lisa Pino, Marietta, Marietta Mayor Steve Tumlin, MyPlate, National Hunger Hotline, National Summer Food Service Program Week, SFSP, Tom Vilsack
Food and Nutrition
On May 27, Vaibhavi Patankar of Woodland Hills, Calif., was named the top winner in the 2011 Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Poster Contest.
What better way to celebrate wildfire prevention education than saluting a 9-year-old girl and an organization that has roots dating back to 1891. Read more »
Tags: 2011 Smokey Bear & Woodsy Owl Poster Contest, Alaska, California, Fairbanks, Forestry, Fresno, FS, Gainsville, Georgia, Idaho, Marsing, National Garden Clubs Inc., Smokey Bear, Woodland Hills, Woodsy Owl
Education, Forestry
Employees at the Stephens Federal Building in Athens, Georgia, celebrated the People’s Garden planted in April with an educational lunch session in the garden.
Deborah Callahan of USDA Rural Development and a recent graduate of Georgia’s Master Gardener program demonstrated composting and explained the function of red worms. Amanda Tedrow of Cooperative Extension Service answered questions about vegetable gardening. Kathy Peters A Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Earth Team volunteer was available to discuss plant propagation and distributing information on backyard conservation. Read more »
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