Teens4Good: Positive Youth Development Through Urban Community Gardening

Teens that grow up in underserved neighborhoods are at risk for a variety of negative health outcomes. Many underserved neighborhoods also suffer from issues related to food insecurity. Teens4Good (T4G) is a youth-led entrepreneurial program that aims to (1) improve leadership skills, work readiness skills, nutrition knowledge and healthy eating behaviors in at-risk teens through a paid six-week farming and business internship; and (2) ameliorate income and place barriers to accessing healthy affordable food by converting vacant city lots into community gardens in Philadelphia. A qualitative program evaluation using semi-structured interviews with T4G staff and focus groups with T4G interns was conducted to determine the impact of the summer internship on youth participants. Program impact on participants’ families and the community was also explored. Interviews and focus groups were audio recorded and transcribed, and coded to reveal themes. Results demonstrate that teens build confidence, and learn communication, leadership and professional development skills through business training, hands-on farming, and relationship building experiences. Youth reported learning about new and different kinds of fruits and vegetables and described eating more fruits and vegetables as a result of participating in the internship. Findings suggest this multi-component program has positive influence on nutrition habits in participants’ families, and positively impacts the community by increasing access to healthy food in underserved neighborhoods. Our results suggest that T4G is making a positive impact on youth participants, with program impact being greatest on teens that intern for more than one year with T4G.