Agricultural Institute Of Marin

Programs: Aim educates the public about the health, environmental, economic and social benefits of eating locally grown food, connects and supports communities and agriculture, and facilitates public access to healthy and locally grown food through its community education and outreach programs. Aim's farmers markets are one of the key learning environments where aim engages the community and educates about the health, environmental and economic benefits of eating locally produced food. Through direct interaction with the people who grow the food and through hands-on and multi-sensory educational activities, the community learns about how and where food is grown, the importance of agriculture in the community, california geography, seasonality and growing regions and california's rich agricultural history and present story. Aim offers free weekly educational tours for people of all ages, including youth k-12, college students, bilingual groups and people of low income; eat local 101 and informational booths that provide information as well as activities with a nutritional educator; chef demonstrations; a farm to fork program for chefs to source local food and school food service directors to promote healthy food in schools; adult educational programs including coordinated farm and market tours and public presentations in a variety of venues; an extensive media-based educational ad campaign which focuses on local sustainable agriculture education; and partnerships with local agricultural organizations to demonstrate and educate about how "it takes village to bring you your food". Aim also hosts local agriculturally related nonprofit community based organizations, produces and places educational signage, offers sustainability education activites and participated in related educational community events. Aim develops and distributes relevant educational materials and brochures that aim to invorm the community on topics including: "why buy local? ", "how to green your shopping experience", "how to get local food into your schools", as well as a glossary of terms related to agriculture and food, designed to help customers navigate food labeling. Aim's dynamic educational website which attracts over 5,000 visitors per month, features content about local food, sustainable agriculture, seasonality, economic benefits, seasonal recipes and farmers markets. Aim's bi-monthly e-newsletter provides community members with important upcoming events, recipes for how to prepare seasonal, healthy and local foods and links to articles that relate to the local food movement and news about aim's programs. Aim also has an online presence through social media including facebook (@marin farmers markets) and twitter (@eatlocal101). Aim conducts farm visits which allow aim to get to know growers and ranchers, be able to tell their story to the community and verify that the products they bring to the market are grown on their farm. Aim conducts outreach, education and health promotion programs to reach underserved and low-income communities, facilitating access to fresh, healthy locally grown food through promotion of wic, senior farmers market vouchers and the ebt/food stamp programs. Market match provides a limited-time incentive to food stamp users to use their food stamps on fresh, healthy, locally grown food. Aim helps local organizations connect with farmers who are able to donate produce to programs such as meals on wheels, meals of marin and homeward bound. Aim also partnered with local nonprofits to offer tours and programs that promote healthy eating for spanish speaking families of low-income by bringing families to the market, offering nutrition education and educating people to shop healthy on a budget. Aim collaborates with dozens of community organizations to promote healthy eating in the community. To extend its outreach and education capacity, aim is working to develop a facility that will house new educational programs for farmers and the community to learn about local, sustainable, nutritious food. In 2014, much progress was made towards accomplishing this goal and we expect to have a new facility and outdoor space for public education in the coming few years.