Program History & Overview
Since 2019, Wasatch Community Gardens and Artes de México en Utah have partnered to facilitate Sabores de Mi Patria programming at various school and garden sites in Salt Lake County. Through that programming and partnership, participants have demonstrated a strong desire to further their learning and expand this style of community-led projects and knowledge sharing. Beginning in 2023, WCG and AMU have collaborated to offer a mentorship program to support Latinx/Hispanic community leaders in learning how to facilitate community learning spaces around their cultural knowledge and food traditions. Through Families as Teachers program, participants learn more about sustainable indigenous growing practices and develop leadership skills that can be applied in their own community spaces and beyond.
Rather than telling participants how to garden and what to eat, the Families as Teachers program is meant to be collaborative and responsive to participants’ interests and needs – what they are curious about, what knowledge they want to share with each other, and what skills they want to adapt or improve.
In response to the cohort’s interest, WCG & AMU collaborate to create training workshops and community-led programming to provide participants with opportunities to continue learning about traditional/ancestral gardening knowledge around topics such as land stewardship, traditional recipes, “La Milpa” growing techniques, and how to facilitate conversations and learning with community members. We are also proud to offer access to growing local, organic produce, including space in school or community gardens.
After completing the training stage, Families as Teachers program participants have the opportunity to develop their own projects, with WCG and AMU coordinating the necessary materials and support from staff and other program participants. This open-ended project opportunity allows families opportunities to share their knowledge and experience with one another on topics such as gardening techniques, favorite foods to grow, recipe ideas, food preparation tips, and other culturally relevant topics. WCG and AMU support in demonstrating impact through data collection and reporting, as well as connecting folks to other opportunities to lead in the community food space.
