Farm to Early Care Profile: Worcester Head Start

MFTS Communications Assistant Brittany Chloe Tope-Ojo sat down with Catherine Champiney, Program Dietitian, and MaryAnn Rollings, Health Coordinator at Worcester Head Start, to learn about the Farm to School initiatives taking place at their centers.

Worcester Head Start serves about 390 children and their families, ranging in age from 2.9-5 years old at four different locations. The Head Start team is participating in the 2022-23 Massachusetts Farm to School Institute aided by Coach Eliza Lawrence (Regional Environmental Council (REC)). They have  implemented new efforts to grow, elevate, and educate their students about locally grown produce, cooking, and nutrition. Their goal is to have gardens at each of their centers; as of now only one location has garden beds, though they are doubling the number of beds at that center this year. With the help/coordination of the team of 6 Farm to School Ambassadors at each center, they plan to keep the garden beds maintained and cared for throughout the summer.

Procurement

Worcester Public Schools provides most meals for the children at Worcester Head Start. This limits their ability to do lots of local procurement, but they look for creative ways to make local purchases. For example, they buy snacking apples from Czajkowski Farm in Hadley. 

Implementation

Worcester Head Start hosts many activities to get students, their families, and the teachers at the center involved in learning about local food, each other’s cultural foods, gardening, nutrition, and hands-on cooking lessons. Some activities of note are:

• The Mobile Mini Market – The center sets up a miniature farmers’ market for the kids with produce provided by the REC. The kids each get their own basket and read signs indicating how much of each item to take. At the end of the day they were allowed to bring their basket of fresh produce home to their families. 
• Cultural Celebration Night – The center planned a cultural heritage evening for families. Families were encouraged to attend wearing traditional attire, to bring music, and traditional family recipes. The center was able to source ingredients for dishes such as, Puerto Rican rice, tabouli, and calzones for families to enjoy

Professional Development Kickoff – In order to get teachers excited and informed about Farm to School work, Worcester Head Start held a Professional Development Cooking Kickoff event. Teachers from each of the centers were split into groups and assigned a vegetable-based recipe to cook using different kitchen tools. They made pancakes, smoothies, hummus, english muffins, and pizza. The mixing bowls, spatulas, griddles, blenders, and food processors, and kitchen staples like flour and sugar were subsequently made available for teachers to use to cook with their students whenever they like! Parents and caregivers can even come in and be involved in cooking with the kids during the school day, and teachers have found that even the students that are usually more reserved when it comes to group activities want to participate!

Partnerships & Advice

Worcester Head Start’s partnership with the REC has afforded them a lot of resources and educational opportunities for the kids. In addition to providing the produce for the Mini Mobile Market, the REC also is helping them to build more raised garden beds and is providing seedlings for them to plant as well as an educational series for them to go through with the kids. They also hosted a Men that Matter event for the kids and the father figures in their lives at the REC gardens, inviting male caregivers to read a story and explore the gardens with their kids.

Worcester Head Start has a long-time partnership with the UMASS extension nutrition education program which provides them with a four-series curriculum that kicks off with MyPlate activites. A representative from the extension office comes to teach the lessons, and at the end of the lesson, they provide foods for kids to sample. 

For those interested in implementing FTS programming they suggest:

• Forming partnerships with organizations like the REC and the University extension office: benefit from what’s already existing in your community and partner with anyone that’s willing to work with you.
• Have a professional development day to kick off the new programs and get staff excited! This is more engaging than an email, and live demonstrations of potential activities helps. 
• Involve parents and caregivers, especially those from different countries

The Worcester Team believes that the Farm to School work is important because it gives children the opportunity to gain vocabulary, math, and science skills through hands-on experience. We can’t exist without food, and kids are more likely to try unfamiliar food if they grew it themselves.