Meet the Youth Harvest Project

Thank you for your interest in the Youth Harvest Project!  We look forward to keeping you up to speed throughout the season on the exciting developments happening with this great program. Two sentences in and you’re probably asking, ‘what is the Youth Harvest Project’?

The Youth Harvest Project is a therapeutic, service-oriented, work program for Missoula teens. It is a collaboration between Garden City Harvest, The Human Resource Council, Missoula’s Youth Drug Court, and Willard Alternative High School. Each season Youth Harvest employs six to eight youth, half of which are referred by Missoula Youth Drug Court. The PEAS Farm – based program offers youth the experience of immersion in the dynamic community that comes together each growing season to grow high quality produce for the Missoula Food Bank and other community resource centers.

We seek to provide an atmosphere for youth to feel they are useful and work on the development of a strong sense of self. The Youth Harvest Project seeks to increase employment skills through mid-season job evaluations, goal setting throughout the summer, and the youth’s experience in running their own small-scale farm stand, the ‘Mobile Market’. Youth participants grow, harvest, and sell produce from Mobile Market (the giant, red, recommissioned milk truck) to six senior assisted living facilities throughout Missoula. In these ways and more, Youth Harvest is serving youth in innovative ways that build job experience, self-esteem, and strong community connection.

Stay tuned for updates as we begin our season on June 17th!

Morgen Hartford

Youth Harvest Project Coordinator

 

Laurie Strand Bridgeman

Youth Harvest Program Director