Colton Community Youth Garden (formerly Flagstaff Youth Garden) is a seven-week summer internship with the Museum of Northern Arizona in partnership with the Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy. It offers wages, job skill training, and leadership development to local high school youth (Eligible interns will have completed their freshman year of high school). The CCYG internship will encourage a broader understanding of the unique beauty and character of the region through the exploration of sustainable agriculture.

CCYG interns will acquire hands-on experience in ecological agriculture and restoration, cultivate and market diverse crops, and participate in community service projects at the Colton Community Garden site. Located on the Museum of Northern Arizona campus at the base of the San Francisco Peaks, this historic site was farmed by the Museum’s co-founder, Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton in the early 1900s. Interns will act as mentors to eight to twelve -year-old MNA Discovery participants. During this internship, CCYG and MNA Discovery participants will interact with one another and the landscape in relevant and meaningful ways, to gain an awareness of and appreciation for the unique ecology and cultural traditions of this region.

CCYG empowers and educates young people to continue the legacy of land stewardship and sustainability on the Colorado Plateau. Interns will receive a weekly wage for 16 hours work per week.

By providing income and active work in the outdoors to high school youth, CCYG grows more than food—it also grows young people.

FLAGSTAFF YOUTH GARDENS INTERNS WILL:

• Learn from guest speakers and resident experts about horticulture, permaculture design, invasive species, entomology, heirloom crops, and native plants
• Accomplish creative independent projects in sustainable agriculture and ecological restoration
• Explore regional heritage through education about heirloom crops and traditional approaches to agriculture on the Colorado Plateau
• Offer farm tours to visitors
• Participate in the Flagstaff Community Farmers’ Market, MNA festivals, and field trips to other northern Arizona farms and gardens
• Donate, prepare, and serve food at the Flagstaff Family Food Center
• Organize and lead community service and educational projects with the MNA Discovery Program, the Peaks Senior Living Community, and Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy

Acknowledgements
Thanks to Johanna Divine and Kate Watters of Flagstaff Youth Gardens and Jeff Hines, a former FALA teacher, who were essential in reviving the tradition of gardening at the MNA site four years ago. Formerly called Flagstaff Youth Garden, the Colton Community Youth Garden grew out of the need to provide seasonal continuity at the Colton Community Garden site and to meet the demand for summer internship opportunities for Flagstaff youth. CCYG is also thankful for the generous support received from local donors, Flagstaff area businesses, and Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy. The Colton Community Youth Garden would also like to extend thanks and appreciation to the Flagstaff Foodlink/Flagstaff Youth Gardens, Olsen's Grain, Seed Savers Exchange, Wal-Mart, New Frontiers, Boyer Metal, and Home Depot for their generous support of the 2007 CCYG project.

<< Back to Education Programs