How AgLaunch Is Investing in the Next Generation
In partnership with: Tennessee Department of Agriculture
In 2015, after spending several years working as a food scientist for various big-name food companies, Jade Clark moved back to her hometown of Memphis to start a nonprofit. She called it “Project Fresh,” and her goal was to introduce urban youth in underserved communities to agriculture and give them exposure to career possibilities within the industry. “I started Project Fresh because I wanted to work with students before they even get into high school to help them to think about food and agriculture differently,” says Clark, who had little experience with ag while growing up in Memphis. As an ambassador for Project Fresh, Clark met Pete Nelson, executive director of AgLaunch – an organization that connects entrepreneurs with growers to create innovative agricultural solutions to help feed a growing population. Intrigued by their mission, Clark continues her work with Project Fresh and now also serves as director of community impact at AgLaunch. In that role, she combines her passion for agriculture education and youth outreach to develop mentoring programs for teens in underserved communities.
See more: Growing Ag Education in Tennessee
Real-Life Challenges
Collaborating and brainstorming with partners LITE Memphis and Code Crew, who share an office space with AgLaunch, Clark and her team developed a mentoring program for teens in the area. The program, titled “48-Hour Launch,” tasked youth with developing solutions to some of ag’s most significant challenges, including climate change, food insecurity and deforestation. It mimicked a similar program that AgLaunch’s mutual partner, Start Co., offers for adults. “We just kind of threw out all these different issues or problems, and the students came up with solutions,” Clark says. “They created mock businesses that supported those solutions. On the final day of the 48-Hour Launch, they pitched those business ideas to their parents and peers.”
“AgLaunch envisions a diverse and inclusive ecosystem around food, and for that to happen we have to start with the youth.”
Jade Clark, founder of Project Fresh
Ideas created during the program included a robot that would glean unharvested crops from fields to help reduce food waste, and a hemp paper product company that could help reduce deforestation by replacing traditional paper products with those made of hemp. “These are issues that the next generation has to deal with and they have some very interesting perspectives,” Clark says.
In addition to using their creativity to develop solutions, students learned other skills by engaging in the program. With a focus on entrepreneurship, the participants learned how to take an idea and build a business, develop a business plan and market a product. Collaboration, communication and time management were also essential as students worked together in groups to create solutions.
Supporting Diversity
In addition to the 48-Hour Launch event, AgLaunch also offers various mentoring programs for kindergarten through 12th-grade students. One of AgLaunch’s current farmer partners operates a certified organic farm that provides agriculture and culinary education and training to area youth. Through its partnership with AgLaunch, the farm has access to a food scientist who mentors the students and helps them develop products for their culinary program. In 2020, AgLaunch also hosted its first group of summer interns and plans to expand that program in 2021 to reach even more urban college students.
“AgLaunch envisions a diverse and inclusive ecosystem around food, and for that to happen we have to start with the youth,” Clark says. “We can’t just continue and go down the path where we’re not reaching out to the underserved communities or minority populations. For us, it’s about being more intentional and showing these underserved students the opportunities that exist in agriculture.”
For more information about AgLaunch’s mission and programs, visit aglaunch.com.