RootDown's Youth Leaders hardly got to rest this summer before we lured them into our new Entrepreneurial Training Program. RootDown's new Program Manager, Master Gardener and part-time Master DJ, Ali Bhai, reports from the business building front!... As one of the newest additions to the RootDown LA team, I am very excited to be co-creating RDLA's Youth Entrepreneurship Training with baker, businesswoman and master gardener, Ledette Gambini.
In partnership with WeCAN's Urban Food Forest, we have developed this training with the goal of teaching our youth leaders about financial literacy, sustainable agriculture, community development, and, of course, building demand for healthy foods in South LA neighborhoods.
During the training, our youth will start their own urban farming business and in the process learn how to do market & competitive research, financial analysis, and PR & marketing of their fresh, local produce. They will also learn how to design and make sustainable market gardens in sub-acre spaces, starting with WECAN's office backyard garden. Already underway is an intensive sub-acre farming operation, which will hopefully be replicated in all of the backyards on 60th Street. It's an ambitious project, and our youth are willing and more than capable to pull it off.
