Gov. Robert Bentley has announced a $75,000 grant to expand a program to teach students the benefits of healthy eating and provide them with vocational skills.
Funding from the Appalachian Regional Commission will enable the Jones Valley Teaching Farm to expand its Good School Food program to five schools in the Birmingham area.
The program teaches students to grow, prepare and market vegetables and combines those skills with information about the importance of a healthy diet. Produce is grown in an urban setting in the Woodlawn area of Birmingham.
Bentley notified Grant Brigham, executive director of Jones Valley Teaching Farm, that the grant had been approved.
The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs administers the ARC program in Alabama. The department also manages numerous programs that support law enforcement, economic development, workforce development, recreation, energy conservation and water resource management.
Congress established the ARC in 1965 as a supplemental grant program to raise the standard of living, improve the quality of life and promote economic development in portions of the 13 Appalachian mountain states. Thirty-seven Alabama counties, including Jefferson County, are part of the ARC area.
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Contact Jim Plott or Larry Childers