PRESS RELEASE DETAIL
For release: IMMEDIATELY
Release Date: 08/27/2014
Youth at EBR detention facility dig new gardening project
Youth at the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Services detention facility are digging a new program that teaches gardening skills.
Deron Patin, the Mayor’s Juvenile Services interim director, said the program was inspired by a similar gardening project at the Santa Cruz, Calif. Juvenile Detention Center that is considered a model for juvenile justice reform. Local Juvenile Services officials received a firsthand look at the program during a visit to the Santa Cruz facility sponsored by the Annie E. Casey’s Juvenile Detention Alternative Initiative.
Patin said the new East Baton Rouge gardening program not only educates the youth housed in the facility about how to grow fruits and vegetables, but also provides them with the therapeutic benefits of gardening.
Almost all of the costs of the new program are being paid by the LSU AgCenter through its Greauxing School Gardens Project, which teaches gardening skills to children in schools around the state. Patin said that this is the first time the program has been extended to a juvenile services detention facility.
The fruits and vegetables grown by the youth at the East Baton Rouge center will be served in its cafeteria, with any surplus donated to charity.
Patin noted that raised garden beds and an irrigation system were recently constructed at the detention facility, and efforts are underway to plant a full garden this fall with the help of two Master Gardeners who have volunteered their services to coach the youngsters about how to care for the plants.
The youth at the Juvenile Services facility are currently growing seedlings in pots, but could start transplanting the plants into the beds as early as next week.
Upon discharge from the Department of Juvenile Services facility, each youth participating in the program will be eligible to receive a hanging basket, seeds and potting soil so that they can continue their gardening.
In addition, Southern University is also supporting the new program by providing the educational curriculum.
For more information, contact Deron Patin at (225) 354-1213.