Trumbull-based CES Teams With Beardsley Zoo On Food Effort

Press release from Cooperative Educational Services:

June 14, 2021

Cooperative Educational Services is teaming up with Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo this summer to launch a Food for Thought program to teach students and their families about the benefits of fresh, healthy food and how gardening and farming can enrich our lives.

Food for Thought (FFT) is especially vital now due to the economic and educational disruptions caused by the pandemic, which were felt more intensely in urban and low-income areas that already had limited access to healthy food choices. Starting July 1, FFT will offer positive activities at the Zoo centered around the benefits of fresh, healthy food, how individuals and families can build whole foods into the core of their diet, and how gardens and farms enrich our lives.

The timing of FFT coincides with the state’s Connecticut Free for Kids initiative, which allows children under 18 and one adult to visit the Zoo and other sites throughout the state for free. FFT will take place five days a week this summer at kiosks set up around the Zoo, with educators and volunteers leading demonstrations, interactive activities, and hosting visits from animals. All activities will give visitors a chance to view and learn about food, wildlife, conservation, and healthy eating.

The kiosk activities will include topics such as how owls and other raptors protect farmland from rodents; endangered heritage livestock breeds; the benefits of snakes, butterflies, bees and other bugs; the history of urban gardening and farming in Bridgeport; composting; and raising backyard chickens. The Zoo is also reopening its New England Farmyard to complement the activities.

The role of CES will be helping to promote FFT to thousands of students and families in Greater Bridgeport, providing professional resources throughout the summer, and observing and collecting feedback on FFT’s effectiveness. Dr. Lori Elliott, the incoming CES Director of Professional Development Services, will be coordinating the agency’s participation and support of work at the Zoo this summer.

“Our ability to support community initiatives that will serve thousands of children is consistent with our mission and we are happy to be part of this work,” said CES Executive Director Dr. Charles Dumais, who added that this collaboration strengthens CES’s relationship with the Zoo and other community organizations. CES is one of the six Regional Educational Service Centers established by the state legislature to support public school districts.

Dumais is also an executive member of the Zoo’s Board of Directors, which gives him “first-hand insight into the amazing work done at the Zoo.”

Joining CES and Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo for the project is Green Village Initiative, a Bridgeport nonprofit organization that focuses on gardening and youth empowerment to spread information about local farms, community gardens, the cultural aspects of food, and how to start growing food at home. GVI manages a network of community and school gardens, a community farm and a youth leadership program.

The FFT organizers are expecting to reach 60,000 children this summer. It is being funded by a $249,799 AccelerateCT Summer Program Innovation Grant from the Connecticut State Department of Education. Dumais thanked Chris Soto, the director of Innovation and Partnerships at CSDE, for his assistance navigating the requirements and expectations of the grant process.

“Great things happen when you work with great people,” Zoo Curator of Education Jim Knox said. “In partnering with CES and GVI, we’re doing just that. We’re excited to combine our skills and expertise to deliver outstanding summer programming for all of Connecticut.”

This press release was produced by Cooperative Educational Services. The views expressed here are the author's own.