Innovation of the Week: Gardening “Boot Camps” for Troubled Youth

Innovation of the Week: Gardening “Boot Camps” for Troubled Youth by Emily Gilbert

To read this article on the Resilience website, click here.

Rather than a jail term, a program from the Cook County Boot Camp in Illinois is finding ways to reach troubled youth and inmates through urban gardening. Among the educational and vocational offerings the program offers is work in a three-quarter-acre garden that produces tomatoes, kale, carrots, and a host of other vegetables. The young male inmates learn life lessons and job skills through gardening, leading some to explore new career opportunities and lifestyle choices through agriculture and green jobs.