What is a Y-Plan?
Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act Now) is an award-winning, civic learning strategy and curriculum developed by UC Berkeley’s Center for Cities + Schools (CC+S). For over twenty years, it has invited young people into the heart of city planning, providing them with the tools and platform needed to tackle real-world challenges in their communities.
It's also a pun: Why Plan? This methodology invites both young people and adults to challenge the status quo by asking why conditions are the way they are and then how they can be improved!
Along with the Center for Urban Research and Education (CURE) at Rutgers - Camden and Mighty Writers, a local non-profit in Camden, RURCBOG will work with and compensate youth to help organize the implementation of and solve issues related to the food cooperative.
It's also a pun: Why Plan? This methodology invites both young people and adults to challenge the status quo by asking why conditions are the way they are and then how they can be improved!
Along with the Center for Urban Research and Education (CURE) at Rutgers - Camden and Mighty Writers, a local non-profit in Camden, RURCBOG will work with and compensate youth to help organize the implementation of and solve issues related to the food cooperative.
Purpose & Approach
Centered on “theories that transform”, this project centers on Transformative Leadership and Learning theories. Transformative leadership and learning theories focus on fostering deep, systematic change by empowering individuals to critically reflect on their beliefs, challenge ingrained assumptions, and collaboratively create new, equitable paradigms withing their communities.
The goal of this project is genuine community engagement that fosters community ownership as well as economic and workforce/professional development through education and active engagement among Camden residents centering on the following three pillar initiatives.
The goal of this project is genuine community engagement that fosters community ownership as well as economic and workforce/professional development through education and active engagement among Camden residents centering on the following three pillar initiatives.
Background: Bi-monthly tile-making and arty workshops as well as film/arty screenings.
Purpose:
1. Serve as reminders of the food cooperative and the concept of cooperation in Camden.
2. Be used in the ground floor exterior design and interior of Project 1410.
Y-Plan Question: How can arty be leveraged to buil;d a Culture of Health and/or increase community well-being / quality life in Camden?
Possible 2024 Deliverables: Food Camden Book (Part 2), Tile Making Workshops, Food for Change FIlm Screening, Public Art Banner Project, Y-Plan Deliverables.
Purpose:
1. Serve as reminders of the food cooperative and the concept of cooperation in Camden.
2. Be used in the ground floor exterior design and interior of Project 1410.
Y-Plan Question: How can arty be leveraged to buil;d a Culture of Health and/or increase community well-being / quality life in Camden?
Possible 2024 Deliverables: Food Camden Book (Part 2), Tile Making Workshops, Food for Change FIlm Screening, Public Art Banner Project, Y-Plan Deliverables.
Participatory art involves engaging the public in the creative process, empowering them to take on roles as co-authors, editors, and observers of the work. This approach fosters shared ownership of decision-making processes and often seeks to inspire dialogue, drive social change, and mobilize communities. Featuring portraits by Erik James Montgomery, our inaugural participatory art project, The Real Foods that Heal Portrait Project, launches on December 17, 2024. Supported by the Center for Urban Research and Education at Rutgers - Camden, the project centers the 13 youth in our inaugural Y-Plan Afterschool Program at Mighty Writers.
The goal with this project is to activate the vacant lots adjacent to the proposed cooperative location at 510-518 Broadway. Through this "site activation," we aim to bring vibrancy to the space by fostering increased usage, social interaction, and community engagement through creative design elements, programming, and participatory initiatives.
The goal with this project is to activate the vacant lots adjacent to the proposed cooperative location at 510-518 Broadway. Through this "site activation," we aim to bring vibrancy to the space by fostering increased usage, social interaction, and community engagement through creative design elements, programming, and participatory initiatives.
Background: Tactical activation of vacant sites leveraging and supporting community gardening and community-supported agriculture in the city. Also, we want to make sure that we are centering health in Camden's foodscape as well as working towards a city-wide strategy to reduce nutrition-related chronic diseases and food insecurity, improving health and racial equity.
Y-Plan Question: How can food and food cooperative/entrepreneurial enterprises be leveraged to build a Culture of Health and/or increase community well-being/quality of life in Camden?
Possible 2024 Deliverables: Food Coop Bus Tour, Tactical Activation of at least 1 community garden/vacant lot, Y-Plan Deliverables.
Y-Plan Question: How can food and food cooperative/entrepreneurial enterprises be leveraged to build a Culture of Health and/or increase community well-being/quality of life in Camden?
Possible 2024 Deliverables: Food Coop Bus Tour, Tactical Activation of at least 1 community garden/vacant lot, Y-Plan Deliverables.
While Camden holds the distinction of being the highest-need “food desert” in New Jersey, its situation is not an anomaly. Urban and lower-income communities across the nation face similar challenges, with residents lacking access to the amenities readily available in more affluent areas. This disparity affects the nutritional status and equity of residents in these cities. As such, our approach seeks to make real foods—natural, minimally processed foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and unprocessed meats and fish—a regular part of what is accessible and available to Camden’s residents and local food providers. Thanks to sponsorship from the Camden County Seed Saving Library, seed packets are now available to support residents in starting their own urban gardening projects. In the coming months, we will host a series of events designed to empower the community, including urban gardening workshops and Community Meals gatherings. These initiatives are stepping stones toward fostering a healthier, more equitable food culture in Camden.
Background: Technologies and digital media will be leveraged to create a Culture of Health in Camden as well as teach about cooperative education. Recognizing that cooperative success declines withyout ongoing education and organizing, agile technologies will be used to maintain a culture that addresses the needs of the cooperative as well as its mission.
Y-Plan Question: How can technology be leveraged to buuild a Culture of Health and/or increase community well-being/quality of life in Camden?
Possible 2024 Deliverables: Podcasting, Social Media and Digital Marketing, Y-Plan Deliiverables
Y-Plan Question: How can technology be leveraged to buuild a Culture of Health and/or increase community well-being/quality of life in Camden?
Possible 2024 Deliverables: Podcasting, Social Media and Digital Marketing, Y-Plan Deliiverables
No co-op would be possible without member-owners. One strategy to build our membership (and promote a Culture of Health in Camden) is via social media. The rise of networked technologies and social media platforms has increasingly influenced social movements. These tools facilitate diverse activities, including strategizing, communication, creating alternative narratives, and producing digital media that leverage emotional, visual, and auditory elements. Inspired by the tagline from Taskforce, the cultural strategy agency behind President Obama’s initial campaign, we aim to "create culture to change culture"—in this case, using technology to transform Camden’s foodscape through the creation of a Co-Op Camden. Follow us to help us build our movement.
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