Weavers Way Community Programs Executive Director Jill Fink presents WWCP's new Strategic Plan at the Spring 2014 General Membership Meeting May 18.

1. Strategic Plan
2014-2017

2. Strategic Plan 2014 - 2017
In the seven years since an intrepid group of Weavers Way Co-op staff, board and
members formed Weavers Way Community Programs as a separate non-profit
organization, we have grown organically in response to community interest,
fortuitous partnerships and staff capacity. Our farm education and school
marketplace programs have touched the lives of thousands of children, and have
brought us well-deserved recognition and support. Now it is time for us to grow
strategically – to survey the needs of our community, assess our capacity, identify
our strengths and weaknesses, and envision our future.
The board of WWCP is very proud to present this strategic plan. Its core includes
new vision, values, and mission statements to articulate who we are, who want to
be, and why we do what we do. Implementation of this plan will make us more
effective, more efficient, and more engaged in our community. We invite you to join
us.
Mira Rabin, Board President

3. Vision – Mission – Values
VISION
Just as the cooperative business model gives people
more economic power over their lives, WWCP gives
people the knowledge and power to make healthy
food choices for themselves and their families.
We envision being an organization that:
 makes a significant difference in the nutritional lives of
underserved communities in the Philadelphia region,
including those living in transitional or emergency
housing;
 is a recognized advocate and champion of healthy,
sustainable foods and food systems in school
communities in the Philadelphia region;
 is a respected educator of children and youth about
planting, growing, harvesting and preparing food; and
about cooperative farming and business skills.
Service learning students from
Abington Friends School seeding
in the greenhouse.

4. Vision – Mission – Values
MISSION
Weavers Way Community Programs empowers children, youth, and families with
the values and knowledge to be healthy, strong, and informed through
experiential activities centered on urban agriculture, nutrition, and the
cooperative economy.

5. Vision – Mission – Values
VALUES
We believe that access to healthy, affordable and culturally relevant food is a
human right; that we can, and must, work together as a community to educate
our children and neighbors about cooperative values, nutrition and the value of
local, small-scale agriculture.
The Children’s Garden @ AwburyWWCP’s annual Farm to Table dinner

6. Strategic Recommendations
The WWCP Board and staff approved the
phased implementation of strategic
recommendations in the following areas:
• Programs & Services
• Governance
• Human Resources
• Facilities & Technology
• Resource Development
• Financial Management
• Marketing & Communications
• Relationship with Weavers Way Co-op

7. Programs & Services
Since 2007, WWCP has been committed to
strengthening the connection between
agricultural sustainability, the economics of
food, and healthy living. Our programs focus on:
• improving nutritional choices for children
and teens, especially those at greater risk of
obesity and related health problems
• providing unique and innovative
opportunities to learn about, and benefit
from, the production and sale of fresh,
healthy food in an urban setting.
Marketplace sale

8. WWCP Programs
WWCP programs serve children, youth, and families. They are school-based, as
well as place-based, and focus on urban agriculture and nutrition.
Programs are tiered in the following ways and build from each other:
Tier 1: Visitation
Raise awareness & change perception/attitude
Tier 2: Visitation with school-based curriculum
Raise awareness, change perception/attitude, increase knowledge
Tier 3: Curriculum with on-site farming component
Raise awareness, change perception/attitude, increase knowledge, change
behavior

9. Programs Serving Children
(Pre-K to age 12)
The Children’s Garden @ WW Farm at Awbury
The Children’s Garden is designed to be a living
classroom that offers visitors the opportunity to
use all five senses to appreciate farming and fresh
food in an urban environment. WWCP seeks to
raise participants’ awareness of the connection
between nature, nutrition, and well-being
through unique lessons designed to be fun,
engaging, and hands-on.
In addition to hosting children ages pre-K through
age 12, The Children’s Garden regularly welcomes
high school service learning groups.Students from Sankofa Freedom
Academy enjoy kale salad on a visit to
The Children’s Garden

10. Programs Serving Children
(Pre-K to age 12)
WWCP will:
• further develop curriculum goals and
objectives, accounting for:
• Year-round curriculum (rather than
just seasonal curriculum)
• PA educational standards
• Sequence-based and project-based
learning experiences that culminate
with the inclusion of parents;
• expand program offerings at The
Children’s Garden to create a sustainable
program with multi-visit offerings for
children & youth.
Cucumber planting in The Hope Garden

11. Programs Serving Youth
(Ages 13-18)
WW CSA Farm @ W.B. Saul High School
This unique partnership between Weavers Way
Farm, Saul High School, and WWCP allows Saul
students and teachers to use the Weavers Way CSA
farm as a “land lab.” Each semester WWCP provides
up to 400 Saul students with hands-on experience
applying classroom learning to real-world farming,
and further connects vegetable cultivation with
nutrition, healthy living, and food justice.
WWCP provides an intensive 6-week paid summer
internship program for Philadelphia high school
students that includes farm work, nutrition
curriculum, and an independent study.
WWCP’s youth farm interns
participate in the 2013 Youth
Growers’ Market

12. Programs Serving Youth
(Ages 13-18)
WWCP will:
• teach employment skills to teens through
structured farm/market internships that build
entrepreneurial skills and promote the
cooperative economic model
• Merge Marketplace into the Farm
Education programs, using those parts of
the Marketplace curriculum that focus
on building entrepreneurial skills;
• seek mentors from among Weavers Way
members to work with teens served by
WWCP in a professional
development/mentorship program.

13. Programs Serving Families
The Hope Garden @ Stenton Family
Manor
Established in 2009, The Hope Garden
provides a safe space for fun and
educational lessons related to gardening
and nutrition to the residents of Stenton
Family Manor, one of the City’s largest
emergency housing facilities for families.
Younger residents participate in Garden
Club after school and throughout the
summer. As a result of the strategic plan,
WWCP will expand programming at
Stenton to include adult residents, as well
as programs that serve the entire family.
Garden Club participants in
The Hope Garden at Stenton Family Manor

14. Programs Serving Families
WWCP will:
• develop intergenerational programs that strengthen
the family unit by supporting time together,
including gardening, cooking, shopping;
• develop and implement an adult education
program that includes:
• Life skills (e.g. shopping for and preparation of fresh
foods, budgeting)
• Workforce development skills (e.g. time
management, professionalism, customer service)
• Health & well-being (e.g. disease prevention, chronic
disease management, cooking, nutrition);
• partner with Weavers Way staff and members to
develop and deliver adult programming;
• ensure that youth education programs complement
adult and family education curriculum.
Brothers harvest carrots during
Garden Club at Stenton Family Manor

15. Special Thanks
We are grateful to all those who lent their
support and voices to this project. This strategic
plan would not have been possible without the
generous support of The Philadelphia
Foundation, nor without our many community
stakeholders who shared feedback along the
way. We are especially thankful to those whose
envisioned, brought to fruition, and nurtured
Weavers Way Community Programs through our
first seven years.
Thanks to Jeremy Thomas, John Barone, Laurie Beck
Peterson, and WWCP staff for photos.
Picture courtesy of Jeremiah, Garden
Club participant at Stenton Family Manor