GroundED is a program for youth ages 16-21. Participants receive pre-employment training through sustainable farming, learning technical agriculture skills and professional skills such as communication, punctuality, and self-advocacy. The program includes cooking workshops, education on native plants, market stand experiences, and career exploration through field trips and guest speakers.

About this Program

What happens in GroundED?

Youth participate alongside peers in a group, experiencing pre-employment training services based on sustainable farming, learning technical skills in agriculture, and professional skills in communication, punctuality, public speaking, self-advocacy, conflict resolution, and direct feedback. We also do cooking workshops, teach youth about native plants and trees, sell our produce at a market stand, explore careers in related fields by taking field trips to potential job sites, and learn about careers from professionals in those fields on these field trips and when guest speakers visit GRuB.

Attention interested participants:

We are not currently enrolling for GroundED. If you are interested in GRuB youth programming this year, please take a look at our GRuB Career Pathways webpage.

These services were developed in partnership with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) and made possible with the generous funding from Inspire Olympia.

‍For questions, call Ari at 360-753-5522 or email ari@goodgrub.org.

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Youth Voices from GRuB

"Before GRuB I had no sense of community. I had never felt welcomed or wanted by a group of people. I've truly felt community here at GRuB because every minute here I feel like I'm part of something important; whether we are in the middle of working towards a common goal, team-building, or just hanging; I always feel welcomed and wanted."  

"Doing team-building really showed me what community meant. We worked on making our relationships stronger, building trust, respecting boundaries and identities, and practicing open-mindedness. To me, that explains what a community is."  

“I stepped up as a leader more often, and I’m most proud of that because without GRuB, I wouldn’t have probably thought of myself as a leader.”

“Sometimes just spending some time working on something in nature is all you need to calm your mind.”   

“At first I was just excited to get out of the house, but over time realized that it wasn’t a class, but a family.  This place has got me through all my tests, and I passed my GED in less than two months.  I got through because of the support, the love, and the fun at GroundED.”