Community Garden To Get Growing at Monte Vista Elementary

is hoping to plant the seeds of change at .

According to director Nicole Gatto, Milagro Allegro will be converting a concrete lot on Ave. 55 behind the school into a garden over the course of the summer. When fall comes, the newly verdant plot will be used as an outdoor classroom where students can learn about the science behind gardening and nutrition.

Gatto said the collaboration between Milagro Allegro and Monte Vista Street Elementary is part of the larger L.A. Sprouts Program, a collaborative effort between the University of Southern California and UCLA which seeks to study how effective public gardening projects can be in fighting childhood obesity.

During the summer of 2010, Gatto Said, Milagro Allego participated in similar study through which students from Loreto Street Elementary School in Cypress Park attended regular classes at their garden on S. Ave. 56.

A total of 100 Loreto Street Elementary School fourth and fifth graders took part in the program, 34 of whom took weekly classes at Milagro Allego. Those classes included hands on lessons in gardening, nutrition and cooking. The remaining students were observed, but did not participate in classes.

The study found that students who participated in the program showed an increased preference for fruits and vegetables, consumed more fiber and showed generally positive changes in body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure.

The study at Monte Vista will be paid for through grants from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Foundation as well as Farmlab, a project of the Metabolic Studio. Gatto said she would also seek additional funds from the to help cover the cost of constructing the garden.

 Gatto, who is also an Assistant Research Professor at UCLA’s school of Public Health, said that the partnership with Monte Vista will allow the L.A. Sprouts program to continue studying the health benefits of community gardens.

According to research conducted by L.A. Sprouts, more than 50 percent of Latino youth in Los Angeles are overweight and 30 percent exhibit symptoms of the diseases that typically lead to type-2 diabetes.

The research cites a high consumption of refined grains and sugars coupled with low intake of fruits and vegetables as the leading source of the high obesity levels among L.A.’s Latino youth.

“Childhood obesity is an epidemic and our goal is to be able to do something about it,” Gatto said.

Megan Guerrero, principal at Monte Vista Street Elementary, said she was immediately willing to participate in the community gardening program upon being contacted by Milagro Allegro.

“I’m excited. I like their focus on exposing kids to the educational part of gardening,” she said. “They’re really teaching kids about eating healthy in a hands on way.”

Guerrero added that Monte Vista was currently working to foster English language development among Spanish speaking students in the school, and believes the garden is a venue that would support that goal.

“We did a lot of focus in eng language development in the area of science and we want to continue that next year,” Guerrero said. “We thought having garden would be real way to continue that.”

 When asked if it was possible for the fruits and vegetables grown in the community garden to end up on the menu in the school cafeteria, Guerrero said that wasn’t part of the plan. However, she said she liked the idea of students serving up their own harvest to their classmates.

“It would be great if they would be the one's growing it and eating it and serving it,” she said.