U-ACRE: Improving Urban Food Systems through Community-Based Research

Fullerton Arboretum

Fullerton Arboretum’s 26-acre botanical garden is the perfect place to bring together CSUF faculty, student researchers all of the U-ACRE partners for awesome research and service learning.

Student fellows from Cal State Fullerton and staff from Monkey Business Café are always hard at work managing, studying, and improving the Arboretum’s farms and sharing their insights with both local communities and the larger scientific community.

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United States Department of Agriculture

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) develops policy about agriculture, nutrition, sustainability and natural resources.

As part of its strategic goals, the USDA aims to promote sustainable practices and improve food security.

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National Institute of Food and Agriculture

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is an agency within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

NIFA extends the latest agricultural research to farms, classrooms and communities to achieve food security and sustainability across the U.S. and the globe.

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CSUF Center For Sustainability

The Center for Sustainability at Cal State Fullerton provides sustainability education and supports initiatives to spread sustainable practices on campus and beyond.

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Ladera Vista School of the Arts

Students at Ladera Vista Junior High School of the Arts are doing some amazing things: one minute they’re studying in the classroom — the next they’re tending to flowers and vegetables in their sustainable, on-campus gardens.

Committed to the future of food, LVJHS works with student researchers from Cal State Fullerton to teach kids everything they need to know about food sustainability, from vermicomposting in the gardens to preparing meals in the kitchen.

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Pathways of Hope

Founded in 1975, Pathways of Hope is a non-profit organization that provides food, housing and shelter to homeless and low-income members of our community.

Pathways of Hope plays a vital role in the struggle to end hunger and homelessness in Orange County: their community garden provides locally grown meals to thousands of people each year and their life-skills classes teach people how to cook with fresh vegetables.

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Beechwood Elementary

Beechwood Elementary aims to become a zero-waste school by teaching its students about environmental sustainability and food security.

And with fun projects like building and maintaining vermicomposting units at the school, that goal is within sight!

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Hermosa Drive Elementary

At Hermosa Drive Elementary, sustainability is second nature.

From kindergarten through sixth grade, Hermosa Drive students participate in every phase of maintaining their school’s garden. From planning to harvest, it’s all incorporated into the school’s curriculum!

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Monkey Business Café

Monkey Business Café is a restaurant and social enterprise that provides job opportunities to foster-care and at-risk youth, helping them develop marketable skills in the restaurant and business industries.

Monkey Business employees work alongside Cal State Fullerton students at the Arboretum to plant and pick sustainable crops, optimize their harvest and provide the freshest food possible.

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Future Food Farms

As one of the largest aquaponic farms in California, Future Food Farms combines aquaculture (raising fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in water without soil) to maintain their sustainable, organic, low-energy farms.

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American Heart Association Teaching Gardens

The American Heart Association has a goal: by 2020, improve the cardiovascular health of Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent.

The Teaching Gardens program helps achieve this goal by giving elementary-school students the chance to grow their own food and learn about healthy eating.

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