HANCOCK — A local multi-sector collaboration has received a Rural Development grant from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) to build rural community capacity through public health programming and the creation of rural garden infrastructure at Horizons Alternative High School and the Barbara Kettle Gundlach Shelter. New culinary and therapeutic gardens will be collaboratively designed, built and integrated within existing curriculum and programming to support student and client skill development. The culinary garden will be incorporated into the current cooking classes at Horizons Alternative High School, contributing to the expansion of programming, supported by the Portage Health Foundation, to mitigate the impacts of trauma and food insecurity among students. The therapeutic and children’s sensory gardens at the Gundlach Shelter will create a healing space for gender-based violence survivors and provide safe greenspace for clients, visitors, and resident children. Class integration within MTU Department of Social Sciences’ Sustainability Science and Society degree program courses will provide additional project sustainability for both gardens. “We are very excited and thankful for this opportunity that has been provided for our students,” said Joel Asiala, Principal at Horizons Alternative High School. “Our students will benefitgreatly from this program as they will learn culinary and life skills that will help them now and for many years to come.”

The project will benefit an estimated 200 Gundlach Shelter residential clients, 78 Horizons High School students, and 40 MTU undergraduates in its first year through the integration of the garden development within therapeutic programming and course curricula. Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Regional Commission400 Quincy St. 8th Floor, HANCOCK, MICHIGAN 49930 906-482-7205 FAX 906-482-9032