In this short film, Planet Forward Comcast Sustainable Storytelling Fellow Francesca Edralin explores how classroom gardening can be used as a tool to address food insecurity and lower school dropout rates in food deserts like the Bronx.

Edralin interviews leaders of the Green Bronx Machine, an impact-driven organization based in the Bronx that builds local food systems and empowers students to grow and consume their own healthy foods. Crossing paths with the Green Bronx Machine Founder at a food sustainability summit in 2017, Edralin reconnects with the Green Bronx Machine team four years later to learn how the organization has addressed rising hunger rates and navigated a challenging learning environment, due to the pandemic.

Want to learn more? Watch her video above, and check out Edralin’s story about the Green Bronx Machine.

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Special thanks to the Planet Forward team and Heidi Estrada for assisting with the filming and production of this video.