Youth Staff practice urban farm management at SCLT’s South Providence Youth Enterprise Farm
This summer, 19 young people are earning wages working at farms in Providence and Pawtucket/Central Falls, planting, harvesting, field-tripping, networking, and building professional experience that outgrows the season. The Youth Workforce Development program, now in its tenth year, has been a cornerstone of our work since long before it had a name.
The 2026 season is supported by the Governor’s Workforce Board, a partner that has helped sustain the program since its earliest formal years, and by Bloom Rhode Island, whose Violet Grant, the largest single gift in the funder’s history, subsidizes four Youth Staff positions at Galego Community Farm. There, participants are designing and installing native pollinator meadows and cut-flower gardens building portfolios in green industry careers. Additional support comes from several local foundations, financial institutions, and private donors whose aligned investment makes this work possible.
The program runs through mid-August, and numbers from 2025 show the impact is deep: 92% of Youth Staff rated their experience as ‘very good’ or ‘excellent,‘ and 60% are returned for this season.
