The BGC Kids Food + Wellness Festival is an annual event aimed to encourage youth make healthy lifestyle choices.
The goal of the festival is to educate and expose local youth to local organizations and businesses that provides services to kids and teens in the areas of food, health and wellness.
The BGC Cooking and Baking Programs aims to help young girls feel more motivated about cooking for themselves and have a better understanding of the importance of both eating a healthy balanced diet and food hygiene. Each class is taught by a certified female chef of color who owns a business in the Mid-Atlantic region. The girls also participate in life-skills workshops which are led by female professionals who are also of color. The topics include subjects such as nutrition, how to budget, goal planning and STEM activities.
Black Girls Cook is very intentional in making sure the girls coming through our programs see successful women who look like them that also come from similar backgrounds...representation, exposure and inclusion are our motivating factors.
The Food Playground is a collaboration between Black Girls Cook and The Be.Org. The Food Playground infuses the principles of STEM with culinary arts .The goal of The Food Playground is to provide inner-city adolescent girls of color opportunities to gain confidence and gain hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) practices by exploring ecosystems and food systems. Using a combination of gardening, cooking and exploring the local community, the program guides the young ladies through projects that engage them in science practices, encourage life-long habits of health, and give them practice being leaders in their community.
Community Engagement
Kitchen Sink Beauty teach girls how to create skin and beauty care products with ingredients in their kitchen’s at home such as oils, sugars, salts, spices and herbs. The curriculum also incorporates entrepreneurial classes so the girls can sell their products for personal gain.
These workshops are hosted in conjunction with top MUAs and estheticians.
Black Girls Cook often partners with community organizations and local businesses to host culinary related events to engage with residents and teach them how to prepare healthy meals at home and grow edible gardens.
What We Do
Edible Gardening Program
The Food Playground
The Kitchen Sink Beauty Program
Culinary Program
What We Do
Launched in the Spring of 2018 at the request of several girls that participated in the culinary program, The BGC Edible Garden Program allows the girls to see first hand what the connections are between plants, animals and the food that we eat. The hands-on gardening allows them to get a better understanding of where our food comes from and the importance of environmental impacts on food supplies. The garden serves as an outdoor science laboratory where they learn about biology, climate, sustainable practices and environmental stewardship by observing the life cycle of the plants. The girls also hone their communication and entrepreneurial skills by selling harvest at the monthly community farm-stand.
We have collaborated with local organizations such as the The Black Yield Institute, Whitelock Community Farm and The Maryland Master Gardeners to supplement our curriculum and provide additional hands-on education.