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Construction Update

Overview

Cooking School Construction Updates

Construction Site

Six years ago, we signed up to lead a project that will transform a vacant lot near public housing and one of the elementary schools we serve. The vision: improve the health of children by transforming the school district to prioritize food literacy education in our children’s school day alongside math and reading. Years of collaboration between Food Literacy Center, SCUSD, and the City of Sacramento has resulted in construction of a 4,500 sq ft cooking school and student gardens that bring this vision to life! 

Watch our founder, and the visionary behind this concept, Amber Stott, as she shares a quick update on the construction progress at Leataata Floyd Elementary School. Our cooking classroom will host 30-40 students for hands-on cooking classes. The commercial kitchen will support prep for afterschool programs at other Title 1 schools. Our team offices, also on site, will provide training space and a recipe test kitchen. In addition, we’ll have a 1-acre healing garden and student farm to provide a safe nature space for our students.

We broke ground on this one-of-a-kind project in September 2019. Construction is moving fast on the building. Solar panels have been installed and now we are entering Phase 2 of our center! Phase 2 will be to raise $500K to complete construction of the student farm and community gardens. 

Click on the photos below to see the progress!

After the groundbreaking in September 2019, there were many delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Preparation of the site started again in May 2020. Deep stabilizing pylons were placed in September and October which required a large piece of equipment and lots of earth pounding. In November utilities were laid. The outline of the cooking school could be seen where they built concrete framing and installed beams. 

Construction October 2020Construction November 2020Construction May 2020Groundbreaking September 2019

 

 

 

In early December 2020, the concrete floors were poured and it’s started looking like a real building. Walls went up in the middle of December and by January 2021 you could see the walls in front and the center support beam extending the length of the building.
Building from the backWalls in frontWalls going upPouring concrete

 

 

 

In late January 2021 the roof was added, there was framing inside and you can see the full shape and size of the building and back patio which will be an outdoor classroom area. Staff and board members were able to tour the site. In March the siding, windows and roof were being worked on.

March 2021 frontMarch 2021 backFront of building with staff & boardBack of building, outdoor classroom/patio area

 

 

 

In April more work was done on the exterior siding, roof and interior. We’ve also secured a landscape architect to bring our Urban Farm and Garden to life! In addition, the Building Leadership Talent class at SMUD chose phase 1 of the garden as their class project and will be helping to build out the area in spring/summer 2021.

Urban Farm & Garden SketchBack of building on April 2, 2021April 2, backFront of building April 23, 2021Back of building April 23, 2021

 

 

 

In June appliances were installed in our commercial kitchen and kitchen classroom. Our commercial kitchen consists of induction stovetops, walk-in refrigerator, and dry storage. We are excited this space will allow us to serve more kids and families.

Kitchen Classroom  June 10, 2021Commercial Kitchen June 10, 2021Three compartment sinkFront view of building June 10, 2021

 

 

 

 

On October 15 we moved into our brand new facility, adjacent to Leataata Floyd Elementary. Our cooking classroom will serve 30+ students, the commercial kitchen will allow us to keep our produce fresh and provide us with the storage we need to keep running our program. This new space will serve as our offices where our staff will train future instructors of our curriculum and manage day-to-day operations.

Moving truck Food Literacy Center's officesCooking classroom

 

 

 

November 3rd It’s official! After more than six years of hard work Food Literacy Center finally has a home! We formally received the keys to this 4,500 square foot facility at a brief Key Ceremony held by the Sacramento City Unified School District to commemorate the milestone. 

Our cooking school operates near Leataata Floyd Elementary School & Marina Vista public housing. The site is owned and built by Sacramento City Unified School District. Our nonprofit has moved on site to operate the facility and run programs. Our new center is a 2.5-acre project which features a cooking classroom, commercial kitchen, and student gardens. 

This new cooking school will serve the 330 elementary school students enrolled at Leataata Floyd Elementary, their families, and students throughout the district, plus community members.

Group photo in front of cooking school

 

 

April 2022 We began phase 2 of our construction. Solar panels were installed on the rooftop and in the parking lot–enough to power all our ovens, fridges, and computers. Construction is also occurring in our student and community gardens.

 

 

May 2022 A walkway for our student garden was installed, you begin to see our garden take shape. Now Food Literacy Center has to raise $500K to complete construction of the student farm.

Side view of garden Front view of garden

 

 

May 2022 Construction is also underway on the front side of the building for our community garden. This outdoor space will be managed by City of Sacramento Parks & Recreation. This space will allow us to provide garden education to our community members.  

Front view of garden beds Side view of garden beds

 

 

 

Help us expand programs for our kids in this new space. Your support will help us build the next generation of healthy kids!

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