SP0153: Ag-Connect

In Summer 2015, the Macdonald Farm group began to work on a voluntary basis with an 18-year-old autistic youth who helped with daily farm chores (such as animal care and gardening for MSEG), and in programs which are run for school groups. Over a period of 6 weeks, he developed self-confidence, strong work and personal competencies, and was rewarded by the appreciation of staff members and volunteer supervisors. Later, in fall 2016, the same group partnered with the Work-Oriented Training Path (WOTP) youth from Macdonald High School to provide experience and training in modern agriculture practices. Both of these ventures proved to be positive, mutually beneficial experiences. Based on these positive experiences, Ag-connect has been established to keep the connection to autistic youth and WOTP by continuing their training over the summer.

Agriculture and nutrition education provide excellent opportunities to develop life skills for intellectually challenged individuals. To this tune, Ag-Connect has been developed as an inclusive, educational summer program based on food production; providing an accessible opportunity for the intellectually challenged and Work-Oriented Training Path (WOTP) youth which are part of the McGill and greater Montreal community. The training program will open doors for future financial and personal autonomy, allowing the individuals to become contributing members of the local economy.

The Ag-Connect group has identified that at McGill there is currently a lack of educational and life skill summer programs for the intellectually and physically challenged, and propose that they can fill this gap with a specialized program in Summer 2016. To this end, resources from the SPF will be used to provide salaries to the student educators and special needs trainer who will facilitate the Ag-Connect program for Summer 2016 using agricultural work experience to develop life skills for the community.