The search began today for 12 exceptional over-50s with a love of food-growing who believe they can make a difference to the lives of young people in north London. An IntergenerationAll pilot project supported by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

In exchange for skills in a wide range of areas, from garden design, landscaping and growing, to mentoring, community development and fundraising, it is hoped these older volunteers will gain valued new friendships, an important sense of purpose and greater health and well-being.

The new initiative comes from a local social enterprise, Urbivore, which aims to promote new models of urban agriculture. As much as 40% of Londoners’ carbon emissions come from the supply, storage, consumption or waste of food: Urbivore will offer an alternative.

“We want to find the founder members for Greencorps, our volunteer programme,” says Chief Executive, Rowena Young. “We have a really exciting programme to tempt them.”

New recruits will be introduced to tools from the product design field to help define and test a way of delivering services in an intergenerational way. Over the next 12 months, they will work practically with groups of teenagers and young adults to create ‘micro-sites’ where food is grown ornamentally.

The aim is to demonstrate a really robust way of working which will make urban agriculture more effective, popular and sustainable. “By connecting green spaces across our cities and putting them into production, we can create training and employment at the same time as meeting growing demand for organic local food,” says Young. “Delivering benefits to people is as important as reducing our environmental impact, never more so than in a recessionary context.”

The Greencorps project competed against over 350 applicants across the UK to become one of only 11 finalists to win an award from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s IntergenerationAll fund. “With the energy and experience young and old have to offer, new and effective solutions to community issues can be found by adopting an intergenerational approach,” says Andrew Barnett, Director of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation UK. ”The transformation to their daily lives for all involved will be all the more potent when they see that transformation reflected in their local environment.”

To get involved, volunteers should contact Urbivore right away for a conversation about their experience. They will then be given an opportunity to informally meet the team and discuss how they would like to participate. A commitment of a minimum of half a day a week will be needed. “Come and be part of something,” says Rowena. “Urban agriculture has an important role to play and above all we’re looking for people with passion.”

Contact: 07787 40 77 58; info@urbivore.co.uk

Notes to editors

Urbivore is a social enterprise. This means it trades to pursue a social mission – more food growing, more training and jobs for socially excluded people, more opportunities for promoting well-being. Urbivore takes an organic approach.

While it is searching for partners who can provide access to larger plots, it is running small scale trials to develop its approach. The first of these is at Stroud Green Primary School.

Urbivore is supported by UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, and Capital Growth, a programme from the London Assembly. Haringey Council has provided a small Making a Difference Grant. Among its advisors are Gordon Seabright, Commercial Director, RHS, and Tony Leach, Director of the London Parks and Public Spaces Forum. Rowena Young was previously Director of the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts’ social innovation lab, and the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford University.

The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is an international charitable foundation with cultural, educational and social interests. Based in Lisbon with branches in London and Paris, the Foundation is in a privileged position to support national and transnational work tackling contemporary issues in Europe. The purpose of the UK Branch in London is to connect and enrich the experiences of individuals, families and communities with a special interest in supporting those who are most disadvantaged. In 2008, the Foundation launched an initiative on ageing and social cohesion, with a number of activities developed with colleagues in Lisbon. The IntergenerationAll programme represents the latest development of this work. For more information about the work of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in the UK please visit www.gulbenkian.org.uk

The full range of skills Urbivore seeks in Greencorps volunteers are:
Growing food
Organic methods
Garden landscaping / DIY
Garden design
Graphic design /photography

Mentoring
Counselling /motivational skills
Teaching / learning
Careers advice
General good will and common sense

Organising events and managing people
Communications
Administration
Public procurement / fundraising

Contacts
For journalists:
Rowena Young 07787 40 77 58 rowena@urbivore.co.uk

For the general public:
07787 40 77 58 info@urbivore.co.uk

Urbivore: 1. (noun~) a person who eats food which has been grown or produced in or near an urban environment; often grows some of their own. A desire to reduce personal carbon emissions is important to urbivores; also to consume the freshest, tastiest food. 2. Sometimes used to describe urban dwellers who try to be sustainable in other areas of their lives too. Related to ~ herbivore; carnivore; omnivore.