Oregon & Washington: Piloting the Model for Early Childhood
How They Got Started
Angela Hedstrom (Ecotrust in Oregon) and Chris Mornick (then at the Washington Department of Health) were interested in deepening their states’ farm to school work, especially for farm to ECE. Chris had received a Farm to School Implementation Grant that allowed her to build a statewide support structure for farm to ECE. Chris thought the learnings and resources they were creating in Washington could benefit multiple states. When Angela learned about the Farm to School Institute Adaptation Program, she told Chris, and they decided to join forces and create a multi-state institute program.
From the beginning, Angela and Chris thought it was best to implement two separate institutes, one for farm to school and one for farm to ECE. They chose this path because farm to ECE involves very different systems (e.g.,funding, specialized state and local agency staff) and needs from K-12 farm to school programs. These differences have led farm to ECE providers to feel like an afterthought since they are often trying to fit into programs that were designed for K-12 schools, not ECE sites. And, unlike schools, there are many types of ECE programs, from large centers and Head Start programs to small in-home programs where the provider is the administrator and teacher.
Angela and Chris applied to the 2022 adaptation program, and when their states were selected to participate, they brought a four-person team to Vermont, including a farm to ECE and a farm to school representative from each state. One observation they made was that while the Northeast Farm to School Institute (NEFTSI) invited ECE providers to participate, the programming was not an exact fit for ECE programs and their needs. This inspired the team from Oregon and Washington to explore the idea of creating an institute model that kept NEFTSI’s core components intact but was tailored to ECE programs and could be replicated in other states.
“We started with the K-12 institute in summer 2024, using the programming as a foundation. But we knew early childhood educators have unique needs, so we carefully adapted everything - from the application process to the retreat experience—for the ECE community. It’s aligned, but truly tailored to support ECE.”
Angela (far left) and Chris (center, holding child) participate in the Farm to School Adaptation Program at Shelburne Farms during the summer 2022 summer retreat. Photo: Sarah Webb for Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools.
After attending the adaptation program, partners from both states collaboratively wrote and applied for a USDA Farm to School grant to cover the farm to school and farm to ECE institutes. Upon securing grant funding, they pulled together a core team that included people from Washington and Oregon with different roles in the ECE field. Team members included representatives from state and local government, nonprofits, childcare programs, and childcare resource and referral (CCR&R) offices. The OR/WA adaptation team was introduced to the NEFTSI model and asked, how do we adapt this for ECE in Oregon and Washington?
Several key decisions were made by the OR/WA adaptation team as they planned their farm to ECE institute. First, given that Oregon and Washington are big states, they decided to focus their efforts regionally, drawing participants from along the I-5 corridor in western Washington and Oregon. Second, they decided to split the kick-off retreat into two one-day retreats, one in the fall and one in the winter, to better accommodate ECE providers’ capacity and schedules. The fall retreat was held on a Saturday to accommodate smaller ECE programs that could not take time off during the week, and the winter retreat was held on a Friday. That way, teams had an opportunity to attend at least one retreat in person.
Implementing the Core Components in Oregon & Washington
Adapting the NEFTSI model involves preserving the core components that make the model impactful while modifying how they are implemented to fit the local context. Here are four key ways Oregon and Washington are adapting the NEFTSI model for their states.
Adapting the Farm to School Rubric for ECE
The OR/WA adaptation team made several modifications to the NEFTSI’s farm to school rubric to make it more applicable for ECE programs. The modified rubric was structured so that ECE programs, whether they are based in family homes or large centers, could read, interpret, and respond to the different criteria, while maintaining the original intent of the rubric content. One change the adaptation team made was to use more generalized language that focused on community when describing roles. For example, instead of having an administrator, a teacher, and a food service manager, a team could include a childcare owner, a family member, and a community member. Another change they made was to simplify the rubric’s language for a sixth- to eighth-grade reading level. Finally, they simplified some of the rubric’s steps to make them more achievable for ECE programs (e.g., some staffing roles that exist in K-12 schools might not exist in ECE programs).
The early childhood teams gather for the February 2025 winter retreat held in at the Redd on Salmon Street in Portland, OR. Photo: Ecotrust.
“We really tried to look at the core components of the institute and make sure we were incorporating as many of those as possible. We really wanted to build on what we had learned and what Vermont had learned from doing the farm to school institute because we recognized there was so much there that was instrumental in making it successful. We just needed to try and ensure that ECE programs felt like it was representative of them specifically and that it was accessible.”
Conducting Coach & Team Pre-Work Prior to Retreats
The OR/WA adaptation team felt it was important to get coaches and teams together before the fall retreat so they could lay the groundwork for action planning. Before coaches met with their teams for this pre-work, the adaptation team held two, two-hour training sessions for their coaches. The first session oriented coaches to their roles, provided facilitation support and tools, and helped coaches understand the NEFTSI model. The second session focused on walking coaches through group agreements and the rubric review, why these components are part of the NEFTSI model, and how to implement them effectively to set teams up for action planning. Once coaches completed this training, they met with their teams once or twice for one to two hours to draft group agreements and conduct the rubric review. Completing these tasks as pre-work allowed coaches and teams to use the limited time they had together at the fall retreat specifically for action planning. The night before the fall retreat, the OR/WA adaptation team held a working dinner for coaches where they reiterated the plan for team time during the retreat and gave coaches time to prep some of the materials they intended to use. Coaches appreciated the support and training they received and felt well-prepared to guide their teams through the process.
Completing the pre-work was beneficial for teams; however, not every team moved at the same pace. Some came to the fall retreat ready to dive into action planning while others still had some work to do on their rubric review. A few teams started brainstorming their goals prior to the retreat. Overall, it was important to have that time together in-person with the teams and coaches to do the pre-work because of the shortened time together during the retreats.
Implementing Spanish-Speaking Team Accommodations
One of the partners involved with the OR/WA adaptation team, Childcare Aware Northwest, felt strongly that the farm to ECE institute needed to be a welcoming and accommodating space for Spanish-speaking ECE providers. While the adaptation team had written translation services into the original budget, they did not include funding for interpretative services. Childcare Aware Northwest, which offers resources in multiple languages, stepped up and offered to help. First, the adaptation team focused on providing access points for Spanish speakers to learn about the institute. The nonprofit used their own translator and translation resources to translate the institute application and some of the outreach materials into Spanish. Next, the adaptation team’s focus shifted to seeing what their ECE teams’ needs were. When three teams expressed a need for translation and interpretation services, they modified the budget and pulled money from another project to cover live translation and interpretation at both retreats. At the retreats, live translation was provided through headsets for Spanish-speaking team members and the interpreter helped teams interpret retreat materials and forms. One of the team coaches also translated team materials and handouts for Spanish-English bilingual team members.
Incorporating Indigenous Perspectives
Supporting Indigenous history and culture is important in Oregon and Washington. The OR/WA adaptation team felt that exploring native plants and foods was a natural fit for farm to ECE, so they included funding in their grant proposal for a consultant who could provide information and training on Indigenous practices. Tahoma Peak Solutions was hired as their partner in this effort. The organization works with non-native communities to incorporate native ways of teaching and learning. They also have a curriculum called Tend Gather Grow that has been adapted for ECE programs.
Most of the focus on Indigenous perspectives took place during the fall retreat. Educators from Tahoma Peak Solutions held a hands-on workshop where teams learned about Native American plant knowledge and how to incorporate native plants and foods from the Pacific Northwest into their programs. They also learned about ways they could incorporate elements from the Tender Gather Grow curriculum into their action plans and were provided resources specific to the Pacific Northwest region. Since the fall retreat, Tahoma Peak Solutions held two virtual follow-ups. The first introduced teams to their native plants and foods curriculum and how to use it. The second focused on technical assistance. Teams could ask questions and receive feedback from educators at Tahoma Peak Solutions on how they were incorporating native plants and foods in their action plans.
Teams action planning during the one-day fall retreat in October 2024 at Zenger Farm in southeast Portland, OR. Photo: Ecotrust.
Early Impact
Participants in the OR/WA Farm to ECE Institute are responding positively to the experience and the opportunity. Teams report that time spent working together is valuable and validating. Before the institute, some teams only had one farm to ECE champion; now they have a group of champions. They also have more respect and understanding for each other’s jobs, expertise, and roles. Participants note that during the retreats they felt welcomed and a sense of belonging. Getting together in person is like a reunion. People are really excited to see each other, to share their learning, and to cheer each other on.
Teams have also made great strides on their action plans and the projects they intend to implement. One ECE team has focused on intentional connections between the kitchen and the classroom by bringing more kitchen staff into the classroom to engage with children, increasing teacher involvement in menu planning, centering family recipes on menus, and incorporating opportunities for children to taste test and prepare vegetables. A Head Start-based team is planning a series of staff workshops on topics such as mobile gardening and gardening as a family. Another ECE team has committed to a long-term vision of increasing access to local foods for staff and families. Efforts include designing a survey to learn more about needs and opportunities in their community and raising funds to support ECE families’ access to farmers markets.
Lessons Learned
K-12 Schools and ECE Programs are Not Interchangeable: ECE programs have different needs in farm to school than K-12 schools do, and the types of support and ways in which they receive it differ as well. If you plan to serve ECE programs as part of your institute, make sure you understand the ECE landscape and adapt your programming accordingly so it meets them where they are.
Think Regional: It is rare to find people working at a state level on farm to ECE who have the capacity to support an institute on their own. Working within a region, such as southwest WA and northwest OR, allowed the OR/WA adaptation team to source resources, like child and adult care food program specialists and CCR&R offices, who were deeply familiar with farm to ECE in their area. It also kept travel distance and expenses down for teams, making it easier for them to participate. It is also easier to build lasting community among teams when they are from the same area.
Use Continuous Feedback to Adapt on the Fly: The OR/WA adaptation team incorporated continuous feedback loops between coaches and teams to learn how the institute’s structure and content did or did not meet ECE needs. Adapting in real time using direct feedback from the ECE community and coaches helped the adaptation team ensure the institute stayed relevant in ever shifting contexts.
Oregon & Washington Farm to School Institute Overview
Year Established: 2024
Organizations Involved: Ecotrust is the lead organizer of the Oregon and Washington (OR/WA) Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) Institute and is supported in running the institute by a group of regional partners.
Institute Funding: The primary funding source is a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Institute Status: Oregon and Washington launched their first yearlong Farm to ECE institute with a one-day fall retreat in October 2024 at Zenger Farm in southeast Portland, Oregon. A one-day winter retreat was held in February 2025 at the Redd on Salmon Street in Portland, Oregon. Seven teams, two from Washington and five from Oregon, participated, representing single site providers (e.g., family child care and community-based organizations) and multi-site providers (e.g., Head Start).
Students Impacted: 2,222 children