Birmingham City Schools launch first-of-its-kind Hydroponic Classrooms partnership

In a first-of-its-kind partnership in the nation, Birmingham City Schools, Jones Valley Teaching Farm (JVTF), the City of Birmingham and NY Sun Works are bringing Hydroponic Classrooms to Bush Hills STEAM Academy.

The new, state-of-the-art, hydroponic farming systems will support sustainability science learning, foster student engagement and produce hundreds of pounds of fresh produce annually.

New program benefits West Side of Birmingham

In total, eight Hydroponic Classrooms will be installed at Birmingham City Schools on the west side of Birmingham.

Schools receiving classrooms include:

• Bush Hills STEAM Academy
• Jackson-Olin High School
• South Hampton K-8 
• Charles A. Brown Elementary
• Green Acres Middle School 
• Wylam Elementary School
• Minor Elementary School
• Central Park Elementary School

“I discovered New York Sun Works at a conference. I saw so many similarities of what they were doing indoors to what we were doing outdoors. I wondered, how do we get you to Birmingham, Alabama? 

Today marks our official launch to expand our work to the west side of Birmingham from eight schools to 16, which is 40% of the entire district. We are so honored and humbled by the opportunity to work with these young people every single day. It drives everything we do at Jones Valley.”

Amanda Storey, Director, Jones Valley Teaching Farm

Birmingham and New York City urban farming—a perfect match

Jones Valley Teaching Farm invited New York Sun Works to partner on this initiative based on their 15 years of experience educating students in sustainability science through hydroponic farming. 

New York Sun Works has built and supported over 370 hydroponic classrooms in New York City, the nation’s largest public school system. They have also designed and implemented the associated curriculum, trained over 1,500 teachers and now reach more than 140,000 students annually.

Here’s what New York Sun Works will design and build in Birmingham:

• 6 hydroponic classrooms + 2 hydroponic greenhouses
• Growing towers
• Vine crop systems + seedling stations
• Worm composting

“Expanding and diversifying food-based educational programming through hydroponics at the eight schools within the Jackson-Olin feeder pattern marks a significant next step in our partnership with JVTF. 

This expansion will allow 3,700 additional students to experience food-based education, double the number of interns receiving paid work-based learning opportunities and create a local and sustainable produce procurement opportunity by integrating produce grown in the newly established learning labs into the schools’ cafeterias.” 

Dr. Mark Sullivan, Superintendent, Birmingham City Schools

Benefits of Hydroponic Classrooms in Birmingham

Program leaders expect the new Hydroponic Classrooms will provide a wide range of benefits to Birmingham City Schools students and the Greater Birmingham community. This includes engaging hands-on learning that drives student attendance, new pathways to higher education and careers and thousands of pounds of freshly-grown produce for the community.

Seed funding from the City of Birmingham and Birmingham City Schools made the initiative possible.

“This is a game-changing opportunity for our students.”

Randall Woodfin, Mayor, Birmingham

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