Sustainable Food

St. Rose’s Garden

Eight raised beds with 20 yards of soil were installed by the Fordham community to establish St. Rose’s Garden. St. Rose’s serves as a social space, living laboratory, and classroom right on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. The raised beds are used to grow a variety of produce, including kale, collard greens, cabbage, tomatoes, peppers, and broccoli. St. Rose’s also offers local, organic seasonal Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares for purchase to all members of the Fordham community. The Fordham Social Innovation Collaboratory has supported St. Rose’s in a variety of capacities, including the financing of extended growing season initiatives and an on-campus farmers market.

The Sustainable Food Practicum

The Sustainable Food Practicum is a small committee of self-motivated students who are working to improve the sustainability of on-campus dining services on Fordham University’s Rose Hill campus. The students operate as sustainability representatives between Fordham’s administration, Aramark, the student body, and Fordham’s sustainability consultant. They are working to increase communication among these parties to achieve measurable environmental and student health impacts.

The Food Impact Investing Practicum

The Food Impact Investing Practicum focuses on collaboration as a process for financing better and more sustainable food systems. In partnership with SlowMoney NYC, and other champions from the food sustainability arena, students in this practicum learn how food impact investing entrepreneurs strategically unlock resources by connecting investors and entrepreneurs. Project highlights include developing a Local Impact Rating System for the Hudson Valley foodshed as a shared platform for entrepreneurs and investors for whom the non-financial returns of food system ventures are an important value.