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Youth Apprenticeship & Green Workforce Academy

Not a gardening program. A paid pathway.

Built on a decade of youth agriculture and 2,000+ young people served: real wages, industry credentials, a working portfolio, and pathways to business ownership, cooperative membership, and land access.

Raise Your Hand for the Next Cohort See the Tracks

Hero: temporary AI placeholder — real apprentice photography requires documented consent

Real wages, always· Industry credentials· Portfolio you keep· CT youth-labor law compliant· Anti-exploitation by design

From First Visit to First Business

One journey, four stages — tap each to see what it holds.

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The guardrail

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Four Ways to Get Your Hands In

Every track pays, every track credentials, every track builds the portfolio.

Growing & CEA

Microgreens, mushrooms, and controlled-environment agriculture — the technical heart of the growing room.

Food Systems & Safety

Food-safety practice, traceability, fulfillment logistics — the credentials kitchens and processors hire for.

Media & Story

Apprentices produce Sonic Harvest tracks, crop-story media, and farm films — real credits, real portfolio.

Business & Enterprise

Pricing, markets, customer care — graduates can sell as young producers through Root Life’s channels.

Funding architecture: WIOA youth employment + earned revenue + philanthropy — see the full Pathways system.

For families

What parents should know

  • Every placement complies with federal and Connecticut youth-labor law — hours, tasks, and equipment are age-appropriate by rule, not by habit
  • Wages are real paychecks, never stipends disguised as wages
  • School comes first: schedules flex around the academic year
  • Youth data is protected — we collect the minimum and never market to minors
  • Consent for any photography or media is documented, always

For schools & partners

Bring the Academy to your students

We partner with schools, districts, and youth organizations across Greater New Haven — farm-to-school programming, CTE alignment, dual-enrollment conversations, and summer cohorts. The three-year goal: a DOL-registered apprenticeship pathway in CEA agriculture.

School partnership inquiry

Raise Your Hand

Cohorts are small and fill by conversation, not by race to a button. Tell us who you are and we’ll reach out when the next one forms.

I AM A…

MOST INTERESTED IN

For applicants under 18, a parent or guardian joins the intake conversation. We collect the minimum, protect youth data, and never sell it.
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We’ll be in touch when the next cohort forms — a real conversation, with a parent or guardian included for applicants under 18. Meanwhile, come see the growing room on a farm tour.