Decatur, GA – The Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) received an Honorary Award at the Golden Radish Award ceremony held on Sept. 17, 2019, at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta. A Golden Radish Award is given to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in Georgia, doing extraordinary work in farm-to-school initiatives.

The agency’s most notable farm-to-school achievements from the 2018‐2019 school year include offering locally grown items on the school menu, having edible gardens at schools and adopting farm-to-school language into the wellness policy.

As a Residential Child Care Institution (RCCI), DJJ provides locally grown food items 365 days a year. DJJ kitchen staff incorporates the produce grown by students in their school gardens into meals and has served more than 800,000 meals with local ingredients. DJJ currently has two edible gardens at the Eastman Youth Development Campus (YDC) and the Elbert Shaw Regional Youth Detention Center (RYDC). The garden at Elbert Shaw RYDC has a SHAPE grant-funded aquaponics system in their school greenhouse.

Lisa Mantz, the assistant deputy commissioner of the Division of Support Services and Lauren Gean, director of the Office of Nutrition and Food Services, attended the award ceremony on the agency’s behalf.

“We are excited and honored to be recognized as Honorary Golden Radish recipients for the second consecutive year,” said Gean. “Our team is dedicated to expanding farm-to-school opportunities to the youth at DJJ and to continuing to grow these initiatives statewide.”

DJJ is the 181st School District in the state of Georgia. There are 30 Georgia Preparatory Academy (GPA) campuses across Georgia located in RYDCs, YDCs and Education Transition Centers (ETCs).

The Award was presented by Golden Radish partners Georgia Organics, Georgia’s Departments of Agriculture (GDA), Education (GaDOE) and Public Health (GDPH), the Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) and the University of Georgia Cooperative Extension (UGA Extension).

DJJ was among 90 Georgia school districts to be recognized for their 2019 Golden Radish Awards achievements.

Lisa Mantz, assistant deputy commissioner of the Division of Support Services and Lauren Gean, director of the Office of Nutrition and Food Services, held at the 2019 Golden Radish Award ceremony at Mercedes Benz Stadium.

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