#documentary #premiere #publiceducation #schoolleadership #health #wellness #sustainability #NYCSchools #NYC #Bronx #nutrition #education #hunger #foodjustice #schoolgarden #foodaccess #pedagogy #curriculum #schoolfood #children #teachers #inclusion #workforcedevelopment #urbanag #fostercare
News — Join Green Bronx Machine and Stephen Ritz in partnership with Picture Motion, tonight, Tuesday, April 23rd, 7 PM EST, for a free, transformative virtual event to celebrate Generation Growth Day and the groundbreaking documentary film Generation Growth. This special day aims to unite advocates, experts, and leaders from the education and health food community to explore and discuss the profound impacts of the Green Bronx Machine program. Founded by visionary educator Stephen Ritz, this initiative has sparked a revolution in education, health, and community resilience across the globe resulting in Green Bronx Machine named by Fast Company as a 2024 Most Innovative Company. Joining Ritz will be film cast members and crew for an interactive Q/A afterwards.
Film Synopsis: Generation Growth tells the story of Green Bronx Machine and its founder, Stephen Ritz, as they grow high performing public schools, happy & healthy children, empowered teachers, and equitable, resilient communities across the nation.
Poor health, diet-related diseases, food insecurity, and underperforming education continue to plague low-income and marginalized communities across the United States. Stephen Ritz, a Bronx educator who believes teachers change lives, is on a mission to change all that. He developed an incredibly successful whole-school curriculum, aligned to a data-driven indoor academic gardening program that allows children to grow vegetables in school, improving academic performance, changing eating habits, increasing classroom engagement, and providing pathways for 21st century employment. "GENERATION GROWTH" follows Ritz as he expands his low-cost, easily replicable program throughout the country, bringing passion, purpose, and hope to the communities, students, and teachers who need it most.
Generation Growth is not just a film; it's a testament to the resilience, determination, and passion of students, teachers, principals, parents, and community members. It tells the story of how teachers and students have transformed barren spaces into vibrant urban gardens, how they've turned classrooms into laboratories of learning and growth, and how they've empowered students to become agents of change in their own lives and communities.
The film features many notables, subject matter / industry, and policy experts including: Dr. Sara Bleich, Reverend Al Sharpton, Seth Goldman, Dr. Jacob Ham, Dr. Pam Koch, NY State Senator Gustavo Rivera, NY Assemblyman Michael Blake, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Romules Durant, Principal Luis E. Torres, Suzie Boss, Justin Armitage, Susan Fry, Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, Indiana Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, and an amazing array of principals, teachers, students, and parents from across
the nation.
The film includes robust partnerships including: New York State Education Department, NYC Mayor’s Office of Food Policy, Food Tank, Big Picture Learning, Center for Food as Medicine, Teaching for Change, Goal Setter, The Fresh Air Fund, Stepping Stones Residential Treatment Center, Peninsula Open Space Trust, Newman’s Own Foundation, Tuft’s Food and Nutrition Innovation Institute, Mount Pleasant Elementary School District, Center for Integrated Training and Education, Community School 55 - Bronx NY home to Green Bronx Machine, amongst others.
The film has captured awards at every festival in has been entered into thus far. Contact Stephen Ritz or Brian Walker to arrange a screening.
Says Stephen Ritz: “One look at the trailer and our partners and you will be compelled to see the film!” Ritz goes on to say: “You change a classroom, you change a school, you change a school, you change a community, you change a community, you can change the world! Our film demonstrates a template for a low-cost, highly effective, replicable model for changing outcomes across NYC and the nation. We grow high performing public schools and happy, healthy children. From our humble corner of the globe, we believe that we can change the world. We look forward to this conversation where we can reflect on the power of education and its ability to cultivate minds and harvest hope, one student, one classroom, and one community at a time. We could not be prouder to be working with the folks at Picture Motion – it was such a natural choice for us – given who they are, what they do, and the promise they represent. Further, their track record speaks precisely to the impact we wish to create. From the Bronx to the world; it’s time for GENERATION GROWTH!” Says Brian Walker of Picture Motion: “Generation Growth is a story that needs to be told, featuring a program that needs to be replicated, with a mission and vision that serves the best interests of our children, teachers, public education, and our nation. We are proud and honored to be working with Stephen Ritz, Green Bronx Machine, and the entire cast and crew of Generation Growth to ensure their lived experience serves as a model for what is possible. It’s our goal to take this moment and help create a movement that will impact communities everywhere for generations to come. We are particularly proud of the Discussion Guide, Resources, and Tool Kit we have helped build to support the film and program. We welcome partners, sponsors, ambassadors, and are delighted to set up personal, private, as well as public screenings. There are many ways to get involved and I urge everyone to see the film and join us.”
WHEN: APRIL 23, 2024, 7 PM EST
RSVP HERE: https://generationgrowthday.splashthat.com
SOCIAL MEDIA + PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
- Link to RSVP: https://bit.ly/GG-VirtualEvent
- Social Media Toolkit: https://bit.ly/49xiKhd
- Hashtags: #GenerationGrowthFilm #GreenBronxMachine #StephenRitz
- Handles: @GreenBronxMachine @StephenRitz
About Green Bronx Machine
Founded in 2011 by Global Teaching Prize finalist and life-long educator Stephen Ritz, Green Bronx Machine (GBM) is an impact driven, for-purpose organization with 501(c)(3) status. GBM builds healthy, equitable and resilient communities through inspired education, local food systems, and 21st Century workforce development. Dedicated to cultivating minds and harvesting hope, its school- based model and propriety curriculum uses urban agriculture aligned to key school performance indicators, to grow healthy students and healthy schools. Simultaneously, GBM also transforms once fragmented and marginalized communities into neighborhoods that are inclusive and thriving. To date, Ritz and his students have grown over 225,000 pounds of food in the Bronx alone. In the last year alone, GBM and Ritz have distributed more than 150,000 pounds of food, produced 5,000-plus pounds of produce grown locally in the Bronx, built, and stocked three new food pantries, delivered weekly 152 backpacks of food to students and fulfilled more than 1,600 emergency food requests from families in need. Ritz and GBM also have trained nearly 10,000 teachers using GBM’s curriculum, impacting more than 275,000 students in the Bronx, across America and around the world and were proud to debut Let’s Learn with Mister Ritz, a PBS children’s show with more than 2 million views.
(https://greenbronxmachine.org/2023-impact-report/)
For more information, visit https://greenbronxmachine.org.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/green.BX.machine/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greenbronxmachine/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/greenBXmachine
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Greenbronxmachine/about
About Picture Motion
Picture Motion is the leading social impact agency developing award-winning advocacy and marketing campaigns for media and entertainment including films, television, books, podcasts, and more. They handle all aspects of an impact campaign from defining the strategy and securing strategic partnerships to amplifying and activating audiences through educational touchpoints, screenings, and immersive experiences. Storytellers, studios, and brands turn to the expert team of impact producers at Picture Motion to ensure that their content gets seen, mobilizes communities, and drives long term impact.
Picture Motion’s collaborative approach unites storytellers with unmatched networks of thousands of activists, nonprofits, and foundations to build social movements around must-see content. Over the past 12 years, Picture Motion has partnered on over 400 groundbreaking works and has been at the forefront of reimagining how to activate audiences. Their mission is to leverage storytelling to inspire empathy, convene people, and ignite brave conversations and action.
Picture Motion creates impact with each and every project they work on. They are committed and work to address larger societal issues and be a vehicle for systemic social change through all of the many different campaigns and stories they are a part of.
#documentary #premiere #publiceducation #schoolleadership #health #wellness #sustainability #NYCSchools #NYC #Bronx #nutrition #education #hunger #foodjustice #schoolgarden #foodaccess #pedagogy #curriculum #schoolfood #children #teachers #inclusion #workforcedevelopment #urbanag #fostercare
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