INMED Partnerships for Children, Inc.

The INMED Family & Youth Opportunity Center in Loudoun County, Virginia delivers direct support services and capacity building resources to strengthen the stability and self-sufficiency of at-risk families and create opportunities for children and youth to succeed.

Programs now operating at the Opportunity Center include academically focused after-school programming for at-risk elementary school students (the focus of this proposal), STEM/STEAM activities, job fairs, financial literacy classes, family education and support, English as a Second Language classes, summer day camp for low-income youth, music classes, youth sports workshops, and special events and services delivered in partnership with other local individuals, agencies and county government departments, such as health coverage enrollment, student art fairs, entrepreneurial classes in floral and jewelry and floral design, and cooking classes leading to food management certification.

INMED's Adaptive Agriculture Program is dedicated to establishing sustainable food programs that improve food security, conserve natural resources, promote strategies for adapting to climate change and provide opportunities for income generation.

At the heart of INMED’s Adaptive Agriculture Program is aquaponics, a combination of hydroponics and fish farming in a closed system that produces year-round crops at 10 times the yield of traditional farming while conserving scarce water resources and energy. INMED has developed a simple and affordable aquaponic system for small-scale farmers, schools, government institutions and even home gardeners that uses easily accessible “off the shelf” local materials. Its modular design and limited mechanization make this system easy to operate and maintain and does not require fertilizers, chemicals or heavy labor.

Over the past decade, INMED has established highly successful adaptive agriculture and aquaponics programs in South Africa, Jamaica and Peru, and will soon introduce aquaponics in Brazil. Communities that have embraced this new way of farming have:
> Strengthened the ability of youth, farmers, fisherfolk and other community members to understand and respond to the effects of climate change
> Provided new and adaptive opportunities for income generation
> Strengthened the capacity of local organizations to assume a leadership role in addressing climate change and ensuring food security and economic opportunities for their members/beneficiaries