The Urban Youth Garden is a one acre farm/garden right in the heart of Thunder Bay. Each summer, in partnership with YES Employment, ten youth between ages 15-18 take on the Urban Youth Garden as their summer job, taking care of crops, developing the space and working with the surrounding community. Additionally, the team heads out to farms and food organizations all around Thunder Bay to experience different aspects of the food system, from bee keeping to beef farming to soup kitchens. In doing so, they become ambassadors for increased food security in the city, understanding what it takes to grow food sustainably and the innovative solutions to bettering our local food system. To tackle the problems of sustainability, food security, and community development there is much work to be done and the best way to make concrete changes is to understand the problems and available alternatives. In this way, Roots to harvest aims to both teach and learn about farming and urban ecosystems, organic approaches, food security issues and science and technological innovations that can help to build Thunder Bay into a sustainable and food secure community!