We started with a garden. We're building something bigger.
SEEDFOLKids is an after-school program bringing 3rd and 4th graders in Tampa's most underserved schools, including Edison and Sulphur Springs Elementary, from the garden to the marketplace. Kids learn to grow food, develop flavors, run a business, and show up for their community. The honey is what they make. Leaders is what they become.
How it Started.
In 2018, inspired by Paul Fleischman's book, Seedfolks, Jeannette Bradley and Diana Kyle walked into one of Tampa's lowest-performing schools with a simple idea. Give kids soil, seeds, and real responsibility. What grew there went far beyond food. SEEDFOLKids became a full program, a community, and eventually a business run by the kids themselves.
Process
From the Ground Up.
They plant and tend
Kids dig into real garden beds, learning soil science, plant biology, and what it actually takes to grow something worth eating.
They harvest and create
Young people process, blend, and bottle flavors they develop themselves. Grade A Tampa honey goes in. Something original comes out.
They sell and lead
Students talk to customers, manage profits and learn what it means to build something with their name on it.
The community gets stronger
Every bottle sold funds the next season. More gardens, more kids, more proof that this works.
Stories
What the garden actually teaches
Confidence. Direction. The feeling of finishing something you started. These are the voices of kids who found all three.
Marcus learned to lead
"I didn't think I could run a business. Now I'm managing orders and showing other classmates how to do it."
Sophia found her footing
"Getting my hands in the soil made me feel like I could do hard things. Now I want to study agriculture and come back to help."
Jamal discovered purpose
"Knowing that what we made is feeding families and funding the garden makes me proud."
Leadership
Leadership.
Meet the team growing young leaders and planting roots in Tampa one school at a time.
Jeannette Bradley
Founder and visionary
Jeannette planted the first seeds of SEEDFOLKids with a belief that soil teaches what classrooms cannot. Her vision turned a small garden into a movement.
Diana Kyle
Program director
Diana brings the garden to life every day. From first harvest to first sale, she guides young people with patience and purpose.
Community team
Dedicated partners
Volunteers, educators, and local partners who show up to dig in the soil and believe in young people's potential.
Our roots
Built on solid ground
SEEDFOLKids is a flagship program of What We Could Be Exchange, a Tampa-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to youth development and community transformation. WWcB provides the legal foundation and operational structure that lets SEEDFOLKids focus on what matters most: growing young people into leaders who know their worth.
