ATLANTA (April 11, 2022) – The dairy farm families of Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons, and The Dairy Alliance gathered at Mercedes-Benz Stadium’s Urban Garden to celebrate their mutual commitment to sustaining the surrounding community and protecting the environment.
The community urban garden at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is used to share the importance of our food system’s ecological footprint with students in as part of the stadium’s STEAM Program. Now in its fifth year, the Mercedes-Benz Stadium STEAM program, presented by Georgia Power, pairs a tailored STEAM tour with a classroom curriculum that teachers can incorporate into their lesson plans pre and post stadium tour.
The community urban garden features prominently in the AGSTEM tour option, which focuses on regenerative agriculture, carbon sequestration climate solutions, hyper-local food systems and careers aligned. Newly installed signage at the community urban garden showcases the commitment of Georgia dairy farmers to nourish communities in Atlanta and throughout the state with sustainably produced milk.
The Dairy Alliance contributed sustainability-focused educational materials to the AGSTEM tour curriculum and sponsors students to attend STEAM program tours as part of their Fuel Up To Play 60 partnership with the Atlanta Falcons, now in its thirteenth year.
“We have been fortunate to have such a great partnership with The Dairy Alliance and appreciate the support of our STEAM tour curriculum they provide,” said Mercedes-Benz Stadium Tour Operation Manager Dawn Brown. “Their support helps us elevate our education program and impact thousands of students each year in a fun and exciting way.”
The STEAM program presented by Georgia Power, allows students to visit Mercedes-Benz Stadium, while learning how STEAM comes to life through career focused curriculum. The program reaches an average of 600 classrooms and 30,000 students per year.
“The AGSTEM tour was an eye-opening experience because I was glad to see a large organization not only integrate sustainability into their daily operations, but be an intentional leader in the sustainability space.” Brandon Crumsey – Compost Connectors at Booker T. Washington High School
In addition to serving as a laboratory for the AGSTEM tour in the STEAM Program, the community urban garden provides the Westside Works culinary program and stadium associates opportunities for a hands-on approach to growing food and carbon sequestration.
“Georgia dairy farmers are proud to partner with the Atlanta Falcons to bring awareness to dairy’s low environmental footprint and highly nutritious product to nourish families in Atlanta and across our great state,” said Georgia dairy farmer Kenneth Murphy.