About
Chefs can be allies when it comes to schools and students, having consistent training in flavor profiles, cost management, and creative sourcing. Each of us are invested in helping kids grow up to be healthy, having high academic goals and achievements, and a good relationship with food.
Blue Watermelon Project, established in 2016, formed to increase access to fresh foods to students in partner schools. Currently serving in 35 partner schools within the premier Chef in the Garden Program, Blue Watermelon Project is growing. In the 2025-2026 School Year Blue Watermelon Project plans to support 50 schools across Arizona.
Our mission.
Blue Watermelon Project is a group of chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, and community food advocates who work together in a collective and committed effort to expand, encourage, and educate students to develop healthy relationships with food.
Our vision.
We see a future in which all people have a taste for a diverse array of food, one in which schools have served students fresh and healthy options, families have been given equitable and culturally-appropriate access, and all have been given the knowledge and freedom to be nourished, ready to learn and poised for academic and social success.
