The Monarch Joint Venture is happy to officially welcome the newest member of the MJV partnership, the Latino Center of the Midlands.
The Latino Center of the Midlands (LCM) is a community-based nonprofit located in South Omaha, Nebraska, dedicated to empowering and uplifting the greater Omaha community through education, workforce development, and health and wellness initiatives.
One of the ways that LCM does this is through its Cultiva Bienestar program. “Cultiva Bienestar” translates to “cultivate well-being.” This at-home and community gardening initiative empowers community members to grow healthy, fresh, organic food while emphasizing pollinator-friendly practices and fostering biodiversity in densely populated neighborhoods.
LCM is working to permanently integrate pollinator habitat into all Cultiva Bienestar backyard gardens and its LCM Health and Innovation urban farm.
Families growing in LCM gardens learn science-based practices for pest management, seed selection, and gain hands-on experience observing pollinator activity, monitoring soil health, and understanding the ecological relationships between plants, insects, and food production. By integrating native plants and milkweed into home gardens, community spaces, and its urban farm, LCM supports both wildlife and people in these high-density urban areas.
LCM also hosted a monarch tagging and educational event with MJV staff this fall. Families had the chance to hear from MJV staff about the incredible journey monarch butterflies make all the way to Mexico for the winter, and even got a hands-on experience tagging monarch butterflies on the migratory path.
Welcome to the MJV partnership!
For more information about Latino Center of the Midlands, please visit https://www.latinocenter.org/.
The Monarch Joint Venture is a 501c3 nonprofit organization and a national partner network of federal and state agencies, non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academic programs working together to conserve the monarch butterfly migration. The content in this article does not necessarily reflect the positions of all Monarch Joint Venture partners. Photo courtesy of Latino Center of the Midlands.