
FoodCorps
Model & Strategy
FoodCorps is a national service organization that provides a scalable response to America’s painful and costly epidemic of childhood obesity. Working under the direction of high-impact local partners, FoodCorps Service Members invest a year of full-time public service delivering nutrition education, cultivating school gardens and sourcing farm-fresh school meals for K-12 students in communities of need across the country.
FoodCorps offers a means for training a new generation of leaders in the fields of food, education and health, and a mechanism for building connections and capacity among the diverse organizations that advocate for a more just, healthful and sustainable food system. 1 in 5 FoodCorps alumni are hired by their school or service site for a long-term position.



Curt Ellis began working with the five other founders of FoodCorps in 2009. With colleagues Debra Eschmeyer, Cecily Upton, Crissie McMullan, Jerusha Klemperer and Ian Cheney, Curt led an 18-month planning process that engaged more than 10,000 stakeholders in developing the FoodCorps model. Rather than being designed from the top down, their school food solution emerged from the grassroots up: a national organization that local voices shaped according to their needs.
Curt’s passion for food and agriculture is rooted in his childhood in Oregon. He developed his interest at The Mountain School and Yale and then moved to Iowa to investigate the role of subsidized commodities in the American obesity epidemic. The film he co-created there, King Corn, won a George Foster Peabody Award, helped bring national press attention to the Farm Bill, and reached an audience of millions in theatres and on PBS. Curt also produced The Greening of Southie (Sundance Channel, 2008) and used his Food and Community Fellowship to launch the mobile school garden project, Truck Farm, and direct the sequel to King Corn, Big River (Discovery, 2010).
IMPACT
In the last school year, FoodCorps’ 228 corps members reached 167,893 children, led 42,990 hands-on lessons and 3,260 taste tests, tended 529 school gardens, and activated thousands of community volunteers in support of healthy school food environments.
External evaluation by Columbia University showed that students who get more of FoodCorps’ hands-on learning eat triple the fruits and vegetables compared with peers in low-implementation schools.
Three in four FoodCorps’ alumni are pursuing careers of impact that advance FoodCorps’ goal of nurturing a nation of healthy children—such as education, school foodservice, and policy and advocacy; upward of one in three alumni are hired each year by a FoodCorps school or partner after service, often in jobs created for them.
FoodCorps News
-
FoodCorps Featured in Fast Company for Their Success in Winning Over KidsFoodCorps was featured in Fast Company for their work winning over a pretty tough crowd, kids. FoodCorps sends young service members into schools in disadvantaged…Mar 2016
-
FoodCorps' Debra Eschmeyer Selected to Lead First Lady Michelle Obama's Food WorkDebra “Deb” Eschmeyer, a leading nutrition and local food advocate, has replaced Sam Kass as executive director of Let’s Move! and senior policy advisor for…Jan 2015
-
“Food traditions can happen in school. [...] School lunch can be a time of gathering.” @thrivemarket spoke with ser… https://t.co/5kCpDZtX54
-
We believe observances like Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month are just one of many moments… https://t.co/KaT2iMJDh1
-
🥕 2 WEEKS LEFT 🥕 We’ve extended the deadline to apply to be a FoodCorps service member – but we’ve already st… https://t.co/rZrwuoUxDh
-
Today is #SchoolLunchHeroDay! 🎉 School nutrition staff do everything they can to ensure millions of kids know w… https://t.co/zj9Mh3X9JF
-
RT @USDANutrition: Happy School Lunch Hero Day! USDA appreciates all the hardworking school nutrition professionals who work tirelessly to…
-
RT @10CentsMI: 🎉 TODAY is School Lunch Hero Day #SLHD22! Please join us in recognizing the amazing school lunch heroes who dedicate their…
-
“This conference has the potential to spark major policy changes that are long overdue, especially in our schools.”… https://t.co/E1weW0LeKX
-
It’s #TeacherAppreciationWeek! 😍 We’re sending out appreciation to ALL the food educators who teach kids about th… https://t.co/RLu4FD07I6
-
RT @SenBooker: I am so excited @POTUS is hosting this more than 50 years after the last conference on hunger. Urgent action is needed to so…
-
RT @RepMcGovern: This is a historic moment in the fight against hunger. I’m proud of the nationwide, grassroots movement we built to push…
-
It’s not too late for folks to serve with #FoodCorps next school year! 🥕 Our #service members help kids grow, cook… https://t.co/RnN38lIoW0
-
Apply to serve with #FoodCorps and help kids experience the joy of food – just like FoodCorps #Maine @AmeriCorps se… https://t.co/rU6r2sxyVT
-
FoodCorps' own Northeast Regional Director, Dawn Crayco, joined this roundtable to share the impacts of the CT Grow… https://t.co/rdAFps8Exm
-
This incredible @NewmansOwnFdn video features so many things we love: 🥕 FoodCorps #Maine alumna Maggie Blumenthal… https://t.co/qKEzoUdgMB
-
It’s not too late to serve up change with #FoodCorps! Apps have reopened and we want YOU to join our 2022-2023… https://t.co/T3FiqdVXRK