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’ 225 corps members reached 158,578 children, led 42,951 hands-on lessons and 3,386 taste tests (more than double the previous year), supported 471 school gardens, and activated 6,685 community volunteers in improving 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.
9 in 10 FoodCorps’ alumni are in careers of impact—such as education, school food services, and policy and advocacy—that advance FoodCorps’ goal of nurturing a nation of healthy children; 100% of FoodCorps alumni say service gave them confidence as leaders; one in five alumni are hired by their school or site after service, often in jobs created for them.
In an external evaluation by Spark Policy Institute, 98% of school leaders described FoodCorps as “highly valued.”
FoodCorps News
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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
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Dumplings: they’re delicious AND a great way to teach kids about healthy food at home. Get started with FoodCorps… https://t.co/9uEZm7ixee
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“Twenty-four hours a day, my staff and I, even on Saturday and Sunday, we’re trying to think of ways to serve our f… https://t.co/UZHrdXjRon
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School food is essential. Thank you to the school nutrition professionals who keep kids fed—not just through the pa… https://t.co/vzwba43hsQ
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School food nourishes kids—through #COVID19 and beyond as classrooms reopen. Check out our new digital hub to see w… https://t.co/VGjrb8DdS0
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“If Covid-19 has taught us anything about our industry, it’s that this is the moment to show the world how importan… https://t.co/B96SrPxvqU
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Want to grow your own food at home? FoodCorps @AmeriCorps Service Member Sanaya Irani with @Detroitk12 has got you… https://t.co/dF7QfoXd4i
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School gardens support a community’s resilience. 🌱 “My schedule is still shaped around what the school needs, but i… https://t.co/Ry841GjKqp
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New data from @SchoolLunch shows how school food is essential: in April, school nutrition programs served 134 milli… https://t.co/Oc45A4oalE
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“The nexus of the health crisis and the economic crisis of #COVID19 is a food crisis.” FoodCorps Board Member… https://t.co/5F2toGkYFf
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“I told students that I’d care for our garden while they stay home—a promise that I’ve kept in collaboration with s… https://t.co/cLqu5QcfaD
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“Young children are experiencing food insecurity to an extent unprecedented in modern times.” More than two in five… https://t.co/VYeW5Ju40Y
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Kitchens and gardens are classrooms, too! “There is not a one-size-fits-all solution for how we eat and how we lear… https://t.co/ITYhKbsPQE
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RT @tischfoodcenter: ATTN food & nutrition orgs-Are you struggling with how to convert your programming into engaging digital content for #…
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RT @BOSfoodaccess: Check out the new Food Educators of Boston's google site! Boston's @FoodCorps @AmeriCorps Service Members are sharing ga…
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We must take action for the #NavajoNation and all Indigenous communities. Here’s one way you can help: This Sunday,… https://t.co/DNqceDzfBK
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School food is essential to the academic success and health of all kids—not just during the #COVID19 pandemic, but… https://t.co/7XACq44cNI
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This week the House of Representatives introduced the #HEROESAct. This $3 trillion response bill includes critical… https://t.co/l5nAQWkQvV