NSAC's Blog
New ‘FoodCorps’ Program Recruiting “Next Generation of Food Leaders”
February 3, 2011
FoodCorps, a new national service program focused on addressing childhood obesity through building healthy school food infrastructure, will begin accepting applications for 2011-2012 service members early next week. FoodCorps is looking to recruit young adults for a yearlong term of public service beginning in mid-August 2011.
The new program, an offshoot of Americorps, will work with host organizations in ten states (AR, AZ, IA, MA, ME, MI, MS, NC, NM, OR), including the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Agriculture at Michigan State University and the National Center for Appropriate Technology, two NSAC member organizations. Service members will build and tend school gardens, lead nutrition education programs for children, and build and promote farm-to-cafeteria and farm-to-school programs.
“FoodCorps is helping to address the challenges of childhood obesity and food access and training the next generation of food leaders,” said FoodCorps co-coordinator Cecily Upton in the program’s opening announcement. Curt Ellis, a FoodCorps program organizer – and one of the stars of the 2007 documentary film “King Corn” – called the program “a pipeline into careers in agriculture, public health, and social justice.”
For more information or to apply, visit the FoodCorps website here.
Categories: Local & Regional Food Systems, Nutrition & Food Access