Company description

FoodCorps is a nationwide team of AmeriCorps leaders that connects kids to real food and helps them grow up healthy. We do that by placing motivated leaders in limited-resource communities for a year of public service. Serving under the direction of local partner organizations, our service members focus on three areas of service:
• Hands-on learning: students grow, cook, and taste new foods, which builds their skills and changes food preferences
• Healthy school meals: the cafeteria experience steers students towards the healthiest options and gets them excited to try new healthy foods
• School-wide culture of health: as a whole, the school community and environment – from hallways to classrooms to cafeteria to grounds – celebrates healthy food. We measure our success in terms of changes in children, schools, and systems.

Job description

What You'll Do
Service members work with schools, service site organizations and local communities to build healthy school food environments. They do this in a variety of ways:

• Service members focus on teaching children in grades K-8 about food and nutrition in the classroom by developing and teaching lesson plans, integrating activities into subjects such as math, science and history, working with teachers and school administrators to increase food and nutrition education in curricula, and more.
• Service members grow healthy food with students, teachers, and community members in school and community gardens, dynamic educational settings where kids can get their hands dirty and experience what they’re learning first-hand. While some service members expand/maintain already-existing school gardens, greenhouses and hoop houses, others work to establish new gardens. Service members develop garden sustainability plans and recruit community volunteers to ensure that the projects they start last into the future.
• Service members impact what's for lunch by sourcing food from local farms for cafeterias, promoting local foods through cafeteria taste tests, working with school food directors and staff to integrate healthier foods into breakfast, lunch and snack programs, and more.
• Service members help build school-wide cultures of health by working closely with teachers and school administrators, recruiting and training volunteers, organizing committees and running meetings, talking to press and public officials.
• Service members spend time learning and participating in trainings, raising money to help support the local projects, and helping FoodCorps and schools assess the impact they are having.

What You'll Gain

• $18,250 living stipend paid bi-weekly
• $5,920 AmeriCorps Segal Education Award, upon successful completion of your first (or second) term of service: for future schooling or repay qualified student loans. Learn more here.
• Student loan forbearance: Learn more here.
• Health insurance: Basic health, vision and dental coverage. Learn more here.
• Partial childcare reimbursements: Learn more here.

You may also be eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps, based on your total income.

What We’re Looking For

• Passion for building a healthier future for schoolchildren
• Commitment to working hard in order to make a difference
• Demonstrated leadership ability
• Motivation to serve full-time in a limited resource community
• Perseverance in the face of challenges and creativity in finding solutions
• Respect for diversity of opinion, experience, and background
• Experience working in or studying food systems, agriculture, public health, education, community organizing, or public service
• Experience working or volunteering in education, youth development, or other teaching setting
• Knowledge of the culture, history, and/or language of the communities we serve
• Desire to gain hands-on experience for your career
• Demonstrated ability or dedication to performing the activities listed below

To be considered for a FoodCorps service member position, you must:
• Be 18 years or older by the start of your service term
• Be a legal, permanent resident of the United States
• Hold a high school diploma, GED or equivalent

Compensation

this position is: stipend / non-monetary compensation

Application instructions

Deadline

March 19, 2018