FoodCorps believes every school should be a healthy school and every child – regardless of race, place or class – deserves to be well nourished and ready to learn. In underserved communities across the country, our AmeriCorps leaders teach students about healthy food through hands-on lessons, partner with farmers and food service workers to create nutritious and delicious school meals, and collaborate with communities to insure a long-term culture of health. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps pursues systemic strategies that will benefit all of our nation’s 100,000 schools.

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
• Schoolwide 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.

What We’re Looking For

• Passion for building a healthier future for school children
• Commitment to working hard in service of local communities 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

Individual service positions differ by location. There may be additional requirements depending on the site to which you apply.

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 delivering engaging, hands-on lessons, 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 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 and promoting food from local farms for 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 building strong, collaborative relationships with teachers, families, 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, helping FoodCorps and schools assess the impact they are having, and raising money to help support the local projects when allowable.

What You’ll Gain

• Up to $22,000 living stipend for Service Members in CA, DC, HI, MA and NY, paid bi-weekly
• Up to $18,250 living stipend for Service Members in other states, paid bi-weekly
• $6,095 AmeriCorps Segal Education Award, upon successful completion of your term of service
• Health insurance*
• Partial childcare reimbursement, if you qualify
• Student loan forbearance, if you qualify
• Training, mentorship, and professional development opportunities

*Participation in the FoodCorps health insurance option is required if you cannot provide proof of existing coverage.

Where You’ll Serve

FoodCorps offers service positions in 18 states and Washington DC, including communities throughout AZ, AR, CA, CT, DC Metro Area, GA, HI, IA, ME, MA, MI, MS, MT, NJ, NM, NYC, NC, and OR. Currently, we are only seeking applicants for the following locations:
 

Arkansas (Parkview and Central Elementary Schools, King and Tate Elementary Schools)
California (Upland Unified School District, Ocean View School District, Julian School District)
Connecticut (all sites)
Iowa (Waterloo)
Maine
Montana (Ronan School District, Anaconda School District, Philipsburg and Drummond Public Schools)
Oregon (Tillamook)
 

To see our local Service Sites, visit: https://foodcorps.org/apply/where-youll-serve/.