FoodCorps to help get fresh food to schools -- like AmeriCorps

[grasswire]

crossposted from food & baking


A new service program promises to recruit an army of volunteers to help transform school food and, perhaps, groom a new generation of farmers.

Planning has just begun for FoodCorps, a one-year volunteer service program modeled after and developed under the umbrella of AmeriCorps.

Like AmeriCorps, FoodCorps volunteers will work in communities identified as having a pressing need, but in the area of school food systems. The recent college graduates will build and tend school gardens and help schools procure more fresh foods from local farms, especially in communities where it's difficult to find fresh vegetables and unprocessed foods for sale. "We want them to work where child obesity has hit the hardest, and where food access is the toughest," says Curt Ellis, one of the founders of FoodCorps and co-creator of the documentary "King Corn."

In a July 2009 report, the national Centers for Disease Control recommended availability of healthier, affordable food and more mechanisms for purchasing food from farms as important strategies for obesity prevention.

Not only will the program work to solve childhood obesity, but it also will give young people an avenue into farming, says Ellis, who grew up in the Portland area and now lives in New York. "There's a growing community of young people entering the work force right now who want to reconnect with agriculture, find real and meaningful work with their hands. ... We think (FoodCorps) can be a gateway into careers in food and agriculture."

The announcement of the program two weeks ago kicked off a year of planning, and founders expect to be recruiting and assigning volunteer teams to communities by fall 2011.

more at link http://www.oregonlive.com/foodday/index.ssf/2010/05/foodcorps_to_help_get_fresh_fo.html

[alstephenson]

1. What a fabulous idea!