AmeriCorps

Become a FoodCorps Service Member

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About FoodCorps

FoodCorps partners with schools and communities to nourish kids’ health, education, and sense of belonging so that every child, in every school, experiences the joy and power of food. Our AmeriCorps members serve alongside educators and school nutrition leaders to provide kids with nourishing meals, food education, and culturally affirming experiences with food that celebrate and nurture the whole child. Building on this direct service, FoodCorps advocates for policy change, grows networks, and develops leaders in service of every kid’s health and wellbeing. Our goal is that by 2030, every child will have access to food education and nourishing food in school!

What We’re Looking For

  • Commitment to building a healthier future for school children
  • Demonstrated leadership aptitude and effective communication skills
  • Motivation and commitment to serve full-time directly in a community
  • Self determination in the face of challenges and solutions-oriented creativity
  • Respect for diversity of opinion, experience, and background
  • Display a growth mindset by willing to grow through coaching and implementation of feedback
  • Knowledge of the culture, history, and/or language of the communities we serve
  • Desire to gain hands-on experience in food education

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 at the start of service
  • Individual service positions differ by location. There may be additional requirements, such as language proficiencies and access to a vehicle, depending on the site to which you apply.

What You’ll Do

Our AmeriCorps members work alongside educators to provide kids in K-8 schools with food education and culturally affirming experiences with food that celebrate and nurture the whole child. Although they do this in a variety of ways depending on local partner goals, below are the foundational activities that all Food Education members complete:

Essential Functions

  • Teach hands-on food education and lead taste tests to nourish student’s sense of excitement about eating fruits and vegetables and trying new foods.
  • Grow nourishing food with students, teachers, and families to create dynamic educational gardens where kids can get their hands dirty while learning about food.
  • Build a school-wide movement around nourishing food by building strong, collaborative relationships with teachers, families, and school administrators.
  • Participate in FoodCorps training around teaching, gardening, family engagement, and anti-racism in service.
  • Complete FoodCorps reporting and evaluation to help us measure local and national impact and improve programming.

Non-Essential Functions

  • Publicize FoodCorps-related projects and success stories through press engagements, blog writing, social media posts, newsletters, etc.
  • Collaborate with community partners to raise money to support local FoodCorps-related projects (when allowable).

Apply today!

Application deadline is March 27th.

Click here for more details.

foodcorp flyer 2023foodcorp flyer 2023

FoodCorps Service Member Positions

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As a FoodCorps service member you will teach students in the classroom and garden, but you will also learn skills that will help you grow professionally and personally. Apply to serve at www.foodcorps.org/apply
What is FoodCorps?
What will you do as a service member?
Click here to learn more.
Click here to view position descriptions.

CT Food Justice VISTA Project is Recruiting

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VISTA flyer recruiting services members for 2018-19 for food justice projectsThe CT-Food Justice VISTA Project is recruiting for the 2018-2019 year, and we are also seeking a VISTA Leader to help manage the project with our Project Assistant. Our project is sponsored by UConn Extension, in partnership with some of the most effective and innovative nonprofit organizations in low-income communities in Connecticut, is leading a multi-site project with 16 VISTA members in 2018-2019. This project is designed to strengthen programming and improve coordination among similar food security programs seeking to empower communities to create positive change in their food environment and improve access to healthy food.
VISTA Members help to build the capacity of their host site organization. Together, we strive for a multi-generational, racially and economically diverse group of leaders with the skills to move communities across Connecticut towards a just food system. With VISTA Member support, host sites commit to empowering their communities to have impact on food-related programs and services, and the food system in Connecticut as a whole.
 
Please see the links to the sites we are looking for both VISTAs and VISTA Leader:
 
For the VISTA Leader the applicant has to have served as an AmeriCorps Service Member or Peace Corps here is the listing for the VISTA Leader. The VISTA Leader will serve out of the UConn Extension office of Tolland County and need a car to travel to our partner organizations for site visits and member support.
 
Below you will find the listing to the sites we have across the state that are recruiting for VISTA Service Members:
 
Visit our website for more information on our project: https://sustainablefood.uconn.edu/ctfoodjustice/

Connecticut Food Justice Youth Corps

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VISTA logoThe Connecticut Food Justice Youth Corps (CTFJYC) is a team of five AmeriCorps VISTA’s increasing the collaboration and coherence of non-profits working the field of Food Justice. The strength of this collaboration begins and ends with an understanding of what each of these separate organizations seek to create: a community movement, driven by youth, to improve the access and affordability of healthy food regardless of race, class, gender, ethnicity, or citizenship. These organizations have the common desire to give communities a voice that speaks to their own food needs and to ensure that this voice is loud enough to be heard.

Generally targeting middle and high school age students, individual organizations under the FJYC umbrella are developing a common curricula for use or adaptation at any school, a curricula that seeks to educate and empower. The youth that emerge as leaders, role models and activists are then given the tools to craft a movement of their own design, based on an assessment of community needs through their own eyes. It is the VISTA’s position to support the youth at each juncture, with the aid of community and college volunteers. Along the way youth groups will meet with partner organizations at food policy meetings, summits, and convening’s; the capstone being a youth driven convening for all of the partner organizations to attend, as well as speakers and advocates in the field of food justice. Youth groups will present their projects, the successes and the failures, and learn from one another just how powerful a group of young minds can be in changing the way their community looks at food.

Currently the FJYC is a collaboration of five main organization, backed by the support of FoodCorps, the UConn Extension office, and the Institute for Community Research. Our sites are in locations all across Connecticut, with the connection being a low income, high-risk community in need of food system change. VISTA’s serve with GROW Windham (Windham County), FRESH New London, NEAT (North End, Middletown), Hartford Food Systems and CitySeed (New Haven).  Each site has unique challenges dependent upon its location; therefore the common curricula is developed with adaptation in mind. With the continued support of UConn Extension and AmeriCorps, our hope is to expand the network of VISTA’s working with non-profit in the field of food justice from five to twelve in the summer of 2014. Our goal, to make a fluid social movement driven by collective impact is slowly but surely gaining momentum; each day is more exciting than the last.

GROW Hartford VISTA welcome