FoodCorps Launches National Service Program to Transform School Food

Fifty young people from around the United States are convening today in Wisconsin to launch FoodCorps, the new national service organization dedicated to addressing childhood obesity and diet-related disease by building school gardens and developing Farm to School programs.

Chosen from over 1,200 applicants, the first class of FoodCorps Service Members will spend the week training for yearlong placements across 10 states: Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina and Oregon. The orientation includes a full day at the renowned Growing Power Community Food Center, Will Allen’s innovative urban farm project, where they will receive hands-on instruction about building gardens, educating children about healthy food, and more. 

“These young leaders are dedicating a year of their lives to help give kids a relationship with healthy food that we hope will last a lifetime,” said Curt Ellis, co-founder and executive director of FoodCorps, and co-creator of the award-winning food documentary, “King Corn.”

Across the nation and the political spectrum, people understand that Americans and especially our children are in a health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now estimates that the number of obese children has tripled in the last 30 years, and for the first time in history the majority of Americas poor are not starving, but rather suffering from numerous diseases connected to overconsumption of calories, sugars, fats, and sodium.

“As a nation, we are tightening our fiscal belt, yet health-related obesity costs are projected to reach $344 billion by 2018. FoodCorps is a sound investment in a healthy future and gives our kids a chance to beat back the painful and costly epidemic of diet-related disease,” said co-founder and FoodCorps Program Director Debra Eschmeyer, herself a produce farmer and former outreach director of the National Farm to School Network.

In addition to establishing school gardens, FoodCorps Service Members will work with local food service directors to source more school meal ingredients from local farmers. They will also provide nutrition education to students.

Founded in 2010, FoodCorps is a national nonprofit organization that seeks to address the trend of childhood obesity and diet-related disease by increasing vulnerable children's knowledge of, engagement with, and access to healthy food, while preparing the next generation of leaders for careers in food, health and agriculture.  The centerpiece of our work is an AmeriCorps public service program that places highly motivated young leaders in limited-resource communities of need where they conduct hands-on nutrition education, build and tend school gardens, and bring high-quality local food into public school cafeterias. 

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Growing Nutrients and Renewed Hope in New Orleans

A new video shows the hope and renewed energy going into rebuilding New Orleans through a group of gardeners in the Treme neighborhood.

The Perennial Plate Episode 57: Lord, Lord, Lord from Daniel Klein on Vimeo.

Since Katrina a multiplicity of urban gardens and farms have been popping up all over the city as people seek ways to eat healthier and to re-imagine the city's landscape.

The Future of Farming: Oxfam Release and Olivier De Schutter's Address to Congress

Today Oxfam launched it's GROW campaign with a panel is Washington, D.C. with special guests Academy Award-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou (Blood Diamond, In America), UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Olivier De Schutter, bestselling author on world hunger and cofounder of The Small Planet Institute Frances Moore Lappé (Diet for a Small Planet is celebrating its 40th anniversary), Dr. Cheryl Smith, President of Trillium and immediate past Chair of the Social Investment Forum, and Oxfam America President Ray Offenheiser.


Click here to listen in: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/grow-campaign


Tomorrow De Schutter  will present the findings from his report on agroecology and the right to food to the US House of Representatives.

Needed: A New Conceptualization of Agriculture

It is a mistake to think of agriculture as simply about productivity. Agriculure provides employment and livelihoods, it underpins food quality, food safety and nutrition, and it allows food choices and cultural diversity. It is necessary for water quality, broader ecosystem health,  and even carbon sequestration. Agriculture must necessarily be integrated with the many needs of humans and ecosystems.

Spring Seedlings for Summer Sustenance: Planting Round #2 in Newark

Last Sunday the Tabernacle Garden in Newark planted their summer seedlings as a part of a day of celebration over the gardens initial success.  As a part of Newark's Interfaith Week the tabernacle opened it's doors to the neighboring community and invited them to share in celebrating the projects progress so far, as well as plans for expansion in the following year.  Rabbi Curtis Caldwell kicked off the event with a welcoming speech, inviting the entire community to join in both the planting and harvesting of the garden, as well as the larger vision of creating a community project to serve as a catalyst and centerpiece for rejuvenating the community.  

Following a short commemorative video, which highlighted the initial planting with local Peshine Avenue Preparatory and TEAM Charter schools, the Rabbi invited up partner institution Planting Seeds of Hope to introduce the broader project goals to the community.  Emilio Panasci, local planner and representative for PSOH and Open Communities, explain the current on-site collaboration between the local schools, government offices, urban agricultural institutions and the faith community as well as the desire to expand the current project through the development of a new community development corporation based around the urban agricultural project and it’s potential offshoots.  

This potential was fleshed out in a brief discussion of example projects across other regions led by Ms. Payne, the teams sustainability and agricultural development consultant, and highlighted the cohesive potential of urban agricultural institutions to promote integration of diverse populations around community gardening activities, the possibility of addressing local economic issues through agriculturally based business ventures, and the potential for the envisioned educational center to serve in promoting multiple urban justice goals: increasing food access and nutritional education, as well as enhancing local public space and creating a haven for civic action and community activism.  

In closing, Stephen Panasci, the group’s landscape architect debuted the proposed garden design to be phased in over the next year.  The plan included the expansion of the current raised beds, as well as the addition of an Urban Orchard and various learning areas.  

The brief overview and call for community collaboration was followed by a meal prepared by the in-house Chef, Shonda, and featured nutritious dishes based on the vegetables and herbs the tabernacle expects to harvest from their garden later this year.  Following the presentation, local children and parents were invited to participate in the spring seedling planting.  The children were given a hands-on opportunity to connect with locally grown foods as well as the opportunity to learn about the life-cycle of plants and some growing basics.  Community members were also invited to participate in funding the future of the project with a mini-seedling sale, which took place throughout the planting.

A preview of the seedlings to be planted

Preparing the new beds

Tomatoes for the summer community dinners

Staking out our peas and beans

Learning how to loosen the roots

Planting Marigolds to scare off pests

Companion planting with onions and eggplants

Water for our thirsty transfers

All this and more in a days work!

Why Buy Local?

A new Iconograph by eLocal lays out the triple bottom line on why consumers should buy local foods, looking at the social, economic and environmental impacts that a shift towards local buying would bring.

(Click to enlarge)

Source: eLocal.com

Growing Community In Newark: Ground Breaking Event

Sunday marked the groundbreaking event for the Tabernacle Garden in Newark, New Jersey.  A community building venture hosted by the Tabernacle, the Garden will be open to the entire community and will be based in a partnership with the local Team Academy and Peshine Schools.

Some of the participants, including Tabernacle and community members, Planting Seeds of Hope members and local students.

Students choosing what to plant and learning why we were planting it now.

Cleaning out the beds for planting.

Planting our herb borders (Dill, Parsley, Basil, and Cilantro!)

Getting our fingers dirty at a young age: Community Mini-Gardeners!

More to Come Soon!