Mauricio Rosas-Alvarez

As far back as he can remember, Mauricio Rosas-Alvarez’s life has revolved around food. “I come from a big Mexican family, and although we never think of it in this regard, we always build our community, our values, and our morals at the table,” he says. Now 22 years old, Mauricio has lived exactly half his life in Mexico and half in the U.S., where food has continued to play a central role in his interests and development. As a newly minted culinary and nutrition graduate of Johnson & Wales University, Mauricio wants to spread his interest in, and passion for, food and cooking. But he also wants to spread awareness of farming and nutrition, two central aspects of the food landscape that Mauricio believes are too often neglected and misunderstood. He wants to understand what goes into the production of food, and thinks it’s imperative that today’s youth do too.

With FoodCorps, Mauricio dedicates himself to Farm to School initiatives in Des Moines. He is teaching three schools with the Pick-a-Better-Snack curriculum, developing and implementing two garden- and cooking-focused after-school programs, developing and tending school gardens for the Des Moines Public School District, and identifying procurement opportunities for classrooms and cafeterias.

You can listen to a radio interview with Mauricio (and our co-founder and program director Cecily Upton) here; read/listen about him and his fellow service member Daniel and their "Pick a Better Snack" program here; and watch a video interview with him below.