Where We Work

50 FoodCorps Service Members are placed at 40 sites in 10 states:

Arizona: The Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health

Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health (JHCAIH) was founded in 1991, based on a 10-year history of health disparities research and intervention with southwestern Indian reservation communities prior to that the formation of the Center. The Center’s mission is to raise the health status, self-sufficiency and health leadership of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest possible level through research, training and service.

Arkansas: The Delta Garden Study at Arkansas Children's Hospital Research Institute

The Delta Garden Study is a $2 million research study funded by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service designed to prevent childhood obesity and social risk behaviors, and improve academic achievement, in middle school children in the Delta and Central regions of Arkansas. The Delta Garden Study (DGS) is the largest, and most scientifically rigorous, school garden research study in the nation, utilizing 10 intervention and 10 demographically pair-matched control schools in a quasi-experimental, nested, pair-matched design including 6-10 teachers per school and over 4,000 students. Each intervention school is projected to have 4-6 volunteers that will work closely with Garden Program Specialists and Americorps service members. The primary outcome variables are increased fruit and vegetable intake and increased minutes of physical activity.

Iowa: The National Center for Appropriate Technology

NCAT is a national nonprofit with regional offices in six states, including Iowa. Founded in 1976, NCAT’s mission is to help people by championing small-scale, local and sustainable solutions to reduce poverty, promote healthy communities, and protect natural resources. We do this through a wide variety of renewable energy and sustainable agriculture projects, most notably ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. NCAT’s Midwest office in Des Moines serves as the regional lead agency for the National Farm to School Network to facilitate information sharing, training, technical assistance, and networking among farm-to-school practitioners throughout the Midwest.

Maine: University of Maine Cooperative Extension

University of Maine Cooperative Extension is committed to healthy kids, food production and building tomorrow’s leaders, working closely with community partners to meet the needs of Maine citizens using research-based knowledge. Maine suffers from the highest rate of food insecurity in New England; one in five residents copes with hunger. FoodCorps Service Members work in schools with high poverty and obesity rates and positively influence the youth they serve by teaching them to grow, harvest, cook and enjoy healthful food.

Massachusetts: The Food Project

Since 1991, The Food Project has been providing the Boston area with innovative community and youth programming based upon the belief that everyone deserves healthy, delicious food. Following sustainable agricultural practices, TFP farms on over 40 acres of land in urban and suburban communities in eastern Massachusetts. The Food that TFP grows is intended to increase access to healthy food, and is sold at Farmer’s Markets that accept EBT, WIC and senior coupons, is also sold as CSA shares, and is donated to local hunger relief organizations. TFP youth programming is the core of every facet of the organization. From maintaining our farms and gardens, to boxing CSA shares and serving food at hunger relief organizations, TFP youth are both students of agricultural work and food justice, as well as local and national real food educators and advocates.

Michigan: MSU Center for Regional Food Systems (formerly the CS Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems)

The C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems (Mott Group) at Michigan State University (MSU) began in January 2003 as a vehicle to promote community engagement and scholarly activity focused on community-based food systems. Our mission is to engage communities in applied research and outreach to promote sustainable food systems with a goal to improve access and availability of locally-produced food. If all goes according to our plans and hopes, we will be transitioning into the Center for Regional Food Systems at MSU in early 2012.

Mississippi: The Mississippi Roadmap to Health Equity

The Mississippi Roadmap to Health Equity is a community-based project that is supported by the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, and has a primary focus of raising awareness that leads to community action where health and social disparities exist. The mission of Mississippi Roadmap is to achieve health equity by advocating for changes within the community institutions that influence people’s everyday lives. The goal is to change these institutions so that they support and never inhibit the community’s efforts to be healthy.

The Roadmap Project uses an innovative, multi-pronged approach toward eradicating and/or minimizing the structural and social barriers relevant to disparities in health among vulnerable populations in Jackson, Mississippi. Since it began in 2003, the project has achieved many successes, including the active support of school officials and food-service workers, who as a result of our influence on improving their health, have moved closer to changing school food policy toward healthier, fresh ingredients for students’ lunch.

New Mexico: University of New Mexico - Office of Community Learning and Public Service

The University of New Mexico Office of Community Learning and Public Service nurtures leadership for community capacity building in neighborhoods where the social determinants of inequity result in major health disparities. Over 800 university students, community college and high school students have apprenticed with local partners through CLPS AmeriCorps programs. Through civic engagement and anti-racism training Corps Members gain an understanding of the root causes of health disparities.

North Carolina: North Carolina 4-H and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems

North Carolina 4-H and the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), both programs of North Carolina Cooperative Extension--a partnership between North Carolina State University and NC A&T State University--support youth sustainable agricultural education, future food system leadership, and local food system development. Whether digging in the dirt with youth or planning statewide programming with partners, both organizations are dedicated to building a healthier local food system that increases good food access for all across the whole of NC.

Oregon: Oregon Department of Agriculture

The mission of the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) is to:

Ensure food safety and provide consumer protection
Protect the natural resource base for present and future generations of farmers and ranchers
Promote economic development and expand market opportunities for Oregon agricultural products

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