Based on our experience at FoodCorps, the national service organization that brought us together as a funder (Davidson) and social entrepreneur (Ellis), here’s a look at the five common weaknesses built into many alumni programs and what the organizations running them can do better. By FoodCorps CEO Curt Ellis and funder Stuart Davidson.

“At the end of the day, it’s an exposure issue,” said Cecily Upton, co-founder of the nonprofit FoodCorps, which brings agricultural and nutrition education into elementary schools. “Right now, we’re conditioned to think that if you need food, you go to the store. Nothing in our educational framework teaches kids where food comes from before that point.”

Rachael Ray is “very concerned about the state of nutrition in our public schools,” but she sees FoodCorps as a reason for hope. Watch this episode of The Rachael Ray Show to hear what she had to say to Erika, a FoodCorps member in Camden, NJ.

By Dani Anguiano, Chico Enterprise-Record Gavin Witt, 8, loves vegetables. He likes spinach and radishes, but kale is his favorite. He knows how to grow the leafy green vegetable, how to cook it in meals and prepare it for a salad. “I just love it,”the Citrus School third-grader said. Witt has learned all about growing … Continued

FoodCorps is excited to announce an exciting new partnership with Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaign that awards over $40,000 to FoodCorps schools to implement projects to improve students’ access to breakfast served at school.