AmeriCorps Farm to School Team Celebrates the 2020 Great Apple Crunch for National Farm to School Month!
Now Accepting AmeriCorps Member Applications for the 2020-2021 Service Year! See below for more information
Overview
What is AmeriCorps?
What is the AmeriCorps Farm to School Program?
The AmeriCorps Farm to School Program provides an innovative approach to building healthy communities by
- improving child nutrition through the implementation of educational F2S activities for students and families. These activities encourage healthy eating choices within an educational setting;
- developing strong communities by creating future community leaders and connecting schools with local farmers and food businesses; and
- increasing the capacity of communities all over Wisconsin to support sustainable F2S programs that encourage healthy behaviors and improve the school food environment.
Program Impact
Check out our program impact reports from the past two service years to see how applying to become a host site could positively impact your community. If you are interested in joining our program yet this year or would like an accessible version of either report, please contact Kara Ignasiak . Applications for the next service year will be released in January.
To apply for an AmeriCorps Farm to School service position, please fill out our online application. The online application also includes a complete list of available positions and host site locations. We recommend getting your application in as soon as you can! For questions about the program, how serving with our program might fit into your career path, or the online application, please contact Kara Ignasiak. To learn more about what it’s like to be a member, check out AmeriCorps members, Alyssa Morris and Amberle Schwartz, along with their program director, Kara Ignasiak, on 90FM Tuning Fork station's Farm to School episode! Timeline for New Member Enrollment: For more details on becoming a host site for our program, please refer to the New Host Site Application. You can also set up a time to talk with the program director in regard to your organization’s farm to school dreams and how this program can help you reach them by emailing Kara Ignasiak. “At the Howard - Suamico School District, our vision is "to promote health and wellness by providing nutritious, kid - friendly meals". Through the efforts of our Nutrition Educator, the AmeriCorps Farm to School program perfectly couples with our vision of the School Nutrition Department to promote health and wellness to our students. Our Nutrition Educator was able to reach students through lessons in our elementary classrooms targeting balanced nutrition, agricultural production, and local purchasing. In addition, our Farm to School Community Outreach Coordinator has helped us find realistic local purchasing options by doing the research and forging connections with producers in our community. Together, our members have been instrumental in giving us the time and resources we needed to make our dreams happen. For example, this summer we are implementing a 2-acre school garden (which will produce hyper - local and nutritious produce for our cafeteria!) and offering a summer school course for sixth and seventh graders in the district. Our members have been working hard to collaborate with multiple departments in the district as well as community partners and volunteers to get the project up and running! We are incredibly happy with our decision to bring AmeriCorps Farm to School to our district and look forward to future successes with the program!” Reference our 2018-2019 Program Impact Report to see the impact of our program on communities all over Wisconsin.Enrollment is now open for the 2020-21 service year!
Member Benefits
Full-Time Members:
Half-Time Members:
The AmeriCorps Farm to School Program is still seeking a few new host sites for the 2020-2021 service year!
