Education Technology
Empowering Futures: How FoodCorps is Revolutionizing Education and Community Well-being through Food
Co-CEOs reveal how integrating food education into classrooms unlocks student health, academic performance, and lasting community impact
Key takeaways
Children consume roughly half their daily calories at school, making schools the most important community institution for food and health.
Food agency — the ability to choose what to eat — can be a significant source of joy and empowerment for students who lack control in other areas of their lives.
FoodCorps integrates food education into school curricula as a strategy to advance health equity, academic achievement, and social justice.
Curt Ellis and Rob Harvey, co-CEOs of FoodCorps, are at the forefront of a transformative movement in school food education. They are focused on empowering futures through their innovative approach. Their mission intertwines the essential elements of health, joy, and empowerment, fundamentally recognizing the role of food not only as sustenance but as a catalyst for social justice, educational equity, and improved public health.
So how does the integration of food education in school curriculums enhance student health and empower their academic and personal growth?
In a conversation with Michael Horn on The Future of Education, Ellis and Harvey delve into the multifaceted role of food, exploring its significance in student health, academic achievement, and overall well-being within the educational framework. The episode comprehensively covers various aspects of their initiative, focusing on how school-based nutrition is crucial in influencing students’ daily lives and learning environments. This discussion underscores the importance of food as a fundamental component in empowering futures through education.
“Children spend half their waking hours and often eat half their daily calories in school. In every single community, the most important place where food and health happen is a school building,” Ellis said.
Children spend half their waking hours and often eat half their daily calories in school. In every single community, the most important place where food and health happen is a school building.
— Curt Ellis, co-CEO at FoodCorps
“When you don’t have agency in so many other areas of your life… but you have agency to decide what you eat on a daily basis, it is one of the greatest senses of joy and power,” Harvey said.
When you don’t have agency in so many other areas of your life… but you have agency to decide what you eat on a daily basis, it is one of the greatest senses of joy and power.
— Rob Harvey, co-CEO at FoodCorps
About the author
Michael Horn speaks and writes about the future of education and works with a portfolio of education organizations to improve the life of each and every student. He is the co-founder of and a distinguished fellow at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation, and host of the Future of Education podcast on MarketScale.
