Food Literacy Center

At Food Literacy Center, we inspire kids to eat their vegetables.

Food Literacy Center came to life in July 2011 to fill a critical gap: we engage volunteers, AmeriCorps members and staff to help individuals improve their knowledge, attitude, and behavior towards real food. Partnering with afterschool programs and libraries, we teach food literacy education to 1,000 (and growing!) K-6^th graders in low-income schools a week, using fun, approachable lessons teaching kids to cook, about nutrition, and where their food comes from. Our kids become food adventurers! We work in after-school programs and libraries to accomplish this work.

Why our work matters:

-      Despite being America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital, Sacramento has a 40% childhood obesity rate, and many students and families live in food deserts.

-      Overweight kids have a 70-80% chance of staying overweight for their entire lives, and obesity disproportionately affects low-income and minority children.

-      Obesity is now regarded as more damaging than smoking or drinking.

-      Being overweight can negatively impact a child’s self-esteem, behavior, friendships, and academic performance.

-      All of these problems are preventable--if we eat our vegetables. But we have two generations of Americans who do not know how. That’s where we come in.

CEO & Chief Food Genius, Amber Stott, is joined by a stellar team of staff, AmeriCorps members, and community volunteers who make up the center’s board, volunteer committees, and support system. As a growing team, we’ve combined their creative ideas, expertise, and energy around food, health, and social change to be a catalyst for change in the community.

Food Literacy Center holds a Slow Food Snail of Approval, the Green Apple Project Innovation Award from Sacramento City Unified School District, was named Innovator in early childhood health interventions two years in a row by the Department of Public Health, and passed a statewide resolution that declares the month of September as Food Literacy Month in the state of California.

We believe food literacy matters. Learn more about us at www.foodliteracycenter.org.