Food Literacy Center was founded in 2011 in response to a gap in the food movement: understanding how the food system affects our health, environment and economy. We teach hands-on cooking and nutrition classes in afterschool to K-6th grade students at Title 1 elementary schools in North and South Sacramento. Our goal is to improve student’s knowledge, attitudes, and behavior toward healthy eating. Our work moves beyond teaching children to eat their broccoli. Through positive reinforcement, modeling of healthy behaviors, and hands-on practical learning, we help kids discover a love for fruits and vegetables and develop long-term healthy eating habits. Our approach works: year after year, we've consistently seen over 94% of kids fearlessly trying new foods in our program!
In Sacramento, 40% of children suffer from childhood obesity or are overweight. This directly increases their risk for Type 2 diabetes. Diet-related chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes put individuals at higher risk of severe illness. This prevalence is higher in food deserts, where exposure to healthy foods is limited, and disproportionately impacts African American and Hispanic children from lower-income families. Children from lower-income households are two times as likely to be obese than children from higher-income households and are more likely to experience a lower quality of life as adults, including poorer health, educational attainment, and employment outcomes.
The schools we serve are located in the Sacramento Promise Zone, a federally designated high-need neighborhood. USDA identifies these neighborhoods as food deserts, where food and nutrition insecurity remain at a record high. At these schools, 82-100% of students participate in free/reduced lunch programs. We supplement our health and nutrition education programs with immediate food assistance and resilience skill-building, working in partnership with kids and their families to tailor our programs to their needs.
Food Literacy Center's mission is to inspire kids to eat their vegetables. We teach children in low-income elementary schools cooking, nutrition, gardening, and active play to improve our health, environment, and economy.
Financial support: It costs $160 per child to deliver our food literacy curriculum. We have an ongoing waiting list of interested schools waiting for our help.
Volunteers: We need volunteers in order to reach more schools! Volunteers are needed to maintain a 1:10 teacher:student ratio in our afterschool program, as well as for support in food distributions, events, community outreach, and many other functions.
Food Literacy Center’s board outlined their values in a 2022 strategic planning session, making “inclusivity” one of the nonprofit’s top priorities. It is defined as:
We listen more than we talk.
We engage and work with diverse communities with an intention to learn and improve.
We actively work on being inclusive because it adds value.
We create safety where all voices are heard, and perspectives are valued.
We develop leaders at all levels.
We make decisions together.
Examples of equity in action include using recipes that are culturally relevant, creating a culture of equity by including our communities in the planning of new programs and seeking feedback from students and parents. Our staff and volunteers speak Hmong and Spanish and some have attended the schools we serve. We have translated our recipes into Spanish, Hmong, and Farsi. We have partnered with an Afghan chef to teach our staff about Afghan culture and cuisines in response to the influx of Afghan refugees in the schools we serve. We plan to integrate more cultural training for our staff to reflect the needs of our students' culture.
Organization name
Food Literacy Center
2011
Mission Category
Food, Agriculture & Nutrition
Operating Budget
$1,000,001-$5 million
Organization Need
Funding: Unrestricted, Funding: Program, Volunteers, Board Members
Demographics Served
Youth & Children, Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx, Black/African American
Local Counties Served
Sacramento
Equity Statement
Equity Statement
Address
PO Box 188706Headquarters
401 A McClatchy WaySacramento, CA, US