Feeding Futures Illinois

A new Pilot Light program training teachers to lead food & agriculture education in their communities across Illinois.

The Program:

Feeding Futures is a new two-year program designed by the Food-Integrated Education Alliance (or FIEA) to promote teacher leadership and student access to Food & Agriculture Education across Illinois. This program is currently reaching 8 educators, 5 schools, and over 300 K-8 students across Chicago, Decatur, and East St. Louis.

By making food an integral part of education, we aim to connect knowledge about food with opportunities for students to make informed food choices, connect with their communities and each other, and engage in career expanding opportunities in the agriculture and food industries.

The Goals:

Feeding Futures is designed to simultaneously foster teacher leadership and spark student interest in food and agriculture. Our goal is to help young learners see learning and career development opportunities through the lens of food at an early age, building fundamental life lessons and skills. Our cohort model is designed to support groups of elementary and middle school educators in high-need areas of Illinois who are interested in bringing food and agriculture topics into their classrooms. Finally, we are excited to evaluate the impact of this project on teachers and students. This helps us understand the link between Feeding Futures and student nutrition behaviors, well-being, and interest in food and agriculture careers.

“Students are having those “aha” moments — realizing that food doesn’t come from the store but has a whole journey before it gets there.”

-Feeding Futures Fellow

The Model:

This education and career development program combines educational content grounded in Pilot Light’s Food Education Standards and professional development opportunities for educators. Learn more about Pilot Light’s teacher-led, integrated Food Education model here.

The Impact:

Teachers and students love Feeding Futures!

Every month, Feeding Futures Fellows share real stories from their classrooms. From September 2024 through January 2025, 100% of Feeding Futures Fellows strongly agreed that they learned something new at each month’s professional development session.

“[Feeding Futures] is meaningful to me…I do not know how to cook and making granola teaches me how to cook.”

-Feeding Futures Student

“I have really had a great time learning about agriculture and food myself and have enjoyed seeing the students learn and apply what they are learning.”

-Feeding Futures Teacher

Feeding Futures Illinois In Action

One Feeding Futures lesson focuses on Food Advertisements, prompting students to analyze food ads and then design their own. This lesson practices both Food and Agriculture analysis skills and practical academic skills like persuasive writing. Students were very engaged in this hands-on lesson!

Real Feeding Futures students:

“I learned that advertising has a big influence on what we choose.”

“I learned that making small changes in what we eat can make a big difference.”

“That’s interesting! You could add a fun fact to make it stronger. Something that will stay in people’s minds.”

“Being a Feeding Futures Fellow has been one of the most rewarding professional experiences I’ve had. It provided the structure, resources, and community to teach food in a way that was authentic, interdisciplinary, and empowering. I learned how to integrate science, math, history, health, and identity into meaningful projects that resonated with my students’ lives. It also connected them to various cultures. What I got most out of this experience was the opportunity to see my students become problem-solvers, thinkers, and advocates. Teaching food standards helped me shift from a traditional content-driven model to one that connected to real-world relevance, student voice, and equity. Students now see food as a lens to understand the world and themselves.”

– Mrs. Cosey, Feeding Futures Educator, Perkins Bass Elementary School, Chicago, IL

The Coalition & History:

In 2024, Pilot Light published the results of their Agriculture Education & Advocacy program. This was originally funded through a generous grant from the USDA’s NIFA (National Institute of Food and Agriculture) Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program. Following the results of this successful program, we saw potential to combine the AgEd & Advocacy content with our Food Education Fellowship model, and the FIEA coalition was born.

Teachers elected for Feeding Futures have the unique opportunity to be part of an intra-district network of educators supported by Pilot Light and the Alliance and be connected with other FIEA members, including the Chicago High School for Agriculture Science, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Decatur Public Schools Foundation, Illinois State Board of Education, Jackie Joyner Kersee Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Innovation Center in East St. Louis, Office of the Lt. Governor of Illinois, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), who support program assessment and evaluation.

Members of the Food-Integrated Education Alliance include: