STANDARD 7 "We can advocate for food choices and changes that impact ourselves, our communities, and our world."

FES 7 is about students’ ability to advocate for changes to the food system. 

This Standard Means

• We can affect change by identifying issues, figuring out solutions, building community, and taking action.
• Prioritizing inquiry into the complex issues within our food systems can help us to take action.
• Young people can build an equitable food future that is their own.
• Our modern food system exists at the intersection of many inequities and environmental strains which can be improved by active and engaged agents of change.
• Students who demonstrate understanding can design, describe, and/or implement action plans for sharing awareness of food equity and food systems with others.

The Standard In Action

“I loved implementing the agriculture education and advocacy project. One of the big successes was really students being able to understand how they are connected to their food systems, and also how food connects students to one another, community, and the world.”

-Pilot Light Educator Kitty Ma, Chicago, IL 

Advocating for & Making Change 

PreK students in Chicago learned how to advocate for less food waste and easy ways to reduce their own waste by using leftover citrus peels to make a natural cleaning solution. “They were so excited to try it out and even cleaned the WHOLE room!,” their teacher, Pilot Light Fellow Heidi Russell, said. 

How to bring FES 7 to your students 

Try these examples of real-world community experiences with your students aged K-12 to help them understand the importance of food advocacy in their daily lives! 

1. Organize a food drive for a local food pantry. 
2. Research the school lunch menu for a week and create advertisements to promote the options available at school.
3. Write a letter to thank the workers at a local grocery store, bodega, market, or farm.
4. Develop a school advocacy project about nutritional information of school-provided lunches using resources such as the school cafeteria manager, the USDA and FDA websites, and federal nutrition programs.
5. Produce informational posters, flyers or pamphlets sharing information about a food advocacy project (e.g., running a food drive with a local food pantry within the larger school community).
6. Prepare a grocery list for the family that supports nutrient-dense food choices.
7. Create a meal from local foods to share with the community outside of school.
8. Develop an advocacy project to bring awareness about food deserts within the surrounding communities.
9. Visit a food awareness coalition, food pantry, and/or invite food pantry workers to speak about their work, the role of food pantries in communities and their history, as well as community food access and availability.
10.  Take a field trip to local grocery stores to analyze the available foods, using phones or cameras to take pictures as photovoice that might demonstrate instances of food disparities (e.g., finding evidence that there are more candy options available than, say, fruit and vegetable options).
11.  Write letters to or submit articles advocating for a specific food policy change to school, college, or local newspapers, and/or local politicians.
12.  Research a local food inequity issue, and present findings to the school community or the broader community. 
13.  Using reputable sources, research a food policy and related stakeholders that have an impact on the school or local community.