Meet Cori Fitzpatrick
Meet Cori Fitzpatrick
Farm to Institution Specialist
cori.fitzpatrick@groundworkcenter.org | (231) 941-6584 x705
"The gist of my work,” says Cori Fitzpatrick, Groundwork Farm to Institution Specialist, “is to help districts in the CharEm ISD build schoolwide cultures of health through garden and nutrition education, provide support to local farmers, and promote food access programs.”
It’s an ambitious goal that can change lives and communities for the better, and helping achieve that goal feels only natural for Cori, who has for years studied food systems, agroecology, biology, and nutrition as both a career interest and a personal pursuit.
Central to Cori’s efforts is making connections and building relationships between local farmers and other local food producers and schools. Her leadership role also includes supervising FoodCorps members, who work to build a culture of health in schools and serve through Groundwork’s Petoskey office. “I support the corps members' work to implement garden and nutrition lessons, conduct taste tests, and hold family engagement events at districts throughout the CharEm ISD,” Cori says.
“If you can connect with one person, and then another and another, you can eventually reach an exponential number, and by building relationships and building community, that is how we impact change,” Cori says.
With a big goal and so much to organize and move forward, does it help that Cori was at one time the lead ranch hand for a 53-horse herd in West Texas? "Of course it does!" she says.