School Food System Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants

FNS awarded four cooperative agreements to Boise State University, Chef Ann Foundation, Full Plates Full Potential, and Illinois Public Health Institute to support the development and implementation of the School Food System Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants. The sub-grants will support collaborative projects between school districts, food producers, suppliers, distributors, and/or community partners to stimulate the creation of a resilient, equitable, and nutritious school food system.

Awardees

Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University

The Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University has announced their first round of recipients for the Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems (Project SCALES) sub-grants to the following 12 rural school districts:

Attica Central School District, New York
Growing Minds with Attica Meals
Chariho Regional School District, Rhode Island
Growing Together: Empowering Schools and Communities to Connect with Local Food Systems
Concrete School District, Washington
Teaching and Feeding Students with Local, Seasonal Agriculture
Eastern Allamakee Community School District, Iowa
Health is Kee
Gooding Joint School District, Idaho
Locally Sourced, Community Strong: Elevating School Meals for a Sustainable Tomorrow
Inchelium School District, Washington
Celebrating Local Traditions

Marsing School District, Idaho
Homegrown for Healthy Roots: A Regional School Food System
Nevada City School of the Arts (NCSA), California
NCSA’s Nourish Collective
Petersburg Borough School District, Alaska
Growing Together: Enhancing School Nutrition through Farm Collaborations and
Innovative Transportation Solutions in Southeast Alaska
Springville Griffith Institute, New York
Harvest to Plate, Farm to Cafeteria, Meat Processing Project
Yosemite Unified School District, California
Improving School Meals through Farm to Fork
Yuba Environmental Science (YES) Charter Academy, California
The YES Community Project

Boise State University’s Center for School and Community Partnerships will work with school nutrition directors over a two-year period to build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in school meal programs. Grant awards are up to $150,000 each in the first round. To learn more about the Project SCALES grantees, view this spreadsheet and to stay up to date regarding the second round of funding opportunities visit https://projectscales.com/.

Chef Ann Foundation

Chef Ann Foundation has announced the recipients for the Partnerships for Local Agriculture and Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) sub-grants to the following 8 recipients:

Anchorage Student Nutrition Food System Transformation, Alaska
Anchorage School District
Building an Equitable, Resilient Regional Supply Chain for K-12 Schools in New England, Massachusetts
Common Wealth Kitchen
Detroit Farms Growing the Whole Child, Michigan
Detroit Public Schools Community District Office of School Nutrition
Increasing School Nutrition Quality in Central and Eastern Washington through Local Food Value Chain Coordination and Scratch Cooking Assistance, Washington
Northeast Washington Educational Service District 101

Iowa Farm to School Training Collaborative: Building Resilience and Capacity for the Future of Farm to School in Iowa, Iowa
Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development
Local GREENS (Growing Resilient Equitable Ecosystem for Nutrition in Schools) Muskegon County, Michigan
Muskegon Area Intermediate School District
New Roots Community Farm Project, West Virginia
New Roots Community Farm
Sea-to-School for Student Health, Vibrant Communities, and a Thriving Seafood Economy, Maine
Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Chef Ann Foundation will work with these recipients to transform school food supply chains through systemic and equity-driven approaches to strengthening relationships among community-based food system stakeholders and school food authorities as well as expand scratch cooking in schools. Grant awards are up to $600,000 each. To learn more about PLANTS and the grantee projects, view this spreadsheet or visit http://plantsgrant.org/ .

Full Plates Full Potential

Full Plates Full Potential Request for Applications is now open! The School Food System Innovation Grant supports regional or statewide projects for innovative and collaborative pilot projects that reimagine Maine’s school food system and have the potential to be sustained or scaled in other regions. This award will fund projects up to $1.5 million. More information on this grant opportunity is available at www.maineschoolmealgrants.org.

Important Dates

Application opens: March 4, 2024
Application closes: May 1, 2024
Informational Webinar: Recording
Award date: June 17, 2024

Illinois Public Health Institute

The Illinois Public Health Institute and the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub’s first round of Requests for Applications is now open! Two award types are available to eligible applicants in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Indiana. Spark Awards will fund short-term projects between $10,000 and $75,000. Innovation Collaborative Awards will fund projects that promote systems-level change of the school food system and marketplace up to $250,000. More information on these grant opportunities are available at https://innovateschoolfood.org/.

Important Dates

Application opens: Feb. 1, 2024
Application closes: April 30, 2024

Award date: June 30, 2024