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This Week in Farm to School
March 10, 2022
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Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities.
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Join a Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina Working Group!
Are you interested in collaborating with other farm to school stakeholders in North Carolina? The Farm to School Coalition of NC is seeking individuals to join one or more of our Working Groups – education & engagement, systems change, impact & outreach, resiliency, and sustainability. If you’d like to learn more about these Working Groups and how you can get involved please complete our interest form below. We look forward to collaborating with you all!
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Farm to School Coalition of NC Working Group Interest
Thank you for completing this form below to share your interest in joining one of the Farm to School Coalition of NC working groups. A member of the Resiliency Workgroup will respond within 30 days.
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Recovery and Resilience Series
Tomorrow! March 11, 2022 // 12 pm - 1:30 pm EST, & ongoing monthly
This month’s topic from the Local and Regional Food Systems Response to COVID is The Local Food Environment: Data Sharing Across Local Food Networks.
KidsGardening Teaching Webinar (Part 2)
March 23, 2022 // 7 pm EST
KidsGardening will be hosting Applying Antiracism and Abolitionist Teaching in Garden-based Learning, a 2-part interactive webinar series that will support educators in applying these principles within their teaching and student learning.
Build a Better District Wellness Policy
March 24, 2022 // 2 pm EST
Join an Alliance for a Healthier Generation as they guide participants through revising their district’s wellness policy. Participants in this 30-minute session will learn how to use Healthier Generation's one-of-a-kind digital policy builder tool to select evidence-based practices, add state or local policy requirements, along with USDA final rule language, and collaborate with district leadership to update your policy for school board approval.
School Garden Support Organization Network Webinar: What Makes School Gardens Thrive?
March 24, 2022 // 2 pm - 3:15 pm EST
Come learn about two key pieces of research on indicators of building successful school garden programs by Associate Professor Jaimie Davis of UT Austin and Assistant Professor Kate Burt of Lehman College at the City University of New York. Jaimie will share a summary of her research of over 110 school gardens and introduce viewers to a school garden sustainability survey and scorecard. Kate will share an overview of the GREEN Tool, including its domains, as well as initial results and observations from her work identifying how school gardens build a resilient support community.
2022 CEFS’ Committee on Racial Equity (CORE) Two-Day Training – Focus on the Food System
April 12 - 13, 2022 // 9:30 pm - 3:30 pm
Join CORE for their multi-day virtual racial equity training that will offer a shared language, a shared framework, and a shared history for understanding how racism and systemic barriers inhibit equity in the food system, with a focus on food insecurity.
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Kids Are Stronger With School Breakfast
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United States Department of Agriculture’s School Breakfast Quiz
How much do you know about #schoolbreakfast? Try the USDA Team Nutrition's web quiz to find out!
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Whole Kids Foundation Garden Grant Program
Tomorrow! Deadline: March 11, 2022
At Whole Kids Foundation, they know that the more kids know and feel connected to their food, the more curious they become about how things grow or taste, and the more willing they are to try new foods. Their Garden Grant program provides a $3,000 monetary grant to support a new or existing edible educational garden located at either a K-12 school or a non-profit organization that serves children in the K-12 grade range.
WNC Farm to School Jumpstart Grant
Deadline: March 15, 2022
The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project’s Growing Minds Jumpstart Grant is now open! Eligible schools and organizations can apply for funding in the amount of $500 to $1,000 to support their farm to school project. Funding can be used to start new projects or to expand upon existing activities. Pre-k through 12 schools, homeschool groups, teacher and nutrition education programs, and community-based organizations serving children and families are eligible to apply (see below for more details). Schools/organizations must be located within the 23 westernmost counties of North Carolina (Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Swain, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes, Yancey) or the Qualla Boundary. Applications are due on the 15th of each month through August 2022.
School Nutrition Foundation Equipment Grants
Deadline: March 31, 2022
The School Nutrition Foundation is teaming up with industry partners to provide new kitchen equipment to deserving districts. Apply now for the 2022 SNF Equipment Grant Program, featuring applications for not one but FIVE grants! Eligible applicants have the opportunity to win equipment grants, each worth between $20,000 to $100,000 of equipment. Applications and photos must be submitted by a School Nutrition Director. This year, only finalists will be asked to submit a 2-3-minute video. They will announce the recipients in May of 2022.
Outdoor Classroom Challenge
Deadline: April 8, 2022
Project Green Schools is challenging schools across the country to develop and implement a meaningful outdoor classroom and learning space that awards one Grand Prize of $10,000 to further enhance an existing space or build a new space. Schools will submit a formal write-up, proposed budget, and design of their outdoor learning classroom/space. Project Green Schools will invite the top five designs to pitch their ideas to a panel of judges in Spring 2022 to determine the winner.
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North Carolina Alliance for Health (NCAH) Action Alert: Share Your School Meals Story
School Nutrition Programs (SNPs) are essential programs that provide nutritious, affordable meals to students during the school day. These programs promote students’ nutritional, physical, social, emotional, and mental health, in addition to academic success. The last two years have highlighted the tireless efforts of SNP staff, and the critical role these programs play in ensuring all students have access to nutritious meals. The NCAH is working to highlight these efforts and secure increased support for SNPs from the State. Please take action to share your story about how School Nutrition Programs have impacted you.
Take Action: Congress Must Act Immediately to Keep Flexibility for Feeding Kids
Without immediate Congressional action, schools and local organizations are at risk of losing critical flexibility in how they reach kids with the food they need. Early in the pandemic, Congress gave the USDA the authority to issue Child Nutrition waivers so that schools and local organizations could adapt their meal programs and feed kids in ways that work best for their communities. But unless Congress takes immediate action, their ability to continue doing so is in danger; the waivers expire on June 30 even though the challenges school meal programs are facing won’t be over by then. (See a brief from No Kid Hungry for more details on how waivers work.) Contact your legislator today to let them know that Child Nutrition waivers help schools feed kids in ways that work for their community. Without intervention, these waivers are going to expire. Tell Congress to authorize the USDA to grant nationwide waivers through the 2022-23 school year.
Child Nutrition Reauthorization Update
Advocates are gearing up for another potential push for Child Nutrition Reauthorization, the largest piece of federal legislation that authorizes, school, summer, after-school, and early care and education (ECE) meal programs. You can read more about the CNR process and National Farm to School Network's top issues here, and see information about key legislative proposals ("marker bills") here. While no package of legislation has yet been released, there is an opportunity to build support among legislators for strengthening these programs through funding, access, farm to school activities, and an equity lens that can truly shift power for a racially just food system. Use this form to reach out to your legislator and let them know the Child Nutrition priorities that are important to you.
Transitional Standards for Milk, Whole Grains, and Sodium - Final Rule
The USDA is finalizing its November 2020, proposed rulemaking regarding Child Nutrition meal pattern requirements. The USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service invites interested persons to submit written comments, before March 24, 2022, on the provisions of this final rule.
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Farming While Black, Sowing the Seeds of Racial Discrimination in Farming
For nearly half a century, "racial discrimination in agriculture, exclusion from federal relief programs, and laws that preyed upon the economically disadvantaged" squandered the number of Black farmers from nearly one million in the 1920s to less than 50,000 today.
Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP) Growing Mind's Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Bias Resources
Children begin to develop racial awareness and bias at a very young age. To create learning environments that are more diverse, inclusive, and reflective of our culturally diverse society, farm-to-school programs should follow equity-minded best practices. Visit the ASAP Growing Minds Farm to School website for our Equity, Inclusion, and Anti-Bias resources page, to find children’s books (including farm to school literature) that celebrate diverse voices, and access recommended external resources that can be used by both teachers and parents to teach children about race, diversity, and inclusion.
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