This Week in Farm to School 

Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities.

SUN Bucks Webinar

April 17, 2024 // 12 pm to 1 pm ET

The North Carolina DHHS Division of Child and Family Well-Being (DCFW) invites you to join the upcoming Lunch & Learn webinar for community organizations to hear more about the newest summer food assistance program: SUN Bucks. Beginning in Summer 2024, SUN Bucks will provide grocery-buying benefits to qualifying families with school-aged children during the summer months. Benefits can be used to buy healthy food at places like grocery stores, farmers' markets, and some online retailers. This is the first of three webinar dates. 

Learn more and register.

Happy Roots Earth Day Jam

April 20, 2024 // 11 am to 10 pm // Salisbury, NC

Happy Roots announced the return of “Earth Day Jam,” a unique farm-to-festival benefit concert dedicated to supporting local nonprofit Happy Roots in its mission to fund school and community garden projects. Earth Day Jam features two stages that will deliver a diverse lineup of local, regional and nationally touring artists and more than 70 vendors and educators showcasing unique artisans, eco-friendly products, health and wellness, environmental education, services, and resources.

Learn more.

Fundraising Unpacked: Training Series

April 23 - October 8, 2024

Are you ready to take your fundraising efforts to the next level? Join Co.act Detroit for the 2024 Fundraising Unpacked Co.act & Candid Training Series, designed to empower nonprofit organizations with essential skills and knowledge. The next upcoming training session is on April 23: "Introduction to Finding Grants." Discover what funders are looking for in grant-seeking nonprofits. This class highlights the 10 most important things participants need to know about finding grants, including: who funds nonprofits and their motivations, what funders really want to know about the organizations they're interested in funding, and how to identify potential funders and make the first approach.

Learn more and register.

Recorded Webinar: Vermont Q&A State-level Grants to Food Hubs Deliver Local Food for Schools

This Q&A session highlighted Vermont’s unique approach to implementing the USDA Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement. The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food, and Markets is one of only a handful of state agencies nationwide that have passed through USDA funds directly to food hubs to coordinate local food sales to schools. Their innovative approach of a “farmer-focused” local food purchasing incentive flips the narrative from the current model that provides funding to schools to incentivize local food purchasing. Learn about the benefits and challenges of this model as agency staff and food hub partners give short presentations on how their program works and share lessons learned from implementation. Their experiences can serve as a case study for advocates looking to develop similar “farmer-focused” local food purchasing incentives in their states.

Learn more and watch.

Kids Garden Month Contest

KidsGardening is hosting its annual Kids Garden Month Contests for kids and adults.

• Kids can share their favorite thing about gardening or why kids should garden! Entries can be from individuals, classrooms, or other groups of young gardeners. Entries are judged on creativity, originality, and enthusiasm. Kids can submit short videos, art, photographs, or creative writing. There will be eight winners in four age-group categories and a grand prize winner. Winners will be announced May 22, 2024. Learn more and enter.
• Adults can share their sincere, funny, or inspirational answers to the question: "What do you love about gardening in your region?". For all of April, you can add your answer to the online community forum as a text response, photos, video, song and dance, artwork, or however you want to convince the KidsGardening team that your school or area is awesome for gardening! At the end of the month, FOUR respondents will be randomly selected to receive a goody bundle of 1 Back to the Roots mushroom grow kit, seed packets, and garden tools. Learn more and enter.

NC Ag in the Classroom April Book of the Month

For the month of April, NC Ag in the Classroom has TWO books of the month! The first is The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons which is a great book about precious bees. The second is a chapter book titled Esperanza Rising, which takes readers on a journey with Esperanza and her family as they navigate immigration and the Great Depression.

Learn more.

Pollinator Conservation Resources: Mid-Atlantic Region

Check out the Xerces Society's teacher and educator resources, including their Pollinator Conservation Resource Map, with region-specific info on native plants, suppliers and resources, to help you establish a native plant garden.

Learn more.

Equity May Not Be So Deep, Even If It Isn’t Easy: 10 Things You Can Actually Do Sooner Than Later

The Interaction Institute for Social Change has compiled a list of ten things you can do to implement equity into your work. 

Learn more.

There Is Joy in Equity Work!

Robin Pizzo shares how joy can guide us toward light amid darkness while propelling us toward social justice.

Learn more.

Braiding Seeds Fellowship

Deadline: May 1, 2024

Applications for the 2024 Braiding Seeds Fellowship are now open! This is an 18-month fellowship for BIPOC-beginning farmers and land stewards across the Northeast and Southeast United States. Each of the 10 selected fellows will receive a $50,000 stipend, mentorship, professional development workshops, in-person and virtual cohort gatherings, finance and business plan support, and one one-on-one coaching. They will also be awarding 12 mini-grants of $2,500 each to runners-up. 

Learn more and apply.

USDA's Agriculture Marketing Service (AMS) Announces Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP)

Deadline: May 14, 2024

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (USDA AMS) announced the availability of approximately $26 million for the Local Agriculture Market Program (LAMP) to help local and regional food entities develop, coordinate, and expand producer-to-consumer marketing, local and regional food markets, and local food enterprises. Additionally, AMS has added to the suite of resources available to support communities and practitioners in local and regional food systems development.

Learn more and apply. 

Ben & Jerry's Foundation Grassroots Organization National Grants

Deadline: Grants are accepted on a rolling basis.

The Ben & Jerry's Foundation National Grassroots Organizing Program is dedicated to advancing racial equity, social justice, and environmental justice by providing grants of up to $30,000 per year to small grassroots organizations with budgets under $350,000. These grants support community-level efforts to dismantle discriminatory systems and promote inclusivity. Applications for 2024 are now open, offering a rolling process for submission throughout the grant year. To see examples from 2022 grantees, click here.

Learn more and apply.

School Meals for All NC Benefits Video

The School Meals for All NC campaign shares how universal and accessible school meals benefit everyone. School meals for all will help build strong, resilient communities.

Right now, children, families, and communities in North Carolina are being held back by hunger. School meals for all will reduce hunger, stigma, and shame; support families working to make ends meet; and produce health and economic benefits for local economies.

Learn more and watch.

Everything You Need to Know About FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations

On March 8, 2024, Congress finally approved a final FY2024 Agriculture Appropriations bill. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2024 (CAA, P.L.118-42) funds the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – alongside numerous other departments and agencies – through September 30, 2024. This blog post, by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, looks at the food and agriculture components of the CAA and examines its significance amidst Congress's delayed appropriations process.

Learn more.