This Week in Farm to School | |
Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities. | |
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Incorporating Agroforestry and Food Forests into your Landscape or Farm
June 18, 2024 // 12 pm
Join Melissa Bell from the Center for Environmental Farming Systems and John Lyttle, Agriculture Agent (Small Farms and Local Foods) for Durham County’s NC Cooperative for the next installment of their Lunch and Learn webinar series.
Learn more and register.
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Expanded Geographic Preference in the Final Rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent with 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans
June 20, 2024 // 2 pm ET
USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Patrick Leahy Farm to School Team (USDA Farm to School Team) will host a webinar for farm to school partners, including Child Nutrition Program (CNP) operators, on the expanded geographic preference option in the final rule, Child Nutrition Programs: Meal Patterns Consistent With the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The final rule includes a small yet significant expansion of the geographic preference provision. Beginning July 1, 2024, the provision will permit CNP operators to use local as a specification when procuring unprocessed agricultural products. The USDA Farm to School Team will provide an overview to help farm to school partners share and learn about the expanded geographic preference option.
Learn more and register.
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we are 2024 Educator Summer Institute
June 25 - 27, 2024 // 8:30 am - 4 pm // W.G. Pearson Center Durham, NC
Join we are for their 2024 Educator Summer Institute at the W.G. Pearson Center in Durham, NC. Attendees will walk away with a plan to address a systemic racial equity issue within their own school, district, or organization. Participating K-12 teachers will earn Continuing Education Units (CEUs).
Learn more and register.
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Youth Internship Programs
June 26, 2024 // 2 pm ET
Internships are a great way to involve youth more deeply in garden programming while giving them important job skills. Join educators from Durham, NC, and Victoria, BC to discuss the benefits of vocational programs for high school and college students and examples of different internship models to support youth in exploring outdoor careers. The School Garden Support Organization Network hosts this webinar.
Learn more.
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Teens Talk School Culture Podcast Episode
For this episode, our Teen anchors share how outdoor education can impact their studies and mental health. During their interview with Dr. Scott Morrison, Associate Professor of Education at Elon University and co-founder of the North Carolina School Garden Network, and Danielle Toma-Harrold, a student researcher at Elon and advisory board member with the North Carolina School Garden Network, the students hear how teachers can implement outdoor education to promote learning and healing for their students and themselves. You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcast, Pandora, and Soundcloud.
Learn more and listen.
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North Carolina’s Farm to Summer Toolkit
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Summer Nutrition Programs has a Farm to Summer Toolkit that helps break down how summer nutrition sponsors can utilize local foods and implement nutrition education activities in summer meal programs. This toolkit shares the many benefits of farm to summer, how to incorporate local foods into menus, ideas for nutrition education activities, and ways to support and implement gardens at feeding sites.
Learn more.
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My Culture in Five Senses
EmbraceRace’s My Culture in Five Senses guide uses a technique that helps you think about the details of yourself or your culture and heritage. It helps you notice small details that your mind would usually tune out, such as distant sounds, or the texture of an ordinary object.
Learn more.
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Who Gets to Enjoy the Great Outdoors?
Anti-Racism Daily shares the accessibility and inclusivity struggles in many outdoor spaces, including National Parks. They break down the origin of the movement to preserve nature, which still influences conservation advocacy today.
Learn more.
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Food Justice for Kids Prize by Newman’s Own Foundation
Deadline: June 11, 2024
Is your organization working towards food justice for kids in the United States? If so, this is your chance to receive up to $100,000 in grant funding over the next 2 years and deepen your impact! Apply by June 11, 2024, at one of the links below. They welcome applications from all eligible organizations, and in particular seek to be inclusive of organizations led by and/or representing historically marginalized and under-represented groups, including Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC). The Newman’s Own Foundation is seeking applications from organizations working in two priority program areas:
(1) Indigenous Food Justice (Apply here) and
(2) Nutrition Education and School Food (Apply here)
Resilient Food Systems Infrastructure (RFSI) Grant
Deadline: Jun 15, 2024
Using the RFSI funding, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (NCDA&CS) will fund projects that expand on-farm cold storage and packaging capacity, implement post-harvest handling, provide refrigerated trucks, and expand aggregator facilities." There is $6.2 million in funding available, and there are two application categories: equipment only ($10,000 - $100,000) and infrastructure ($100,000 - $2,000,000).
Learn more.
Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) 2024 Planning Grant Program
Deadline: June 17, 2024
The Reinvestment Fund is inviting applications for grant awards through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Planning Grant Program. $6 million is available through this program for grant awards between $10,000 - $150,000. The HFFI Planning Grant Program supports innovative fresh food retail and food retail supply chain projects that seek to improve access to healthy food in underserved areas. Grants will be awarded to support early-stage planning and predevelopment activities of new or expanded food retail or food supply chain projects that seek to process, distribute, aggregate, market, and sell healthy, fresh, and affordable foods to underserved communities and markets. Eligible applicants include for-profit, nonprofit, and cooperatively owned businesses, institutions of higher education, state and local governments, and tribal governments. All applicants must be working towards improving food access for underserved communities through food retail.
Learn more and apply.
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SUN Programs: USDA’s Summer Nutrition Programs for Kids
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the launch of “SUN Programs: USDA’s Summer Nutrition Programs for Kids,” to help improve nutrition security during the summer months. Through the suite of SUN Programs, families now have more choices and convenient ways to get summer nutrition support for their children and teens with new SUN Bucks, SUN Meals, and previously launched SUN Meals To-Go. Collectively, these programs continue the work of the Biden-Harris Administration in promoting food and nutrition security.
Learn more.
Addressing Messaging Roadblocks to School Meals for All
School Meals for All (SM4A), also known as universal meals, remains incredibly popular. Eight states now permanently provide school meals at no cost to students, and more than two dozen more have introduced similar policies. Additionally, national and state-specific polls show overwhelming public support for SM4A policies. Despite the momentum, many people still express skepticism about the need or value of SM4A. In this resource, the National Farm to School Network lists arguments often raised as roadblocks to SM4A policies, and compiles responses that others have used to address these roadblocks throughout their advocacy.
Learn more.
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