Maine
Farm to School News
June 2020
What's Inside:
  • Resources for advancing equity in farm to school
  • New resources for farm to school during COVID-19
  • Local food in Maine and national news
  • Summer Harvest of the Month programming
  • Funding opportunities for farm to school
Equity Resources for Maine Farm to School
Didn't get to join our Maine Farm to School Network racial equity discussion group this past spring ? You can still access the resources, below!
Books on Racial Equity for School Programs





Ready to help organize for advancing equity within the Maine farm to school movement? Join the MFSN Equity subcommittee!
New COVID-19 Resources
Gardening and Growing
Gardening Activities for Kids from UMaine Cooperative Extension

Teaching and Learning
School Food
New Data on K-12 Trends Amidst COVID-19 Closures , from a School Nutrition Association survey on challenges and financial impacts of school closures

Local Food in COVID-19 Response and Recover y , from the National Farm to School Network


Podcast from Food Sleuth Radio on the Black Panthers' free breakfast program for children, and food's role in promoting social justice.


In the News: Local Food During COVID-19
Small Maine farms experiencing a boom in business from April-May


Contact Robin Kerber to learn more about participating in Harvest of the Month
Check out how Harvest of the Month is getting local food to schools in Central Maine through a marketing campaign designed to increase the use of school meal participation, the program will guide schools in incorporating local foods onto its menu and give an economic boost to supplying farmers.
Share your Harvest of the Month photos & stories on Instagram @hom.maine #mainehom



Funding Opportunities

  • Deadline: July 6
  • These grants will support the development of urban agriculture and innovative production through Planning Projects and Implementation Projects

  • Deadline: July 6
  • Round two for applications is now open, organizations that directly serve and are led by Black people and Indigenous people will be prioritized in application review
  • Read about the first round of funded projects

  • Deadline: July 10
  • For food retail and food enterprises working to improve access to healthy foods in underserved areas

COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Funding - accepted on a rolling basis!
  • GENYOUth is providing grants of up to $3,000 per school to supply much-needed resources for meal distribution and delivery efforts

  • Rotating Deadline: application for Seed Funding is available until August 31, 2020
Call to Action: Support Wabanaki Food Security

During this crisis, many people are not able to work, without a safety net to catch them. Maine-Wabanaki REACH established a Community Response Fund to help those in need. Largely, they seek to put food on the tables in Wabanaki homes.

1. Make a donation to the REACH Community Response Fund at Call to Action: Wabanaki Food Security
2. Send a check directly to one of the Wabanaki communities’ food pantries:
  • Penobscot Nation Food Pantry, 12 Wabanaki Way, Indian Island, ME 04468
  • Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point Food Pantry, PO Box 343, Perry, ME 04667
  • Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township Food Pantry, PO Box 301, Princeton, ME 04668
  • Aroostook Band of Micmacs Food Bank, 7 Northern Rd., Presque Isle, ME 04736
  • Houlton Band of Maliseets Food Pantry, 88 Bell Road, Littleton, ME 04730
Call to Action: Support Somali Bantu Farmers

Somali Bantu Community Association (SBCA) has partnered with Agrarian Trust to secure farmland for SBCA farmers. Donate to their fundraiser for land security.

"For the last 30 years we have been refugees, moving through different towns in Somalia and living in refugee camps in neighboring Kenya. For 30 years we have been looking for a place we can call home. Home in our community means a place that is safe and secure, where we can farm freely and where we can exercise our cultural traditions. Getting this property will check all the boxes and for the first time we have a place we call home.” 
- Muhidin Libah, Executive Director of SBCA

Call to Action: Support Maine Farmworkers
Mano en Mano 's Estamos Aquí Fund is a mutual aid fund to support immigrants and farmworkers in Maine with financial challenges associated with COVID-19, especially those who are not eligible for government support right now. Community members can request and receive direct funds for whatever immediate needs they are facing including housing, utilities, food, and more. Donate today.
Webinars

  • hear from Maine youth on the intersections of justice and environmental work

  • Facilitated by the Farm-Based Education Network

  • Password: 6F+727?Q

  • Hosted weekly with activists at the frontlines of the food movement and COVID-19

  • a panel from black, indigenous, people of color farmers, aired last week
How has COVID-19 Affected Your Farm to School Initiatives?
Thank you to all our school food heroes who are keeping Maine students fed every day!