Farm to school is a program that brings together local schools, state agencies and organizations together with local farmers to supply healthy nutritious food to our childrens’ schools.
Webinar: Farm to AFTERschool: Stories from Partnerships on Food and Farm Education at a Local Boys and Girls Club
November 20 // 9am ET
Join the staff from the Project GROWS educational farm and the Boys and Girls Club of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County for an hour of storytelling and sharing over Zoom about 10 years of collaboration between our two organizations to provide students with garden-based learning and food education throughout the school year and over the summer. Our programs include cooking classes, farm field trips, a youth-run produce stand, container gardens, and produce sales of veggie snack packs. Former Club Program Director and 2020 National Community Food Champion Award winner Jay Holly will be one of the presenters. Registration required here.
Webinar: Opportunities to Work in Food Justice
November 20 // 12-2pm ET
Join National Black Food and Justice Alliance in conversation as they host several of their member organizations to discuss job opportunities within their ranks. Organizations that will be joining include:
Reach for the Stars with Farm to Preschool, Second Edition is Now Available
The North Carolina Farm to Preschool Network is excited to share the second edition of their publication Reach for the Stars with Farm to Preschool. This resource is designed to help child care centers and family child care homes easily integrate farm to preschool activities into their curriculum while simultaneously addressing the Early Childhood Environment Rating Scale, revised edition (ECERS-R) and Infant/Toddler Environment Rating Scale, revised edition (ITERS-R). Reach for the Stars is also included in the recently revised Growing Minds Farm to Preschool Toolkit.
Grant Opportunities
No Kid Hungry: Promising Practices to End Rural Child Hunger
Deadline: November 18
Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry campaignis soliciting applications from rural school districts, food banks, Tribal communities, faith-based organizations, and other community-based providers seeking support in their efforts to alleviate child hunger and food insecurity. Applications can come from a single organization or any lead organization representing a partnership effort. Learn more and apply.
Please send grant opportunities to Arneisha Smallwood, ansmallw@ncsu.edu, or Tessa Thraves, tes_thraves@ncsu.edu.
Racial Equity Resources
The Black Harvest Series: A Conversation with Black Farmers
November 18 // 12pm ET
Join Tuskegee University Cooperative Extension Program and Southern SARE for the final round of The Black Harvest Series. This discussion is a forum specifically for Black farmers, ranchers, and/or fisherfolk to gather and share your challenges, needs, and points of collaboration. If you are not a Black producer please help get this information to the producers you know and if possible help them connect to this session. The goal is to document and disseminate ongoing efforts to support Black producers in the South. Register here.
Additional Racial Equity Resources
The Center for Environmental Farming Systems (CEFS), one of our Farm to School Coalition of NC partners, has created a document of current webinars as well as resources to facilitate engagement and learning around Racial Equity, both in general and especially as it relates to food systems and education. View webinars/ resourceshere.
National Farm to School Network
November is National American Indian Heritage Month
November is Native American Heritage Month, and the National Farm to School Network is celebrating innovative farm to school initiatives taking root in Native communities from coast to coast. From incorporating traditional foods like blue corn and buffalo into school meals, to learning about traditional plants and growing methods, farm to school in Native communities can be an approach for building food sovereignty and reinvigorating traditional foodways. Check out stories of Native Farm to School Champions, co-written by Intertribal Agriculture Council, on their blog. Find a list of resources for showing support for Native communities and teaching the realities of the Thanksgiving holiday here.
