School Food System Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants

FNS awarded four cooperative agreements to Boise State University, Chef Ann Foundation, Full Plates Full Potential, and Illinois Public Health Institute to support the development and implementation of the Healthy Meals Incentives School Food System Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants. The sub-grants will support collaborative projects between school districts, food producers, suppliers, distributors, and/or community partners to stimulate the creation of a resilient, equitable, and nutritious school food system.

Below is a list of sub-grant awardees for each of the four cooperators along with details on how to learn more about the transformational work they have planned. At the bottom is an interactive map featuring all awardees funded to date.

Awardees

Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University

Round Two Request for Applications (RFA)

Oct. 22, 2024: RFA opens
Dec. 13, 2024: Applications due
May 1, 2025: Awardees notified
July 1, 2025: Projects begin

 Application Information: https://projectscales.com/

The first round of recipients for the Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems (Project SCALES) sub-grants includes 12 rural school districts.

Awardees

Attica Central School District, New York
Growing Minds with Attica Meals
Chariho Regional School District, Rhode Island
Growing Together: Empowering Schools and Communities to Connect with Local Food Systems
Concrete School District, Washington
Teaching and Feeding Students with Local, Seasonal Agriculture
Eastern Allamakee Community School District, Iowa
Health is Kee
Gooding Joint School District, Idaho
Locally Sourced, Community Strong: Elevating School Meals for a Sustainable Tomorrow
Inchelium School District, Washington
Celebrating Local Traditions

Marsing School District, Idaho
Homegrown for Healthy Roots: A Regional School Food System
Nevada City School of the Arts (NCSA), California
NCSA’s Nourish Collective
Petersburg Borough School District, Alaska
Growing Together: Enhancing School Nutrition through Farm Collaborations and
Innovative Transportation Solutions in Southeast Alaska
Springville Griffith Institute, New York
Harvest to Plate, Farm to Cafeteria, Meat Processing Project
Yosemite Unified School District, California
Improving School Meals through Farm to Fork
Yuba Environmental Science (YES) Charter Academy, California
The YES Community Project

Boise State University’s Center for School and Community Partnerships will work with school nutrition directors over a two-year period to build partnerships for innovative solutions to increase local procurement in school meal programs. The first round of grant awardees received up to $150,000 each.

Chef Ann Foundation

There are eight recipients for the Partnerships for Local Agriculture and Nutrition Transformation in Schools (PLANTS) sub-grants.

Awardees

Anchorage Student Nutrition Food System Transformation, Alaska
Anchorage School District
Building an Equitable, Resilient Regional Supply Chain for K-12 Schools in New England, Massachusetts
Common Wealth Kitchen
Detroit Farms Growing the Whole Child, Michigan
Detroit Public Schools Community District Office of School Nutrition
Increasing School Nutrition Quality in Central and Eastern Washington through Local Food Value Chain Coordination and Scratch Cooking Assistance, Washington
Northeast Washington Educational Service District 101

Iowa Farm to School Training Collaborative: Building Resilience and Capacity for the Future of Farm to School in Iowa, Iowa
Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development
Local GREENS (Growing Resilient Equitable Ecosystem for Nutrition in Schools) Muskegon County, Michigan
Muskegon Area Intermediate School District
New Roots Community Farm Project, West Virginia
New Roots Community Farm
Sea-to-School for Student Health, Vibrant Communities, and a Thriving Seafood Economy, Maine
Gulf of Maine Research Institute

Chef Ann Foundation will work with these recipients to transform school food supply chains through systemic and equity-driven approaches to strengthening relationships among community-based food system stakeholders and school food authorities as well as expand scratch cooking in schools. Grant awards are up to $600,000 each. To learn more about PLANTS and the grantee projects, visit this spreadsheet or visit https://www.thelunchbox.org/apply-for-a-grant/plants-grant/ .

Full Plates Full Potential

There are seven (7) recipients for the School Food System Innovation Grant.

Awardees

Auburn Public Schools, Maine
School-Based Food Hub
Five Pillars Butchery, Maine
Halal Meal Production Lab
Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association, Maine
Fisherman Feeding K-12 Mainers
Maine Food Strategy/Maine Food Convergence, Maine
Local Food Switchboard

Peak Season, Maine
Streamlining Access to Maine Grown K-12 Products
RSU 54/MSAD 54, Maine
Somerset County Farm to School Initiative
The Good Crust, Maine
Good Grains on the Go

Full Plates Full Potential will work with these recipients over a four-year period to support their innovative and collaborative pilot projects that reimagine Maine’s school food system with the potential to be sustained and/or scaled in other regions. Grant awards are up to $1,500,000 each. To learn more about Full Plates Full Potential and the grantee projects, view this spreadsheet or visit www.maineschoolmealgrants.org.

Illinois Public Health Institute

The Illinois Public Health Institute and the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub has announced their first round of 16 recipients for the Spark and Innovation Collaborative Awards.

Awardees

Spark Awards

Greater Wabash Food Council, Illinois
Planting Farm2School in Southeastern Illinois
Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Michigan
Workshops to Expand Local Purchasing in Schools
Northeast Wisconsin (NEW) Hmong Professionals, Wisconsin
Introducing Hmong Cultural Food to the School System
Rooted School Indy, Indiana
Rooted School Indy Food System Hub Strategic Planning
Rooted WI, Inc., Wisconsin
Growing for Schools
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System, Wisconsin
Growing Capacity and Connections for Hmong Focused Farm to School
The Common Market Great Lakes, Illinois
Lowering Adoption Barrier to Regionally Sourced Foods in Chicagoland Schools

Innovation Collaborative Award

Artisan Grains Collaborative, Illinois
Grains to Trays II
Beyond Green, Illinois
Buy Local, Cook Fresh Illinois
FoodRight Inc., Wisconsin
Good School Food
Hundred Acre LLC, Wisconsin
Bringing Fresh Salad Greens to Schools in Wisconsin
Madison Consolidated Schools, Indiana
Growing Minds
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Rising Suns
Partridge Creek Farm, Michigan
Food Futures
REAP Food Group, Wisconsin
School Nutrition Culinary Innovators of Tomorrow
Wisconsin Food Hub Cooperative, Wisconsin
Building a Farm to School Logistics and Pricing Model for the Great Lakes Region

The Illinois Public Health Institute and the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub will work with the Spark and Innovation Collaborative Awards recipients throughout the grant period to support school food system and marketplace improvements and promote systems-level change. Grant awards are up to $75,000 each for Spark Awards recipients and up to $250,000 each for Innovation Collaborative Awards recipients. To learn more about the Illinois Public Health Institute grantees, view this spreadsheet and to stay up to date regarding the second round of funding opportunities visit https://innovateschoolfood.org/.

Awardee Spotlight

Below is an interactive map featuring all the awardees to date. Click on the box in the upper left corner to display or hide the legend. Click on each star to read about each awardee’s project and partners.