The fiscal year 2013 USDA Farm to School grants – 68 in total, worth $4.5 million and reaching 37 states plus D.C. – have been announced and JSI would like to congratulate the three Massachusetts recipients:
- Massachusetts Farm to School Project (under the Farm Bureau Agricultural Preservation Corporation) will receive a $100,000 grant for an 18-month project to create a statewide Farm to School Nework, provide culinary leadership training to food service professionals, implement programs in low-income school districts, and more.
- Boston Public Schools will also receive a $100,000 grant to “expand student and community engagement through farm field trips, experiential learning opportunities, and community dinners, and also build cafeteria staff capacity through culinary training.”
- Ezra H. Baker Elementary in West Dennis was awarded nearly $30,000 for the “Three Sisters Project,” which uses multi-disciplinary activities and curriculum to reconnect students to the agricultural heritage on Cape Cod.
These Massachusetts organizations and schools are among the first class of grantees under the USDA farm to school program. This program was authorized and funded with the Healthy Hunger?Free Kids Act of 2010 in order to assist eligible entities in implementing farm to school programs that improve access to local foods in eligible schools.
If you’d like to learn more about Farm to School initiatives, check out the Go Green for School page in the JSI Resource Center. In the Garden and Farm to School category, we feature online resources focused on increasing access to healthy, locally grown food in schools.
