Congratulations to Grass Valley, Modesto, Oakland, Pasadena, Chula Vista - USDA awarded farm-to-schools grants yesterday CALIFORNIA “Live Healthy- Grass Valley, CA Grant Type: Support Service; $96,000 Live Healthy is an organization dedicated to educating, inspiring, and connecting western Nevada County’s families to fresh, local, seasonal foods. Our farm to cafeteria project includes two main programs: the expansion of our existing farm to school program from 11 to 15 schools and the establishment of an educational farm that will provide quality hands ‐ on farm and kitchen based education while using sustainable practices to grow delicious food for school meals. Modesto City Schools, Modesto, CA Grant Type: Implementation $90,751 Modesto City Schools will implement a district – wide farm to school program aimed at increasing the quantity and variety of local and regional food items in school meals. We will also improve and expand our processing capabilities at the nutrition services in order to increase the capacity to for local food processing. Oakland Unified School District Oakland, CA Grant Type: Implementation $100,000 Oakland Unified School District will develop and implement an innovative new lunch program called “California Thursdays.” Through this program, we intend to increase the amount of California-grown and processed products consumed by students and increase students’ awareness of the origin and agricultural character of the food items on their plates. California Thursdays will expand the district’s local purchasing to include proteins and grains, as well as enhance current local produce purchasing from farms less than 500 acres. Pasadena Unified School District Pasadena, CA Grant Type: Planning; $44,486 Pasadena Unified School District will implement a farm to school program to benefit 18,965 students in a mid ‐ size urban school district in Los Angeles County, California. Nearly 69% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch, less than 30% meet the state’s Physical Fitness Test minimum requirements, and over 20% are obese. While there is a growing interest in urban agriculture and locally grown organic food within the greater Pasadena area, many of these resources are not broadly reaching the low ‐ income children and families served by its public schools. Pittsburg Unified School District Pittsburg, CA Grant Type: Implementation; $100,000 Pittsburg Unified School District will implement a comprehensive farm to school program to serve all its students in grades K ‐ 12. We will: increase student and parent knowledge of nutrition and healthy eating options; increase the percent of healthy, locally sourced foods. . . Sweetwater Union High School District Chula Vista , CA Grant Type: Planning ; $44,935 Sweetwater Union High School serves over 41,000 students in grades 7 - 12 across four cities in San Diego County. Over 90% of students represent an ethnic minority, and over 55% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch programs. With other one - third of students overweight or obese, we are in severe need of improving our school nutrition programs.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 17:58:07 +0000