USDA Awards Funding for Innovation in Regional School Food Systems

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service and project partners awarded $10 million in grants through the School Food System Transformation Challenge, to support innovation in the school meals marketplace by incentivizing collaboration between schools, the food industry, and other stakeholders. Full Plates Full Potential, a non-profit dedicated to ending childhood food insecurity in Maine, awarded a total of $7.4 million in School Food System Innovation Grants to seven organizations. Their projects will help schools overcome the barriers to purchasing Maine-based foods for their school meal programs and establish long-term solutions and best practices that can be replicated in other regions. Additionally, the Illinois Public Health Institute awarded a total of $2.7 million to 16 organizations for the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub’s Spark and Innovation Collaborative Awards. These grants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin will help fuel change throughout the Lake Michigan region’s school food system. Additional funding opportunities will be available through Project SCALES and the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub in the coming months.