The Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education is currently accepting applications for its 2025 Farming Reinforces Education and Student Health Program.
Donor Name: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
State: Massachusetts
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 10/11/2024
Size of the Grant: $10,000 to $100,000
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The purpose of this state funded competitive grant program is to encourage National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and Child Adult Food Care Program (CACFP) sponsors to start or expand their capacity to grow or procure local food and educate students, teachers, school nutrition professionals and staff about the local food system. Furthermore, this grant seeks to connect food system education to the local community and to the availability of local foods served in school or early education meal programs.
The program is designed to support K–12 and early education programs in food literacy initiatives that connect local food system education to the availability of local foods served in school or early education meal programs. Applicants will be asked to indicate all activities their MA FRESH application seeks to fund. Project activities may include, but are not limited to:
- Building a new school garden for children
- Building a new indoor growing operation for children
- Developing classroom curriculums or lesson plans that support food literacy efforts
- Expanding in-school or child care programming to promote food literacy for children through gardening, cooking, taste tests and more
- Field trip(s) to local farm/food producers
- Expanding before/after school/child care programming that supports food literacy, and exposure to local foods for children and families
- Professional development and training for educators to bring food literacy activities or curriculum to their classrooms
- Professional development and training for school nutrition professionals to integrate local, unprocessed or minimally processed ingredients into program meals
Priorities
- Competitive priority will be given to schools and early education providers with high percentages of students eligible for free and reduced-price lunch and shall aim to promote geographic equity.
- Additional competitive priority will be given to districts and schools in chronically underperforming status.
Funding Information
- Approximately $500,000 is available.
- Applicants may apply for funding between $5,000 and $30,000 in one of the following categories:
- New K–12 Farm to School Initiative Grants
- New Farm to Early Education Initiative Grants
- Expanding K–12 Farm to School Initiative Grants
- Expanding Farm to Early Education Initiative Grants
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible MA FRESH applicants include licensed early education programs that offer meals through the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) and schools or school districts that offer meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) that serve students anywhere between kindergarten and 12th grade. MA FRESH applicants that have received MA FRESH grant funding in the past are eligible to apply.
- Family Day Care providers participating in CACFP are not directly eligible for MA FRESH. Only Sponsoring Organizations are eligible to apply on behalf of a Family Day Care or a collection of Family Day Cares.
For more information, visit DESE.
