State Agency: Farm to School Program Training and Curricula

The overall goal of this project is for the selected applicant to help producers overcome the challenges of selling their goods (meat, fish, grain, produce) to school food authorities operating the Child Nutrition Programs (National School Breakfast, National School Lunch Program, Summer Food Service Program and the Child and Adult Care Food Program). This opportunity seeks identify an organization to develop a train-the-trainer curriculum that will be developed (in partnership with State Agency input) and disseminated by the awarded applicant. The applicant will identify common challenges for producers seeking to sell to school food authorities and create curriculum and associated training materials that address these challenges. The target audience of the train-the-trainer curriculum will be state agencies that administer the Child Nutrition Programs and those that work closely with farmers (e.g. Departments of Education, Agriculture, Health). The awarded applicant will also assist in promoting the training (that will be executed by trained state agencies) among farmers. Finally, the awarded applicant will evaluate the success of the trainings conducted by state agencies. Please see the RFP for more information. The purpose of the FY 24 Farm to School Technical Assistance Cooperative Agreement is to support nonprofit entities and Indian Tribal Organizations to implement national- and/or regional-level farm to school activities. Awardees under this cooperative agreement will undertake projects supporting USDA’s priorities of Food System Transformation, Improving Child Health through Nutritious School Meals, and Indigenous Food Sovereignty. Please see the RFP for more information.