FoodCorps

Our 2021 Policy Year in Review

FoodCorps — Tue, 14 Dec 2021 17:43:38 +0000

The past year has brought a flurry of policy changes and wins, as well as unprecedented levels of advocacy for FoodCorps. Like in 2020, all of this year’s advocacy occurred in the context of a global pandemic, which illuminated high hunger and poverty rates like never before and added a sense of urgency to every policy action.

This year, FoodCorps activated thousands of advocates and partner organizations to support important federal and state policies, and built coalitions that will reap many policy wins moving forward. We encouraged our networks to take action on numerous policy initiatives, and forged relationships that will strengthen our work in the future. Here’s a glimpse at the past year in FoodCorps policy.

The transition to the Biden administration

In January, President Joe Biden took office, and with him a Democratic majority U.S. Congress. The new administration brought in a renewed focus on the needs of families with children, especially those impacted by job loss in the face of the pandemic.

In his first week, President Biden enacted several executive actions to address food insecurity, including:

Issuing executive orders to address food insecurity, including a 15% increase in Pandemic EBT, a successful nutrition assistance program that helps low-income families buy groceries during COVID-related school closures.
Withdrawing harmful policy proposals left over from the Trump administration, including the proposed rule that would have impeded automatic access to free school meals for one million children. The administration also took steps toward rescinding the harmful public charge rule.
Taking action to help states and local governments partner with restaurants to feed more children during the pandemic—measures outlined in the bipartisan FEED Act.

In addition, our former Policy Director, Kumar Chandran, left FoodCorps to take the role of Senior Adviser for Nutrition in the Office of the Secretary at the Department of Agriculture. Secretary Tom Vilsack is serving his second term in the Secretary role after previously serving with the Obama Administration.

Support from the American Rescue Plan

One of President Biden’s immediate actions was the signing of the American Rescue Plan, which lifted millions of children out of poverty. This plan brought direct payments to families with children, aiding families who were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, 90 million direct payments have been disbursed, totalling more than $242 billion of much-needed relief sent to families. American families with children are using these payments for food, housing, utility bills, and education.

Rather than waiting to claim these benefits during the 2022 tax season, families with children were given advanced cash payments during 2021. These “true-up” advanced payments have been credited for significantly lowering child poverty rates. Eligible families now automatically receive an Economic Impact Payment of up to $1,400 for individuals or $2,800 for married couples, plus $1,400 for each dependent. These payments are set to expire at the end of 2021; however, the Build Back Better Act would extend these payments through 2022 and make the policy permanent.

Free school meals for all (through June 2022)

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced in April 2021 that free meals would be available to all students during the 2021-2022 school year. This offered a huge boost to families and kids, as free meals would be provided to all students regardless of their financial status.

This policy is a cornerstone of FoodCorps’ policy vision. Free school meals for all policies not only eliminate the stigma of being financially eligible for free and reduced-price school meals, but also greatly benefit school districts who receive more funding to provide school meals. This policy also sets an important precedent by acknowledging that good nutrition is key to students’ achievement at school.

Movement on Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR)

FoodCorps spent the first half of 2021 advocating for Child Nutrition Reauthorization, the process of renewing laws governing child nutrition. In particular, we advocated for four key bills to be included in the legislation (learn more about each one here):

Food and Nutrition Education in Schools Act of 2021
Farm to School Act of 2021
Kids Eat Local Act of 2021
School Food Modernization Act of 2021

FoodCorps is currently in planning conversations with congressional staff in the House Education and Labor Committee, as well as the Senate Agriculture Committee, to move forward with CNR in 2022. While this legislation has been tabled for possible 2022 action, many of FoodCorps CNR goals have been addressed in…

…The groundbreaking Build Back Better Act

The House of Representatives passed President Biden’s economic agenda, known as the Build Back Better Act, in late November. The legislation is currently before the Senate. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. wrote in a letter to his colleagues that his goal is to have the measure approved by Christmas.

Just in time for this landmark legislation, Jessica Montoya joined FoodCorps as Policy Director in September and brought her expertise to immediately advocate for passage of this bill. She has conducted over 50 meetings with grassroots partners and congressional staff in support of the Build Back Better Act and in order to lay the groundwork for CNR in 2022.

In addition, FoodCorps joined hundreds of other schools and organizations to urge Congressional leadership to keep children a priority in this once-in-a-generation opportunity, including sending a letter recently with more than 100 signatures from partner organizations.

FoodCorps applauded policymakers’ actions to keep provisions intact around school meals, kitchen upgrades, and nutrition education. Although we were disappointed that the funding was pared down, we see this legislation as significant progress and an important down payment on future child nutrition programs.

The current legislation includes:

Expansion of the Community Eligibility Program to increase access to free school meals for 8.9 million more children through July 2026.
$50 million for Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer payments to continue through summer 2024.
$250 million in grants and monetary incentives in fiscal year 2022 for Healthy Food Incentives demonstration project, including improving nutritional quality of meals, increasing local procurement, and funding for nutrition education positions.
$30 million for School Kitchen Equipment Grants for training and technical assistance to support scratch cooking, and to purchase equipment necessary to serve healthier meals, improve food safety, and increase scratch cooking.

Policy wins at the state level

A number of states ushered in important policy wins. Here are a few we were particularly excited about:

California became the first state to pass free school meals for all legislation, guaranteeing that all California kids will permanently have access to free, nutritious meals at school.
Maine also passed its own free school meals for all legislation.
The Oregon state legislature approved $10.2 million in funding for Oregon’s Farm to School Grant program, thanks to advocacy by Oregon Farm to School and School Garden Network.
Connecticut’s budget for the 2022-2023 year included $250,000 annually in American Rescue Plans funds for its CT Grown for CT Kids Grants Program.
In Michigan, $5 million was secured for 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms, the state-run program that matches school purchases of Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables for up to ten cents per meal, thanks to advocacy by the Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities and other partners.
Massachusetts made progress on advancing free school meals for all legislation, including banning schools from punishing families with school lunch debt.

The ongoing supply chain crisis

As communities everywhere continue to recover from the pandemic, people and businesses around the world are facing major supply chain issues from delays to product shortages and price increases—and school food is no exception. In response, the USDA announced $1.5 billion in funding to states as well as some program flexibilities to help schools navigate the supply chain challenges.

While staff and food shortages are felt by many school districts across the country, some school nutrition programs with local vendor relationships and scratch cooking already in place report fewer supply chain issues, which illustrates how farm to school and local procurement contributes to creating a resilient food system.

What’s ahead in 2022

In 2022, FoodCorps will continue to work with legislators to advance our policy priorities through passage and implementation of the Build Back Better Act and Child Nutrition Reauthorization. Although timing is uncertain, FoodCorps will have renewed focus and conduct more advocacy to urge Congress to pass these important pieces of legislation.

Furthermore, 2022 is an election year, and many are already predicting that the the House of Representatives will be controlled by a Republican majority. This will make passing legislation and advancing FoodCorps’ agenda more difficult because of likely partisan gridlock. As such, we will continue to advocate as much as possible to advance our legislative priorities with our current Congress.

As always, we will continue to advocate for the ideal laid out in our Policy Vision: to dismantle the systemic inequities in our food and education systems so that every child—regardless of race, place, or class—gets the nourishment they need to thrive.

Stay connected to FoodCorps! Sign up for our policy emails and be the first to know when to raise your voice.

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School Lunch Providers Say That, Even With Pandemic Challenges, They’re Not Giving Up On Healthy Food

FoodCorps — Thu, 09 Dec 2021 18:59:56 +0000

Nadra Nittle for The 19th

Just weeks before COVID-19 forced schools to go virtual, Bertrand Weber set out to increase the plant-based proteins Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) serves to students. As the award-winning director of the district’s Culinary and Wellness Services, Weber had already overseen a massive makeover of the school lunch program.

Grant funding enabled MPS to build kitchen infrastructure, allowing more than 40 schools in the district to get the equipment needed to make foods and condiments from scratch — from additive-free pasta sauce and salad dressings to deli meats sans nitrates. With the new kitchen tools, the culinary staff also swapped out chicken nuggets with whole chicken and tater tots with actual potatoes.

Given these upgrades, offering a variety of plant-based proteins in cafeterias seemed like a feasible next step for MPS. Then, the novel coronavirus struck, bringing not only the plant-based protein initiative to a halt but forcing the school district to scale back its array of menu options.

During on- and offline instruction over the past 21 months, school districts nationally have faced major challenges while providing meals to students: supply chain disruptions, staffing shortages and COVID-19 safety protocols such as requiring food items to be individually wrapped. Many school districts resorted to serving mainly processed foods, but others have worked to adapt, using creative solutions to get fresh produce and locally sourced food to students.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said this fall that it would invest $1.5 billion to help schools respond to food supply chain disruptions, and school nutrition advocates are hopeful that funding for school kitchen equipment and healthier school meals in the Build Back Better package under consideration in Congress will help, too. In 2010, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act led school menu items across the country to become healthier by updating the nutrition standards for meals that schools could be federally reimbursed for serving to students.

Those changes have been key for the nutrition of many low-income kids: More than three-quarters of the 3.2 billion lunches served as part of the National School Lunch Program during the 2020 fiscal year went to economically disadvantaged students eligible for either free or reduced lunch. Children in households headed by women are especially likely to rely on school meals for sustenance, as 60.6 percent of such households experience some degree of food insecurity.

“Schools were serving age-appropriate calorie ranges, reducing sodium, serving more whole grains and a variety of fruits and vegetables,” said Meghan Maroney, senior policy associate for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “There’s been huge progress made in the last 10, 15 years in school meals, so it hurts that much more that that pandemic has really halted a lot of great work.”

Since the most vulnerable students need school food to maintain a balanced diet, the contents of these meals matters immensely, say school nutrition directors and advocates for healthy school meals. But some districts appear to be struggling to provide fresh food. Photos of “mystery meats” and other unappetizing-looking lunches served in Paterson, New Jersey, schools led a member of Congress to express concern. In response to the outcry over the photos, the school system “developed a six-step corrective action plan to address the poorly prepared meals,” including staff trainings and the formation of a food services advisory committee, a district spokesperson said. After Riverside, California, parents accused their district of serving moldy cheese sandwiches to students, school officials responded by saying that the sandwiches did not have mold on them but that ice crystals formed on the cheese slices when they were defrosted.

“A lot of school districts have relied on individually wrapped items more so than in the past, which I think has led to the perception that maybe school lunch has deteriorated,” Weber said. “But the only reason [for these changes] is the supply chain as well as staffing as well as COVID protocols. Most of my colleagues can’t wait to get back to normal. So, it’s not like, ‘Oh, we’re just going to go back to serving crap food.’ That is not the sentiment out there.”

MPS is a case in point that the new normal won’t be permanent. Many COVID safety protocols have eased, and Weber is excited that the salad bar is expected to return to cafeterias in January. “We’re back to being able to really showcase what we were doing before,” he said. For his school district, that’s largely making food from scratch in the district’s central kitchen.

But when the pandemic led schools to go virtual in March 2020, MPS handed out meal boxes filled entirely with prepackaged foods. “Everything was prepacked — all fruits and vegetables we purchased individually wrapped, and that was really because of COVID concerns with cross contamination,” Weber said.

In April 2021, when the district resumed in-person learning, the culinary staff prepared both from-scratch foods, such as pasta with meat sauce and chili, and prepackaged foods, including burritos, burgers and tamales. But the nutrition standards for meals remained the same as the ones in place before the pandemic, Weber said. And the district, which serves about 31,600 students, maintained its access to fresh vegetables by buying produce from local farmers and then processing and packing them in its central kitchen.

Often, the nutrition staff combined both scratch foods and purchased foods in the same meal. They might buy precooked chicken, for example, but glaze it with sweet-and-sour sauce they made from scratch. The staff prepared all salads, cooked brown rice and steamed vegetables served to students instead of using ready-made versions of these items, Weber said.

Buying locally has helped MPS avoid some of the supply chain issues that other districts have encountered, but one problem it hasn’t managed to skirt is a staffing shortage. Weber said he’s operating with just 60 percent of his culinary staff, and he is not alone. A national survey of 1,368 school meal program directors conducted from May to June 2021 by the School Nutrition Association found that staffing shortages were a concern for 90 percent of them, and nearly all of them were worried about supply chain disruptions.

Many staffers, fearful of contracting COVID-19, left their jobs in 2020, Maroney said. And now, schools can’t compete with employers that can offer food service workers signing bonuses, higher wages and other benefits. Replacing the workers who’ve left hasn’t been easy, according to Weber.

“We work with a temp agency to help us fill positions, and there are basically twice the amount of job openings as there are people,” he said. “When we started this school year, we went back to cooking on site, as we did before, with a more simple menu because we don’t have the staff at the schools.”

Still, Weber said that school cafeterias are slowIy approaching normal once more. By the 2022-23 school year, he predicts that MPS’ menus will be comparable to what they were like before the pandemic — plus, he hopes, more plant-based proteins.

“We had a lot of initiatives that were started, including a huge effort around plant-based initiatives, and all that got interrupted,” Weber said.

For the West New York School District, it’s too soon to predict when school menus will return to normal, said Food Service Director Sal Valenza. Currently, his priority is to ensure that students continue to eat quality meals amid supply chain disruptions that affected his New Jersey school district almost as soon as the pandemic closed schools in March 2020.

“Manufacturers weren’t ready for all the individually wrapped things we needed,” he said. They caught up, quickly making wrapped items and meal kits available, he said, “but there was certainly a little bit of a learning curve in the beginning.”

With schools physically closed but virtually in session, Valenza continued to feed students in the West New York School District, which includes about 8,000 students. Initially, the food service team handed out lunches of sandwiches, fruits and vegetables. From there, the staff gave families meals to cook at home, such as pouches of macaroni and cheese or the ingredients for a chicken teriyaki bowl. At its peak when schools were closed, the district served 15,000 meals a day, seven days a week, up from the roughly 9,000 meals it served on school days pre-pandemic, Valenza said.

The weekend meals included produce boxes and gallons of milk instead of the standard half-pint. Valenza said the district worked with companies that aggregate products from farms in the Tri-State area of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, a reliable source of produce that did not require them to depend on cross-country shipments delayed by trucker shortages and related problems.

“We were able to use our local guys who were picking the apples up at the farms and bringing them right to us,” Valenza said. “There were no issues with distribution because the supply chain was much shorter. If you can shorten that supply chain and take some of the pieces out, it’s going to be easier for you.”

Valenza also sourced baked goods such as bread, tortillas and empanadas from local vendors. He became a regular customer of a minority-owned business that individually wrapped products for the district. By purchasing about 10,000 items per week from the company, the district prevented it from having to lay off staff during the pandemic.

Asked what advice he would give to school districts that are still struggling because of supply chain delays, Valenza noted that he’s instructed his staff not to serve any food that they wouldn’t feel comfortable with their own children eating. But he also said that it’s unfair to judge a food service team by a viral photo of a school lunch gone bad. He shared how applesauce in a meal kit his school district served spilled out of its package, unbeknownst to the food staff. By the time it was served to a student, the sauce had grown moldy and the kit needed to be discarded.

“You don’t know what that looked like when they got it,” he said. “And maybe it wasn’t so great looking to begin with, but there were some points where we were just trying to get food, and we were happy with what we could get.”

In some cases, nonprofit organizations partnered with schools to help fill gaps when schools went remote. Alicia Loebl, a service member of FoodCorps, a national nonprofit that works to connect children to healthy food in schools, had to contend with multiple disasters last year. Most of the elementary students Loebl teaches in Oregon’s Phoenix-Talent School District were displaced by catastrophic fires when classes went virtual during the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. The wildfires resulted in 80 percent of students in the district losing their homes.

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Build Back Better and More: Your October/November Policy Updates

FoodCorps — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 17:02:31 +0000

The seasons are changing, the year is coming to a close, and we are finally seeing forward motion on legislation that will have major impacts on kids and families. Here are your policy and advocacy updates from October and November.

Build Back Better Act passes in the House

After many months of negotiation and delays, the House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act—legislation that makes historic investments in school meals. Now, this roughly $2 trillion social spending bill heads to the Senate for passage before it can be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

Although many of the original funding proposals, including the child nutrition provisions, were pared down during the negotiations, the great news is that the bill includes a historic $10 billion investment in school meals programs. This investment will go a long way toward relieving child food insecurity and equipping schools to serve nourishing meals to all students. If passed, the Build Back Better Act will bring about:

Free school meals to nearly nine million more children through July 2026
More experiential food education, school gardens, and farm to school local procurement
Critical funding for school kitchen equipments so that more schools can prepare nourishing meals that are scratch-cooked, culturally relevant, and locally sourced
Summer EBT benefits to keep 21 million kids nourished in the summer months
Significant progress toward relieving child food insecurity and equipping schools to serve nourishing meals to all students

Additionally, the bill also takes important steps towards reducing poverty and makes critical investments in child care, pre-K education, climate resilience, and debt relief for the country’s most economically distressed food producers.

Our FoodCorps community’s advocacy is making a difference! As the bill heads to the Senate, we need another big push to get the bill over the finish line. Your senators need to hear from you now! Urge your senators to pass this critical piece of legislation now so that families, kids, and school nutrition professionals can enjoy this holiday season knowing that their elected officials make them a priority.

Take action

Supply chain challenges continue to impact schools

As you may recall, supply chain challenges are making it harder for schools to keep kids fed, due to related hurdles like discontinued menu items, shortages, longer than normal lead times, significantly higher costs, delayed deliveries, and/or deliveries that contain a fraction of what was ordered.

Back in September, the USDA announced $1.5 billion to support schools in combating pandemic-related supply chain disruptions. This is one of a number of supports offered for the 2021-2022 school year. We are still waiting to see how exactly this money will be allocated to state agencies and districts.

FoodCorps believes in food equity— the idea that all people should be able to grow and consume healthful, affordable, and culturally significant foods—and that our nation’s schools and kids should be able to access foods that reflect the values of their communities. That includes local foods, foods that are ethically grown and sourced, and foods that reflect local cultures. In addition to purchasing food on the commercial market, about 20% of the food schools purchase come from the USDA Foods in Schools program. Because the USDA purchases large volumes of food for federal programs, they can have a meaningful impact on the nation’s supply.

We are working in coalition with other national advocacy organizations to make recommendations to USDA on how this money can support a values-based food system, which ensures that purchased foods uphold shared values, like environmental sustainability and local economies.

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Statement: FoodCorps Applauds Congress for Build Back Better Act’s Child Nutrition Provisions And Sees Important Work Still Ahead

FoodCorps — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 15:31:40 +0000

Statement: FoodCorps Applauds Congress for Build Back Better Act’s Child Nutrition Provisions And Sees Important Work Still Ahead

Media Contact:
foodcorps@sunshinesachs.com

Washington, D.C., November 19, 2021 — Today, the House of Representatives passed President Joe Biden’s economic agenda, known as the Build Back Better Act, preserving select investments to our nation’s families and children. After months of negotiations, the expansive social policy legislation will now head to the U.S. Senate. FoodCorps applauds policymakers’ actions to keep provisions intact around school meals, kitchen upgrades, and nutrition education. Although we were disappointed that the funding was pared down, we see this legislation as significant progress and an important down payment on future child nutrition programs. The current legislation includes:

Expansion of the Community Eligibility Program to increase access to free school meals for 8.9 million more children through July 2026.
$50 million for Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer payments to continue through summer 2024. Supplemental benefits will be $65 per month, per eligible child, in 2023. The USDA will develop an alternate benefit plan for schools with a continuous academic calendar.
$250 million in grants and monetary incentives in fiscal year 2022 for Healthy Food Incentives Demonstration, including:
- Improving the nutritional quality of meals and snacks served under a child nutrition program.
- Enhancing the nutrition and wellness environment of institutions participating in a child nutrition program, including by reducing the availability of less healthy foods during the school day.
- Increasing the procurement of fresh, local, regional, and culturally appropriate foods and foods produced by underserved or limited-resource farmers.
- Funding a statewide nutrition education coordinator to support individual school food authority nutrition education efforts, and to facilitate collaboration with other nutrition education efforts in the state.
$30 million for School Kitchen Equipment Grants for training and technical assistance to support scratch cooking, and to purchase equipment necessary to serve healthier meals, improve food safety, and increase scratch cooking.

These investments will go a long way toward relieving child food insecurity and helping our schools improve services to children.

To get to this point, FoodCorps joined hundreds of other schools and organizations to urge Congressional leadership to keep children a priority in this once-in-a-generation opportunity, including sending a letter recently with more than 100 signatures from partner organizations. With Child Nutrition Reauthorization also overdue for legislative action, FoodCorps will continue to fight for programs that will support schools, their nutrition staff, and educators to further embed healthy food into the school day. We will monitor the Build Back Better Act’s legislative course, hold our elected officials accountable, and advocate on behalf of our nation’s youth.

FoodCorps thanks President Biden and the members of Congress who fought hard to keep child nutrition a priority in this bill. We especially recognize the efforts of Representative Bobby Scott, Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, and Senator Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, and their respective staffs, for working tirelessly for our nation’s children in this tremendous effort.

About FoodCorps
Together with communities, FoodCorps connects kids to healthy food in school so that every child—regardless of race, place, or class—gets the nourishment they need to thrive. Our AmeriCorps leaders transform schools into places where all students learn what healthy food is, care where it comes from, and eat it every day. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps develops leaders, forges networks, and pursues policy reforms that in time have the potential to improve all of our nation’s 100,000 schools. To learn more about FoodCorps’ work across the country, visit http://www.foodcorps.org or follow @foodcorps on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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FoodCorps Receives $1.95 Million Grant from the Walmart Foundation to Expand Access to Culturally Responsive Hands-On Food Education in Schools

FoodCorps — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 18:20:36 +0000

FoodCorps Receives $1.95 Million Grant from the Walmart Foundation to Expand Access to Culturally Responsive Hands-On Food Education in Schools

Contact:
Sunshine Sachs
foodcorps@sunshinesachs.com
201-230-6409

New York, Nov. 15, 2021 – Today FoodCorps announced a $1.95 million grant from the Walmart Foundation to support the nonprofit’s mission to connect students to healthy food in schools by expanding food education programs. The grant is part of the Walmart Foundation’s goal to support the creation of culturally relevant and positive experiences around trying and cooking healthier foods.

Nutritious, healthy foods are critical to the wellbeing of students. The more children learn about food and nutrition in school, the more likely they are to eat healthy foods. Yet, according to the CDC, the typical elementary student receives less than eight hours of nutrition education each year. By expanding hands-on food education programs, we can ensure kids have consistent and equitable access to healthy foods and the knowledge to help them make healthy food choices throughout their lives.

The Walmart Foundation’s grant will enable FoodCorps to deliver culturally responsive food education to more than 120,000 students, the majority of whom are eligible for free or reduced-cost meals, in rural, urban, and Indigenous communities across 13 states and Washington, D.C. Providing kids with increased exposure to healthy foods via hands-on food education in the classroom and garden and culturally relevant taste tests in the cafeteria shifts students’ attitudes toward food, celebrates their cultural identity and practices, and ultimately gets students excited to eat nutritious food.

The grant will also strengthen FoodCorps’ partnership, recruitment, and training strategies to ensure FoodCorps’ AmeriCorps members have shared backgrounds and lived experiences with students in the communities we serve and receive intensive training on culturally responsive teaching practices so they can better inspire and connect kids to healthy food in schools.

“The pandemic has highlighted the prevalence of food and nutrition scarcity and the critical role schools play in a child’s relationship with food. Even outside of the pandemic, the most dedicated and innovative school communities face obstacles to creating opportunities for kids to connect with healthy food,” said Curt Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO at FoodCorps. “With the Walmart Foundation’s investment, FoodCorps will provide schools with well-trained food educators and other resources to boost exposure to healthy foods that kids need to thrive.”

“We’re excited about this investment because of FoodCorps’ continued focus on advancing racial equity as an organization and commitment to culturally relevant food programming,” said Eileen Hyde, senior director of community resilience, Walmart.org. “The direct service model in schools has proven outcomes of reaching kids and changing behaviors around healthy eating, and FoodCorps’ approach and broad reach will have tremendous impact.”

ABOUT FOODCORPS
Together with communities, FoodCorps connects kids to healthy food in school so that every child—regardless of race, place, or class—gets the nourishment they need to thrive. Our AmeriCorps leaders transform schools into places where all students learn what healthy food is, care where it comes from, and eat it every day. Building on this foundation of direct impact, FoodCorps develops leaders, forges networks, and pursues policy reforms that in time have the potential to improve all of our nation’s 100,000 schools. To learn more about FoodCorps’ work across the country, visit http://www.foodcorps.org.

ABOUT PHILANTHROPY AT WALMART
Walmart.org represents the philanthropic efforts of Walmart and the Walmart Foundation. By focusing where the business has unique strengths, Walmart.org works to tackle key social and environmental issues and collaborate with others to spark long- lasting systemic change. Walmart has stores in 26 countries, employs more than 2.2 million associates and does business with thousands of suppliers who, in turn, employ millions of people. Walmart.org is helping people live better by supporting programs to accelerate upward job mobility for frontline workers, advance equity, address hunger, build inclusive economic opportunity for people in supply chains, protect and restore nature, reduce waste and emissions, and build strong communities where Walmart operates. To learn more, visit www.walmart.org or connect on Twitter @Walmartorg.

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The MolinaCares Accord to Improve Student Access to Nutritious Food in Mississippi

FoodCorps — Mon, 08 Nov 2021 16:08:46 +0000

GREENVILLE, Miss. Nov. 8, 2021 – The MolinaCares Accord (“MolinaCares”), in collaboration with Molina Healthcare of Mississippi (“Molina”), is donating $50,000 to deploy dedicated food and nutrition educators in twelve Delta-area schools through its partnership with FoodCorps.

“We know Mississippians living in the Delta region face many barriers to healthy living,” said Bridget Galatas, plan president of Molina Healthcare of Mississippi. “Teaching kids about nutrition early is critical to setting them on a path to health and wellness, and we’re committed to this goal.”

MolinaCares is funding evidence-based lessons teaching kids how to make healthier choices every day. FoodCorps educators will support the creation of school gardens where fruits and vegetables will be planted for the students to tend and eventually consume. The program also includes hands-on lessons on simple and healthy meal preparation to help establish beneficial eating habits to last a lifetime. The program is projected to reach 2,500 children through 400 nutrition education lessons.

“We want to ensure the children in our local communities have access to healthy meals that will help them learn, grow, and succeed,” said Curt Ellis, co-founder and chief executive officer of FoodCorps. “We’re so grateful to MolinaCares for the generous donation that will help support these critical endeavors.”

The grant to FoodCorps is part of a larger initiative launched by MolinaCares in the Mississippi Delta region earlier this year to expand Mississippians’ access to healthy food.

About The MolinaCares Accord
Established by Molina Healthcare, Inc., The MolinaCares Accord oversees a community investment platform created to improve the health and well-being of disadvantaged populations by funding meaningful, measurable, and innovative programs and solutions that improve health, life, and living in local communities. The MolinaCares Accord funds such measures through The Molina Healthcare Charitable Foundation, a 501(c)(3) established in 2020 by Molina Healthcare, Inc.

About Molina Healthcare of Mississippi
Molina Healthcare of Mississippi has been providing government-funded, quality health care since 2018. The Company serves members through Medicaid (Mississippi Coordinated Access Network/MississippiCAN and Children’s Health Insurance Plan/CHIP) and Marketplace. Through its locally operated health plans, Molina Healthcare, Inc., a FORTUNE 500 company, served approximately 4.8 million members as of September 30, 2021. For more information about Molina Healthcare of Mississippi, visit MolinaHealthcare.com.

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Kenya L. Collins Appointed To Role Of Vice President Of Equity

FoodCorps — Wed, 03 Nov 2021 12:00:42 +0000

Kenya L. Collins Appointed To Role Of Vice President Of Equity

Media Contact: foodcorps@sunshinesachs.com

Nov. 3, 2021, Washington, D.C. — FoodCorps announced today its appointment of Kenya L. Collins as Vice President of Equity for the national nonprofit. Together with communities, FoodCorps serves to connect kids to healthy food in schools and envisions a future in which kids of all races, places, and classes know what healthy food is, care where it comes from, and eat it every day. Dismantling inequities in the school food system is central to FoodCorps’ work.

Collins has been with FoodCorps for nearly four years, serving most recently as the organization’s Co-Director of National Programs, and previously as the Mississippi Program Manager. Collins joined FoodCorps with more than 15 years of experience, having served as a field director, senior adviser, campaign manager, and communications strategist for numerous campaigns and nonprofits. She was selected as State Director of Obama for America-Mississippi in April 2012. Before coming to FoodCorps she served as Chief of Staff and Executive Assistant to Mayor Errick D. Simmons of Greenville, Mississippi, as well as the Engagement Manager for P3 Strategies, LLC in Jackson, Mississippi.

In her new role, Collins will lead FoodCorps’ efforts to integrate equity and inclusion into its overall strategy, and help the organization address the systemic inequities in our food and education systems so that every child gets the nourishment they need to thrive.

“We couldn’t ask for a better leader to spearhead equity and inclusion, which are essential to our work,” said Curt Ellis, CEO and co-founder of FoodCorps. “Kenya has a passion for social justice and a wealth of professional experience with both political and nonprofit organizations. We are confident she will do a tremendous job leading this effort both internally and externally to achieve a greater impact within our communities.”

“I am thrilled to build upon FoodCorps’ years of work to tackle systemic inequities in our school food system,” said Collins. “Thanks to the trailblazing work of FoodCorps’ former VP of Equity, Tiffany McClain, we have already made some meaningful progress on these initiatives. I look forward to continuing this work to support the communities we serve so that every child gets equal access to healthy food and nutrition education at school.”

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Ways to Honor Indigenous Cultures During Native American Heritage Month

Carrie Ann Back — Tue, 02 Nov 2021 14:46:18 +0000

Native American Heritage Month begins in November, a month when many people in the United States recognize Indigenous culture and celebrate Thanksgiving. While this heritage month has good intentions, for Native Americans it is far more complex. Thanksgiving is a grieving time for many Natives because of the various massacres that occurred exactly around this time frame.

This season begins with football season, with its racist mascots and team names, the celebration of Columbus Day and its glorification of colonization, and Halloween, with its inappropriate costumes. Holidays now are a painful reminder of a violent history that often gets erased, glossed over, and romanticized. For many Native Americans, this season’s holidays represent the genocide of millions of Native people, the theft of Native lands, forced relocations, and the many attempts to erase Native American culture.

At the same time, Native American Heritage Month aims to celebrate Indigenous peoples and honor the past of Native peoples throughout the United States. A designated month allows us to reflect on our collective history and honor the resilience and strength of Indigenous communities across North America. It provides an opportunity to educate Americans about our contributions and provides a contemporary representation of Native communities today.

While I applaud the good intentions behind this month, the unintended consequences, repercussions, and microaggressions that often follow are traumatic for some Native Americans. Here’s a look at some of the reasons why Native American Heritage Month is a complex holiday, and one we all should approach with greater sensitivity. This is my perspective as an enrolled Native American and proud enrolled Tribal member of the Cherokee Nation.

The Myth of Thanksgiving

For many Native Americans, Thanksgiving Day is a reminder of the genocide of millions of their people, the theft of their lands, and the relentless assault on their cultures. While many of us are taught that the first Thanksgiving was a peaceful event, historical records and accounts more accurately describe the first Thanksgiving, which took place in 1621; Native Americans were not invited and the events that followed were hostile and deadly.

It wasn’t until after the formation of the United States that the narrative of a harmonious meeting between Pilgrims and Native Americans was created to justify westward expansion and Manifest Destiny. This is just one example of the many historical inaccuracies that show why reactions to this month can be complicated, complex, and painful. For many, Thanksgiving represents the beginning of the assimilation, forced relocation, and eradication of Native American culture after contact with European invaders.

Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered annually from coast to coast to observe the National Day of Mourning in lieu of the Thanksgiving holiday. This day of remembrance is a way to honor their Native ancestors and to grieve the genocide that took place. It’s also a protest to raise awareness of the racism and oppression that Native Americans continue to face today.

Sometimes Native Americans are viewed in classrooms as a people from the past — a vanished community that doesn’t exist, survive, and thrive in the present day.

Much of what we are taught in schools about historic events that took place in November is inaccurate, untrue, or oversimplified. The false narrative continues today, when many classrooms across the country make headdresses out of construction paper and reenact Thanksgiving dinner. Sometimes Native Americans are viewed in classrooms as a people from the past — a vanished community that doesn’t exist, survive, and thrive in the present day.

While it may seem harmless to some, activities like this teach students the stereotype that we all wear the same regalia, lumping all Nations together, which makes it hard for students to recognize the diversity within our Tribal Nations. This gives the message that it’s acceptable to appropriate Indigenous culture. Ironically, some heritage month curriculum reinforces stereotypes instead of challenging them.

Unfortunately, generations of Americans have been taught a one-sided history in homes and schools. Most of us were taught in elementary schools about Thanksgiving centering on brave Pilgrims arriving with the help of friendly Natives and having a welcome dinner. Very few teachers have lessons about the accurate history of Indigenous peoples. It’s not until much later in life that we might be exposed to the horrific events that actually happened this month.

Actionable Steps and Alternative Activities To Do This Month

To be an ally during this month, it is not enough to be passively accepting of Native Americans and Indigenous peoples. To become an ally, non-Native peoples must actively engage in the decolonizing process alongside Native Peoples. Here are a few ideas for activities to add to your family traditions this year.

Learn About the Native American Nations & Tribes in Your Area

This month, allies can lessen the burden on Native Americans by “doing the work” on your own to research the history and culture of Native Americans. A good starting point would be using the Native Land app or website to learn whose land you are occupying. Although these maps are not exact, the website is a good tool for acknowledging and learning more about the Native history of your city, state, or country.

Just type in the name of your location to learn about the languages, the treaties, and the origins of the land you are currently on. Even though it doesn’t show the current boundaries of Tribal Nations today, you can use this information to research more about the nearly 600 federally recognized tribes in the United States. For more exact information about your location, visit the Native Land site to begin your research.

Celebrate & Recognize Our Existence Year-Round

Some Native Americans refuse to celebrate Thanksgiving, while others still celebrate the day with their loved ones as a practice for expressing gratitude. Personally, I haven’t abandoned the holiday altogether, I have just changed how I practice it. It’s possible to show the spirit of gratitude around this time in a way that doesn’t ignore the plight or existence of Native people.

While we remember Indigenous people this month, I’d encourage everyone to celebrate our history and cultures throughout the year. Learn year-round by watching Native American media, reading books by Indigenous authors, elevating Native American voices by supporting grassroots Native-led organizations and businesses, and by learning about our history and current lives throughout the year. After all, Indigenous Peoples are an essential part of the cultural fabric that makes up this nation, and we should be celebrated as such.

Incorporate Indigenous Foods in Your Traditions

As we commemorate Native American Heritage Month, we should celebrate Thanksgiving with recipes that are made from Indigenous foods: turkey, corn, beans, pumpkins, and wild rice, to name a few. For those unfamiliar with Native cultures, it’s an opportunity to learn about Indigenous foods, recipes, and cooking techniques as we enjoy native ingredients that still nourish us today. This is also a good time to brush up on the difference between appropriation and appreciation of cultures other than your own, and making sure you are not appropriating traditions in your preparations.

My wish is not to erase Native American Heritage Month, a time to learn about another culture and come together as friends and family to celebrate gratitude. I’m glad this month exists to pay tribute to Native Americans, the original inhabitants of this land. I’m not suggesting we do away with the month altogether. Instead, my hope is that people honor the real origins of the holidays during this month while simultaneously celebrating our resilience and triumphs today.

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FoodCorps Launches New School Nutrition Pilot Program For Its Service Members

FoodCorps — Mon, 25 Oct 2021 13:06:22 +0000

FoodCorps Launches New School Nutrition Pilot Program For Its Service Members

MEDIA CONTACT:
foodcorps@sunshinesachs.com

NEW YORK CITY (October 25, 2021) — Today FoodCorps, a national nonprofit that connects kids to healthy food in schools, announced the launch of a new pilot program that places FoodCorps AmeriCorps service members to serve a year with school food and nutrition services (FNS) at the district level for the first time.

Each school year, FoodCorps service members provide direct support to the schools they serve by leading hands-on food education in classrooms and school gardens, encouraging students to try new healthy options in the cafeteria, and helping school nutrition staff with meal distribution. The School Nutrition Service Member Pilot will take a broader approach to this programming, allowing service members to support district-level initiatives that drive nourishing meals and nutrition education to every school and child in their district, while receiving technical assistance and professional development from FoodCorps.

The initiatives, developed in collaboration with district partners, include:

Coordinate and facilitate a student-led advisory in school meals to ensure their voice and choice are reflected in school menus.
Support local procurement and menu development for programs such as Harvest of the Month or Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP), prioritizing local farmers when possible.
Coordinate professional development for teachers on the connection between food justice and social justice.
Improve communications between Food and Nutrition Services departments and the larger school community.

“FoodCorps service members make an impact every day in the schools they serve by teaching kids where their food comes from and how to enjoy it through cooking and gardening skills and playing an invaluable role between school nutrition staff and students,” said Morgan McGhee, MPH, RD, director of school nutrition leadership. “This pilot program will enable us to scale reach and impact in key areas, while bringing more support to district leaders.”

In its first year, the pilot will place 20 service members across 14 districts and district partners in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey. The goal will be to allow FoodCorps to better understand how its service members are uniquely positioned to support FNS staff and collaborate with food education programming, with the overall goal of connecting the cafeteria to the classroom and beyond.

According to a recent report from FoodCorps, based on interviews with 44 district leaders (including superintendents and School Nutrition Directors), the pandemic proved to be a turning point for school food that saw more collaboration and innovation between districts and school nutrition staff, with the collective purpose of keeping every child nourished while schools were closed during the 2020-21 school year. The report also illustrated challenges these individuals experienced with increased student need, limited budgets and a looming labor shortage of school nutrition professionals.

“Schools and school nutrition staff are the heroes of the on-going pandemic,” said Curt Ellis, CEO and co-founder of FoodCorps. “We are excited that this pilot is launching during a moment where service members can help district staff directly and when Congress is considering additional important investments to school food and nutrition education. Additionally, at a time when many school nutrition programs are facing staffing shortages, we are glad to have a new way for FoodCorps to help grow the pipeline of future leaders in this arena.”

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FoodCorps and 100+ Partner Organizations Ask Congress to Prioritize Child Nutrition in the Build Back Better Act

FoodCorps — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 16:26:52 +0000

As soon as tomorrow, Congress will decide what programs to cut from the Build Back Better Act — and this could include the bill’s robust provisions for child nutrition. It is crucial that these measures — including provisions for local procurement, food education, and kitchen modernization — stay in the bill in order to set kids up for success in the years to come.

FoodCorps and more than 100 of our partner organizations sent a letter to Congressional leadership today urging them to prioritize child nutrition in the Build Back Better Act. Read the whole letter or an excerpt below:

We, the undersigned organizations, wholeheartedly support all of the child nutrition provisions proposed in the Build Back Better Act. The current supply chain challenges experienced by many schools demonstrate the need for investing in stronger, more diverse local and regional food systems. In fact, some school nutrition programs with robust farm to school procurement already in place—such as school districts that have been buying from local vendors for years, or those that have local procurement practices at the ready— report fewer supply chain disruptions. Throughout the pandemic, examples like these have illustrated how farm to school activities help create a school food system more resilient to supply interruptions2 . The Build Back Better Act’s investment in local procurement and scratch cooking will not only address child nutrition security, it will also unlock the often overlooked potential of school meals in building resilient local economies and an equitable food system. When schools source ingredients from local producers, each dollar invested can stimulate up to an additional $2.16 in local economic activity3 . This investment has also been designed to support schools in providing more culturally appropriate food options and sourcing food from socially disadvantaged producers.

Contact your legislators today and ask them to prioritize child nutrition in the Build Back Better Act.

Take action

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