Greetings,
Michigan's innovative 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program is continuing—and it is expanded!
10 Cents provides incentive match funds to grant-winning schools to purchase Michigan grown fruits, vegetables, and dry beans.
Schools that are located in Michigan Prosperity Regions 2,4,6,8, and 9 now are eligible to apply—up from three regions last year. Gov. Rick Snyder signed the education budget with the $575,000 line item for 10 Cents on June 28. The new regions in which schools are eligible to apply include Flint, Battle Creek, and Kalamazoo.
If your schools are in those five regions, alert them to keep their eyes out soon for emails from the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), which administers the program. MDE expects the application to be available in late July.
The application process has a rapid turn-around time so that schools can access their funds starting in early September. Eligible schools must participate in the National School Lunch Program.
More information and tools for being successful applicants are available at tencentsmichigan.org. Look under the Tools for Schools tab. And be sure to sign up for the 10 Cents email newsletter here and follow the 10 Cents Facebook page for the most timely updates on new tools. If you post about 10 Cents or Michigan farm to school, don't forget to tag @TenCentsMichigan.
Grant-winning food service directors during the last school year said the 10 Cents program helped them try 60 new items with their kids. MDE's 2017-2018 Report to the Legislature also showed that schools purchased a total of 80 different fruits, vegetables, and dry beans grown by 112 farms in 34 counties. The program also impacted 19 additional businesses such as processors, distributors, and food hubs.
If you would like to know more about the expansion, including reaction from legislators in the two new regions added, check out my post at Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities here.
All best,
Diane Conners
P.S. Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities manages the 10 Cents web site. We are always looking for ways to make it more useful. Please private message me with any suggestions to make it better, or to tell us what has been useful.
*Please note my email address has changed to diane@groundworkcenter.org.
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