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Tuesday, September 28, 2021

How has 10 Cents a Meal benefited Michigan kids, farmers, and food businesses?

Explore evaluation findings for the 10 Cents a Meal pilot
The Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems and the Michigan Health Endowment Fund are pleased to share new evaluation findings for the 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan's Kids and Farms (10 Cents) program.

This nationally-recognized farm to school program has expanded from a regional pilot in northwest Lower Michigan to a statewide initiative with $5 million in state funding.
10 Cents is designed to improve daily nutrition and eating habits for Michigan children and invest in Michigan’s agriculture and local food business economy by matching what schools spend on Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes with grants of up to 10 cents per meal.
10 Cents a Meal for Michigan's Kids and Farms
Nine topic-specific summaries present findings from 10 Cents data collected between 2017 and 2020, focusing primarily on the pilot phase of the program (2016-2019). The topics include:

  • What kinds of farms and food businesses were involved in the 10 Cents food supply chain 
  • Which fruits, vegetables, and legumes were served to students  
  • How school food service directors use 10 Cents differently 
  • How previous experience with farm to school affects how 10 Cents grants are utilized 
  • How local food purchasing helped some school food service directors in the pandemic 
  • Recommendations for future evaluation 

Farm to school advocates, policymakers, school food service directors, and researchers can use this evaluation to understand and describe the impacts that 10 Cents makes, explore recommendations for program design and implementation, and review questions to consider in future evaluation.

Farmers and local food suppliers can use this information to guide conversations with school food service directors about market opportunities, as they can learn more about Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes of interest and how local foods get to participating schools.

Explore and share the evaluation findings with your networks! 

September
30
Thursday
Webinar: 10 Cents a Meal Program Impacts
Join us to learn more about impacts of the first three years of the pilot program. We will also discuss how this information can be used to build sustainable and successful farm to school programs. This online session will be beneficial to any previous, current, and future 10 Cents participants and anyone who supports these programs.
Registration is required to participate in this free virtual meeting.. More Info
For more information about 10 Cents a Meal evaluation, contact Colleen Matts at matts@msu.edu.

To learn more about 10 Cents a Meal, visit the 10 Cents a Meal website.

Visit the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems website to learn more about 10 Cents evaluation and farm to school in Michigan.

This work was funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Ongoing 10 Cents evaluation is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. 
Please help us spread the word!
Forward this message and share on social media. Tag @MSUCRFS and @mihealthfund on Facebook and Twitter.

How has 10 Cents a Meal benefited Michigan kids, farmers, and food businesses? Find out with new findings from @MSUCRFS and @mihealthfund. foodsystems.msu.edu/10-cents-eval-2021

Nearly 200 farmers and food businesses were involved in the food supply chain in the 10 Cents a Meal pilot years. Learn more about the benefits of 10 Cents: foodsystems.msu.edu/10-cents-eval-2021
EMAIL CRFS@msu.edu
CALL 517-353-3535
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