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April 2019 Dear Michigan Farm to School subscribers, Hints of warm weather in the past week are suggesting spring really is on its way. Equally exciting are the conversations across the state regarding farm to school initiatives. Take a peek at this month’s newsletter to find out what is happening in Michigan and ideas to help grow farm to school at your site!  News Michigan 10 Cents a Meal Shows Benefits The 2018-2019 legislative report suggests continued benefits of the Michigan 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program, providing 93 different fruits and vegetables to 135,000 students across the state. Read more Michigan Communities Address Food Insecurity  Summer camps in community gardens, community programs to help children and families gain “nutrition literacy”, and weekly garden coaching visits are some of the strategies used to address food insecurity and increase nutrition knowledge in local communities.  Read more Events Georgia Farm to School and Early Care and Education Summit June 7-8 Macon, GA Join colleagues across the farm to early care and education and K-12 spectrum for hands-on workshops and professional development and to try locally sourced food as part of the Summit. Register 2019 Iowa Farm to School Conference  June 21-22 Pella, IA Hands-on workshops, field trips, intensive courses, and keynote speakers highlight this 2-day conference in Iowa to learn more about farm to school curriculum, procurement, and building community collaborations.  Register Resources National Farm to School Network Resources Check out the full list of farm to school resources available through the National Farm to School Network. Accessible in one location, the list of free resources is organized by topics such as Getting Started, Policy, Equity, etc., and notes when materials are available in Spanish. View the resources Maximize Information with the Capacity Builder Map Access data for your next grant or find community partners using the Capacity Builder Map. This tool can help you find information such as the USDA Farm to School Census or USDA’s Farm to School Grants, as well as Summer Meal Sites and public-school data, or help sites find the nearest farmers market. Use the tool Opportunities Team Nutrition Grants for FY 2019 Deadline: June 2 Two grant opportunities are available under the Team Nutrition Training Grant Program. Both grants are intended to help State agencies implement job-skills training programs to impact school meal quality. State agencies administering National School Lunch Programs can apply for grant funds, with up to $9 million dollars expected to be awarded in FYI 2019.   Learn more and apply About Michigan Farm to School Farm to School centers around efforts to serve local foods in school and early care and education settings. We share ideas, tools and resources to support a range of efforts, from school garden programming to farmer visits and field trips. Visit mifarmtoschool.msu.edu >> FOODSYSTEMS.MSU.EDU ‌ ‌ ‌

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Launching next week! Workforce assessment of Michigan food system

We need your help to connect with the right people.

Does Michigan have the workforce to grow its good food movement? We need your help to find out! Next week, we will release a survey and begin interviews that focus specifically on the portion of the Michigan food system where good food is grown, processed, distributed, sold, and consumed in Michigan markets. We are doing this workforce assessment research because food grown and processed in Michigan is vital to Michigan’s economy and workforce, and Michigan good food is becoming even more important to the state’s economy. But what we don’t know is: does Michigan have the workforce to continue this growth? We will study: the types and wage ranges of existing and future jobs employer demand for these jobs what skills, education, and training is needed to perform these jobs For more details about this research, please visit the project webpage. Can you help us? We need to connect with employers, workers, educators, training providers, and other stakeholders in Michigan’s local and regional food system. Here are 5 ways to help: Share your data and information Volunteer to take the survey Let others know to contact us Send ideas for who to contact or data to include Volunteer to participate in an interview If you can do any of the above, or are curious to learn more, please visit: http://foodsystems.msu.edu/michigan-food-workforce Thank you in advance for your help! Questions? Contact Jeanine La Prad, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce, at MiFoodWorkforce@skilledwork.org Suggested social media post: What does Michigan’s good food workforce look like and need? If you have existing data, info or ideas about who to survey or interview, visit foodsystems.msu.edu/MiFoodWorkforce. This work is a collaboration between MSU Center for Regional Food Systems, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, MSU Extension, and the Corporation for Skilled Workforce. It is funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The Michigan Good Food Charter describes the importance of “good food” produced and processed in Michigan - food that is that healthy, sustainable, affordable, and pays a livable wage across the supply chain. EXPLORE foodsystems.msu.edu EMAIL CRFS@msu.edu CALL 517-353-3535 FOLLOW @MSUCRFS ‌ ‌ ‌ FOODSYSTEMS.MSU.EDU

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(10 Cents a Meal) FW: Michigan Department of Education Press Release

Greetings,

Please see the just released press release from the Michigan Department of Education regarding the new legislative report on the 10 Cens a Meal for School Kids & Farms program!

Best,

Diane Conners

Senior Policy Specialist

Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities

News Release     Contact:    Martin Ackley, Director of Public and Governmental Affairs, 517-241-4395                   Bill DiSessa, Spokesperson, 517-335-6649   A Lot of Dimes: Michigan 10 Cents a Meal Now  Providing Fruits, Vegetables to 135K Children   143 Farms in 38 Counties Participating   March 29, 2019     LANSING – Michigan's nationally-recognized 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program is filling 135,000 young bodies across the state with a cornucopia of nutritious produce and building relationships with local farmers. Fifty-seven grant-winning school districts purchased 93 different fruits and vegetables grown by 143 farms in 38 Michigan counties so far this year under the program. The districts span the western Lower Peninsula and the state's Washtenaw and Thumb regions. Providing these schools up to 10 cents a meal in matching funds to purchase locally-grown fruits and vegetables, the successful farm-to-school cafeteria program has more than doubled the number of children served since 2016. The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) recently released the pilot program's latest results to the state Legislature in a mid-year report. Now in its third year, the program consistently has shown increases in the numbers of nutritious products served to students and of participating farms. "Michigan recognizes food as an education issue and when we all meet the needs of the whole child, serving healthy food to our children, we all contribute to Michigan becoming a Top 10 education state in 10 years," Interim State Superintendent Sheila Alles said. "Students are taking more fresh apples this school year and more importantly they aren't throwing them away once they leave the register," Jessica Moody, Food Service Director for Mancelona Public Schools, stated in the report. "The switch to all local apples, which taste better, have made a huge difference." Of the 93 products purchased under the program, food service directors cited 67 new Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables that they tried for the first time with their students, according to preliminary results of monthly surveys conducted by the MSU Center for Regional Food Systems. Program records, examined by Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities, showed that besides farms, food processors, distributors, food hubs, and other types of businesses also benefit from the program supply chain. School food service directors said the 10 Cents program's top benefits are the increase in variety of produce served to students, followed by directors' greater certainty in planning of produce purchases.  "Our distributors know we are committed to local farmers and 10 Cents has made them better at sourcing and identifying the source," one food service director said in the monthly surveys. "I describe it as a 'win, win, win' situation," said another. "The farmers are happy, my food service budget is happy, and the students are happy." The report includes data from taste tests and surveys of students; quotes from farmers, food service directors, and other school officials; and "ideas in action" at 10 Cents grantee districts. In all, schools listed 588 different promotional or educational activities they'd implemented through December of the 2018–2019 school year, including taste tests, Harvest of the Month features, and nutrition education in the cafeteria and classroom. The full 2018–2019 legislative report is available here: https://bit.ly/2CIzB4b     # # #     Program contacts: Diane Golzynski, PhD, RDN Director, Office of Health and Nutrition Services State Child Nutrition Director Michigan Department of Education 517-241-5362   GolzynskiD@michigan.gov Colleen Matts Farm to Institution Specialist  Center for Regional Food Systems | Michigan State University 517-432-0310 matts@MSU.EDU Diane Conners  Senior Policy Specialist Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities 231-499-3937  diane@groundworkcenter.org   10 Cents a Meal press release.pdf  Questions?  Contact Us STAY CONNECTED:             This email was sent to golzynskid@michigan.gov using GovDelivery Communications Cloud on behalf of: Michigan Department of Education · 608 W. Allegan Street, P.O. Box 30008 · Lansing, MI 48909

10 Cents a Meal 2018-2019 Legislative Report is Released

Greetings,

The Michigan Department of Education's new 2018-2019 Legislative Report about the state's 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program was released to the legislature today.

The report is available for download at www.tencentsmichigan.org on the home page, About page, and Tools for Communities page. 

Many legislators will be home on spring break with coffee hours scheduled over the next two weeks, and the legislative report is a good hand-out if you want to educate policymakers about the program and the impact it is having as they consider whether to continue, fund, and possibly expand the program during this year's budget process.

To see the nearly 450 individuals and organizations that have signed on as supporters of 10 Cents a Meal — or to sign up if you haven't — you can also click here.

Best,

Diane

*Please note my email address has changed to diane@groundworkcenter.org. 

__________________________

Diane Conners  |  Senior Policy Specialist

Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities

P   231-499-3937

W  groundworkcenter.org

F   Groundwork Center

T   @grndwk

A  148 E Front St, Suite 301  |  Traverse City, MI 49684 

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