National Farm to School Network

Our Partner Annual Meeting in Minneapolis is coming up next month, August 14-16! 👏 We are so honored to welcome our keynote speaker, Linda Black Elk and Luke Black Elk, who will be leading us through a land acknowledgement and welcome. 🎉 Luke and Linda Black Elk are food sovereignty activists and educators in traditional plant uses, gardening, food preservation, and foraging, working with Indigenous communities across the Dakotas and Minnesota. Partners, the last day to register and book your lodging for the Partner Annual Meeting is next Friday, July 26! We would love to see you all there. 💚 ➡️ Register now: https://lnkd.in/ebm98NF9 ➡️ Book your lodging: https://lnkd.in/eFrb3-Jm --- Luke and Linda Black Elk are food sovereignty activists and educators in traditional plant uses, gardening, food preservation, and foraging. They work with Indigenous communities across the Dakotas and Minnesota, preparing traditional foods and medicines. Luke, a founding board member of Tatanka Wakpala Model Sustainable Community, focuses on sustainable living and Lakota spirituality. Linda, the Educational Programming and Community Development Leader at NATIFS, and Luke, the Farm Director at Hohwoju Otunwe, are dedicated to teaching their three sons and their community about the importance of nourishing and healing through traditional practices.

✨ NFSN is recruiting for our second cohort of the Racial Equity Learning Lab, starting this fall! ✨ The application deadline has been extended to TOMORROW, July 16, so apply today: https://lnkd.in/eFXcGd5h In Fall 2023, the National Farm to School Network welcomed our first cohort of the Racial Equity Learning Lab. This group of 13 amazing individuals from across the farm to school movement came together to share, learn, and connect. The rippling impact of the Lab was far-reaching, touching each of our 13 cohort members' students, colleagues, communities and beyond. Check out this beautiful graphic illustration of the stories and learnings from the Lab, created by artist Yen Azzaro. 🌱

Do you want to be part of our next incredible cohort of 13 farm to school advocates, learning to advance racial equity in your work? Don't miss the last chance to apply—the interest form closes on Monday, July 15! 📣 Learn more and submit your application this weekend! https://bit.ly/3znm2qZ ✨ Who can apply: Anyone currently working within the farm to school space! You can be an educator, food service worker, advocate, farmer, producer, or policy expert, as long as you are committed to advancing equity in the farm to school movement. ✨ Cohort overview: The Lab cohort will consist of 13 participants from across farm to school sectors and locations across the country. Cohort members will meet six times virtually, then come together for one in-person retreat in New Orleans. ✨ Stipend: Each cohort member will receive a $3500 stipend to cover both time committed and travel expenses. ✨ What to expect: Cohort members will integrate learnings from the Lab sessions into their own work by utilizing support from mentors and peers; cohort members will identify a focus area in their work to strengthen, and will have opportunities to share their experiences through webinars, blogs, social media posts, and peer-learning.

NFSN is proud to stand alongside one of our longtime Partner organizations HEAL Food Alliance in advocating for food and farm workers in the next #FarmBill! Learn more about what a #WorkerFriendlyFarmBill could be at https://lnkd.in/gR6hw9zs

Calling all educators, students, and advocates passionate about creating positive change in school nutrition! Join the National Farm to School Network and advocates from Connecticut, North Carolina, and California to discover how youth engagement and advocacy can transform school meals. Get inspired by their stories, gain expert insights, and learn practical strategies for effective advocacy. Don't miss out on your opportunity to be part of the movement for healthy, inclusive school meals! Register now at: https://bit.ly/3XRXnor

National Farm to School Network has officially begun recruitment for the second cohort of our Racial Equity Learning Lab! ✨ If you are currently involved in farm to school work as an educator, food service worker, advocate, farmer, producer, or policy expert and are interested in more deeply integrating racial equity in your work—we invite you to join us at our upcoming Public Webinar. ➡️ Register now: https://bit.ly/45JMFSY Join the Public Webinar on July 10 to learn more about the Lab and hear about the 2023 cohort members' experiences. We will also go over recruitment details for the 2024 cohort. The Fall 2024 Cohort Member Interest Form for the Lab is also now open, until July 15! ➡️ Interest form: https://bit.ly/3znm2qZ

Calling all Early Care and Education practitioners—the upcoming Association of State Public Health Nutritionists's Farm to ECE Webinar Series will feature two of National Farm to School Network's policy staff, Ryan Betz and Cassandra Bull. Register now to join and learn more about farm to ECE policy! 🗓️ When: Next Monday, July 8, 2:00pm ET 📍 Where: Zoom - register here: https://bit.ly/45LFABo

Today, July 1, 2024, many of the new USDA nutrition standards for school meals go into effect! These updates include many of the positive changes that NFSN and our Partners had advocated for—that support more nourishing, equitable, and locally sourced school meals. 👏 One impactful area of these updates are the new measures that support culturally relevant meals and accommodate diverse dietary needs. Starting today: 🌱 Schools can include traditional Indigenous foods as part of a reimbursable meal. 🌱 Schools now have a clearer authority to source from Tribal producers and serve Indigenous foods in school meals! 🌱 Schools serving primarily American Indian or Alaska Native children can now serve vegetables to meet the grains requirement. This also extends to Guam and Hawai’i, allowing them to offer culturally relevant vegetables like yams, plantains, or sweet potatoes in place of grains. 🌱 Schools can now serve a wider variety of plant-based proteins! Beans, peas, and lentils can count towards both the “meats/meat alternates” and the weekly vegetable subgroup requirements. Nuts and seeds can also now fulfill the entire “meats/meat alternates” component. These changes will better support students with various dietary preferences or needs, while encouraging a greater variety of protein sources in school meals. This is also an important milestone in recognizing and celebrating the foods that align with students’ cultures in school meals! Read more about these important updates in our latest blog post. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eAhPGs5e

We are thrilled to introduce a new series of resources on Local Food Purchasing Incentives (LFPIs), created in collaboration with Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems! 🥕📚 ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ebkbyCpW Local Food Purchasing Incentive programs, which are currently established in at least 16 states, can... 🌱 Support Child Nutrition: Equitable financial support helps CNPs afford fresh, local ingredients. 🌱 Boost Local Economy: Increases demand for local food, strengthening local markets. 🌱 Enhance Meal Quality: More local ingredients = fresher, nourishing meals for kids! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/ebkbyCpW Head to our website to access the free, 8-part resource, which includes: 🍎 An Introduction to Incentives 🍎 The Benefits of Local Food Purchasing Incentives 🍎 Program Administration 🍎 Program Development and Team Planning Guide... and more!

Are you interested in joining the next cohort of our Racial Equity Learning Lab, or just curious about what NFSN has been up to with our racial equity work? Register now to join the Racial Equity Learning Lab Public Webinar, July 10 at 2pm EST! ✨ ➡️ Register here: https://lnkd.in/eKxBrVEb We are honored and excited to introduce Denee Bex as our keynote speaker for this webinar. Denee Bex is an award-winning Registered Dietician from the Dine (Navajo) Nation and is an advocate for nourishing diets in Native communities that include cultural foods. Learn more about her amazing work here: https://lnkd.in/eeuj-DTW At the Public Webinar, we will also showcase the rippling impact that the Lab has had by sharing a few stories from the 2023 cohort members. 💛 We’ll close out by sharing how you can join the next cohort, so be sure to join us! ➡️ Register here: https://lnkd.in/eKxBrVEb