Districts that collect Free and Reduced meal applications are required to conduct verification. The Verification process began on October 1 and should be completed by November 15th. The Verification Collection Report will be open in NDFoods on November 1, 2023. Schools are required to complete the report in NDFoods by December 15, 2023.
Verification help can be found at the bottom section of the webpage, from this link:
Watch our recent “Across the Desk” for School Nutrition Programs to complete the Verification Tool.
Master the Menu - Incentivized Training
Thank you to everyone who has taken part in our Master the Menu Training thus far. We have had over 200 people fully complete the training and more are being processed for payment weekly! We have many others who are still in the process of taking part in the training.
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If you have been participating in our Team Nutrition "Master the Menu" activities, your District is eligible to apply for SUB-GRANTS!
Sub-grants are available in two categories and your District can apply for both.
1. Equipment Purchase, based on post-training implementation
- DUE December 29, 2023!
- Competitive Grant; We have 50 sub-grants available for up to $2,500 per SFA/District.
2. Personnel Reimbursement
- Due no later than March 29, 2024. Districts can submit any time once expenses have been expended. You may include all incurred costs, as funds may be reallocated as they are available.
- Non-Competitive Grant; this is to help provide reimbursement to the District for personnel expenses paid during participation in Master the Menu Training activities.
- Up to $2,000 per District, based on enrollment.
A few more reminders & updates:
- If you were selected to be a part of the 40-hour 'A Manager's View' track, your training time is coming to an end! Training must be completed by November 30, 2023 in order to be eligible for the $500 incentive bonus. Check your email for communication from Emily Karel.
- We do still have spots left for the 8-hour track 'Meal Pattern Breakdown' for a $100 incentive bonus. If you are interested in taking part, you can register here: Master The Menu: North Dakota's Team Nutrition Training Grant Registration (office.com). This track is geared towards any food service staff member who needs to know the details of the meal pattern.
- Our Meal Pattern Breakdown course will be available in SPANISH on our online learning module for learning by early December 2023! Stay tuned!
If you have questions about this training program, please reach out to Amy Nelson, Project Director, at amylnelson@nd.gov or Emily Karel, Project Coordinator, at ekarel@nd.gov
The 2023 NSLP Equipment Grant is now available for application. There is almost $62,000 from USDA to share among the school kitchens operating the National School Lunch program this year. The application is available HERE!
Remember when applying for these dollars:
- The grant focuses on providing students healthier meals, improving food safety, and supporting the School Breakfast program.
- New, replacement or renovation projects will be considered.
- The minimum request for an individual item must be $1,000. No smallware purchase will be funded.
- The maximum request this year is $10,000. Projects may be more than $10,000, but must find other sources to cover the remaining cost.
- The equipment grant request will be denied if the school food service account has an excess fund balance.
Time is running out, so apply soon as applications must be received at the NDDPI-CNFD office by November 17th.
Also, remember that spelling, grammar and neatness count!
Good luck.
On October 11, the USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program (Farm to School Grant Program) announced the opening of the fiscal year (FY) Farm to School Grant Program Request for Application (RFA). USDA expects to award approximately $12 million in grant awards for activities such as training, supporting operations, planning, purchasing equipment, developing school gardens, and implementing farm to school programs.
Since FY 2013, USDA has awarded over $84 million through the Farm to School Grant Program, funding more than 1,100 projects across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and Puerto Rico, reaching over 28 million students in nearly 63,000 schools. Eligible applicants may include schools and other institutions that operate child nutrition programs, tribal organizations, agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers, nonprofit entities, and state and local government agencies.
The grant program takes a comprehensive approach to advancing equity for all in farm to school programming by prioritizing applications serving at least 40 percent of students who are eligible for free or reduced-price meals; applications from Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) serving tribal communities; applications from organizations led by and serving Black, Indigenous or other communities of color; applications based in and serving rural communities; and applications from agricultural producers or groups of agricultural producers.
If you or an organization you know wants to apply, please visit our Resources for Farm to School Grant Program Applicants webpage for more information. Complete applications must be submitted to Grants.gov by 11:59 pm ET on Friday, January 12, 2024.
Please click this link to register for the webinars on November 1 and 2.
Webinar Registration - Zoom (zoomgov.com) November 1 registration link (Topic: Getting Familiar with the Fiscal Year 2024 Patrick Leahy Farm to School Request for Applications)
Webinar Registration - Zoom (zoomgov.com) November 2 registration link (Topic: Getting your Grant Package Together)
Thank you for participating in all the activities to celebrate Farm to School Month!
We are excited to announce that North Dakota Crunch numbers are 180% higher than in 2022! Final numbers will be available soon.
Bismarck Public Schools and Bismarck-Burleigh Public Health partnered together to showcase Farm to School with a 4-part video series. The series is on Vimeo (link below). The videos start with planting and end with consumption. It’s a very well-done video series, and we hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to share!
BBPH - Farm to School on Vimeo
Bishop Ryan Catholic Schools celebrated Farm to School Month with their “Farm to Table Lunch Day”, click the link to watch the news story! Bishop Ryan celebrates Farm to Table lunch (kxnet.com)
USDA Farm to School Census
The 2023 Census opened the first week of October. It is very important that you participate, as it measures our progress toward improving access to local foods in schools. Every SFA director was sent a shareable link from Farm2SchoolCensus@dir-online.com.
A link is provided below to see the worksheet and sample questions so you can gather your information before receiving the survey. The Census closes at the end of December 2023. Even if you think you’re not doing anything in Farm to School or purchased very few local items in the past, please fill it out.
If you didn’t receive the Census link, or have any questions related to the Farm to School Census, please contact Amanda Olson at amolson@nd.gov or 701-328-0817.
Farm to School Census Partner Resources | Food and Nutrition Service (usda.gov)
November Harvest of the Month is Squash
A follow-up email containing more ideas of how you can incorporate Squash as the Harvest of the Month in November will be coming soon.
If you need extra Harvest of the Month posters, let us know by reaching out to Amanda Olson (amolson@nd.gov).
North Dakota Farm to School Regional Meetings
NDSU Extension, North Dakota Department of Agriculture, and the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction are teaming up to discuss Farm to School. This informational series invites schools, producers, and the public to learn about Farm to School. There will be more details emailed out soon. If you need assistance with travel expenses, please get in touch with Katrina Hanenberg, NDDA Local Foods Marketing Specialist at kmhanenberg@nd.gov
Please register at the links listed below. Each link references a different location/time.
Schedule:
- Tuesday, November 14, 3:30-5:30pm-Jamestown, Gladstone Inn.
- Monday, November 21, 6:30-8:30pm, Williston Research Extension Center
- Tuesday, November 22, 6:30-8:30pm, Dickinson Research Extension Center
- Tuesday, December 5, 10am-12pm, Bismarck, Gateway to Science Innovation Center
- Monday, December 11, 6:30-8:30pm, Devils Lake, Spirit Lake Casino and Resort
Smart Snacks in Schools & Additional Food Sales
Please join us on Tuesday, November 21, 2 p.m. CST.
Does your school coordinate fundraisers in the building, have a school store, sell additional food and beverages during the school day or have vending machines? Does your school foodservice operation assist with catering events? You will want to tune into this month's edition of Kitchen Counter Conversations where we discuss what Smart Snacks mean and how to determine if the additional food sales meet program requirements. We will also dive into how catering events impact your foodservice account.
As always, this webinar will be recorded and posted to our website (UPDATES | North Dakota Department of Public Instruction (nd.gov)) if you are unable to attend live.
This is a Microsoft Teams meeting, please use the link below to join the meeting.
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
During the summer months, many North Dakota children face food insecurity and learning loss that compromises their health and ability to thrive during summer break and to start the school year off on the right track. This is where the USDA Summer Food Service Program is helping by offering a lifeline for families struggling to put enough food on the table, especially once school is out of session and children no longer have access to school lunch and breakfast.
This past summer, schools, and various non-profit organizations offered summer meal programs at meal sites across the state. Breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and snacks were served in schools, parks, libraries, and other low-income areas where children gathered during the summer months. Over 425,000 meals were provided to children this summer, which is a 25% increase compared to last year.
Congratulations on another successful program year to all the North Dakota schools who participated in the Summer Food Service Program this summer!
For more information on how your school can feed kids over the summer month, contact the Child Nutrition and Food Distribution office at 701-328-2294 or dpicnfd@nd.gov.
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