 Volume 4, Issue 1, January 9, 2018
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Happy New Year from the Office of Community Food Systems!
The Office of Community Food Systems (OCFS) wishes all of our readers a Happy New Year! Our long-term vision is for every child, in every Child Nutrition Program, to have access to local food, every day.
It is a popular practice to make resolutions at the start of a new year. What are your resolutions or goals for 2018? How will you increase local foods in your school meals program, summer meal program, or Child and Adult Food Care Program (CACFP)? What methods will you use to engage more agricultural producers and establish partnerships within your community? How will you enhance your local economy by supporting your local producers?
Share your goals, visions, and ideas to increase the use of American agriculture goods -- you may be featured in an upcoming E-letter! We want to hear from you!
Leveraging
State Farm to School Networks to Affect Legislation
Date: January
18, 2018 at 2:00pm
ET
Learn how state farm to school
networks and stakeholders can have an impact on local and state legislation
that supports farm to school efforts. Guest speakers will include Natalie
McKinney, Executive Director of the Kōkua Hawaiʻi Foundation and NFSN Hawai’i
Core Partner, discussing lessons learned from organizing, advocating and
keeping the pressure on to successfully pass state farm to school policy.
Attendees will take away tips and tools for jumpstarting advocacy efforts in
their own communities.
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Study links gardening
to eating more fruits, vegetables
Researchers reported in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics that young gardeners eat more greens during their first year of college. A recent study that included more
than 1,100 freshmen at eight US universities found those with recent or
childhood gardening experience ate 20 percent more servings of fruits and
vegetables, compared with those who had never gardened. Among the more than
5,000 students considered for participation in the study, 85 percent did not get the
recommended daily servings for fruits and vegetables.
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2018 Project Orange Thumb
Grant Application
The Fiskars Project Orange Thumb Grant Program will grant 30 recipients $3,500 in gift cards and tools to help support their goals of neighborhood beautification and horticulture education.
The garden initiative must be for a not-for-profit or 501(c)(3) organization within North America that has not received a Project Orange Thumb grant in the past. The Project Orange Thumb team looks for organizations committed to the long-term success of gardens that will promote healthy and sustainable food sources, community collaboration and neighborhood beautification.
Examples of new garden initiatives and garden expansion initiatives Project Orange Thumb has supported in the past include:
- Gardens that grow produce for school meal programs;
- Gardens created to increase environmental and agricultural education in the community;
- Gardens donating produce to hunger relief programs;
- Gardens for nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, and related facilities; and,
- Gardens created to aid in healthy eating and lifestyle educational programs.
Applications are due by 11:59pm CST on February 2, 2018. Please review the terms and conditions before proceeding.
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Learn more at http://www.fns.usda.gov/farmtoschool or contact us at farmtoschool@fns.usda.gov.
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