When the Chicago-based team at Common Threads began thinking about the robust urban agriculture network in the Chicago area, a lightbulb went off – why not build local food into their programs? Common Threads is a national nonprofit that provides children and families hands-on cooking and nutrition education. In Fiscal Year 2020, the Common Threads Chicago team was awarded a $100,000 USDA Farm to School grant to develop the programmatic infrastructure needed to source food from community-based urban farms for its school-based cooking and nutrition education programs. As they began implementing the grant, they quickly realized that procuring local foods is not just a transaction, but a partnership.

Growing connections between the programs Common Threads leads in Chicago Public Schools and nearby urban farms was the key to their local procurement success. Building these connections started with an intentional effort by the Common Threads team to have a stronger presence in the local food and urban agriculture space in the Chicago community. They started attending convenings of local food stakeholders to learn to build local food into their programs in ways that made sense for farmers, chefs, and school curricula.

As connections started to take root, Common Threads began taking a “farmer-informed” approach to local procurement. They got feedback from urban farmers about their growing seasons, which led to setting up planned purchases further in advance. The Common Threads team also asked urban farming organizations to provide input on their program curricula. By meeting with local farmers often, they aim to continue making local procurement work for everyone.

Today, Common Threads has incorporated local foods into the curriculum and recipes of the cooking and nutrition education programs they lead for Chicago Public School students during and after school. They’ve developed two lesson plan series that emphasize seasonality and local food systems. The first is a three-lesson Small Bites Workshops series through which students learn about the local food and farming community in Chicago and make a healthy, locally grown snack with a trained chef. The second is a five-lesson Farm to School Cooking Skills series designed for students to learn from a professional chef how to roast, bake, sauté, and use proper knife skills while preparing healthy meals made mostly of ingredients sourced from Chicago-based urban farms.

Common Threads’ ultimate goal is to create a scalable model for local procurement that can integrate local foods into similar nutrition education programming at other schools both in Chicago and across the country. For the Common Threads team, building local procurement wasn’t a clean, linear process but a rewarding journey that led to lasting partnerships with Chicago’s urban agriculture community.

USDA Launches 2022 Census of Agriculture

In November, USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) mailed invitations to respond to the 2022 Census of Agriculture to agricultural producers across the nation. Producers can respond online or via mail by February 6, 2023. These data will impact decisions that will shape the future of American agriculture for years to come. Please join NASS in encouraging producers to respond by amplifying NASS’s messages on social media and sharing census information with producers and your partners. Visit NASS’s Partner Tools site for census outreach resources.

USDA Procuring Local Foods Webpage

The USDA Farm to School Program’s Procuring Local Foods webpage is the best place to find resources related to finding, buying, and serving local foods in the USDA Child Nutrition Programs. The featured resource is the Procuring Local Foods for the Child Nutrition Programs Guide, which is a comprehensive resource for all things local procurement. You can also find links to procurement related fact sheets, policy memos, and regulations on the webpage.

The Common Market Releases New Local Procurement Resource

The Common Market, a nonprofit wholesale food distributor, recently released a school food procurement resource entitled “Advancing School Food Procurement: Driving Values-Based Purchases Through Competitive Solicitations.” The resource was created to inspire and support schools interested in shifting toward or growing opportunities for local and other “values-based” procurement methods through key findings from expert interviews, tangible tips, case studies, and examples of competitive solicitations and contract language.

New USDA Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production E-letter

USDA’s Office of Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production (UAIP) has launched a new quarterly e-letter. The office of UAIP works to help urban and suburban communities grow fresh food, address food loss and waste, and ensure that USDA partners with farms of all sizes and in all locations. This new e-letter will provide UAIP information and resources relevant to urban farmers, community organizers, government officials, innovative producers, students, and anyone interested in UAIP.

FoodCorps Seeking Participants in Food Operators & Leaders of Color in Schools Network

FoodCorps is seeking participants in a network dedicated to advancing leaders of color in school nutrition. The Food Operators & Leaders of Color in Schools (FOLCS, pronounced like “folks”) community provides opportunities for Black, Indigenous, Multiracial, and People of Color professionals to connect around school nutrition leadership development, mentorship, and networking. There is no cost to participate, and participants have access to Career development workshops, a year-long mentorship program, virtual networking opportunities, and more!

National CACFP Sponsors Association Accepting Conference Scholarship Applications

The National Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) Sponsors Association is now accepting scholarship applications for the 2023 National Child Nutrition Conference (NCNC), which will be held April 10 – 14 in San Diego, California. NCNC is an annual event for professionals who administer CACFP. Thirty scholarships will be awarded: 15 to attend the conference in-person, and 15 to attend virtually. In-person scholarships will include conference registration, four nights' lodging at the conference hotel, and up to $300.00 for travel. Applications are due January 10, 2023.

USDA Farm to School Grant Program Application Deadline Approaching

The Request for Applications (RFA) for the FY 2023 Farm to School Grant Program closes on January 6, 2023. USDA expects to award up to $12 million in competitive grants to eligible entities through the program in Fiscal Year 2023.

USDA Regional Food Business Centers Application Deadline Re-Extended 

The USDA Agricultural Marketing Service extended the deadline for the Regional Food Business Centers Request for Applications to January 6, 2023. The centers will provide coordination, technical assistance, and capacity building to help farmers, ranchers, and other food businesses access new markets and navigate federal, State, and local resources.

Webinar Recording Available on the Request for Applications for the Development and Implementation of Healthy Meals Incentives School Food System Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants Cooperative Agreement

The Request for Applications for the Development and Implementation of Healthy Meals Incentives School Food System Transformation (SFST) Challenge Sub-Grants Cooperative Agreement remains open through February 1, 2023. The SFST Challenge Sub-Grants are a key part of USDA FNS’ Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, which aims to improve the nutritional quality of school meals. A recording of recent the informational webinar describing the funding opportunity is available here.