Angela Kretschmar, Executive Director of Heaven’s Windows, a Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Patrick Leahy Farm to School grantee, saw the need and an opportunity to serve her community by delivering nutritious meals to children when school is not in session. Heaven’s Windows recognizes that good nutrition is essential throughout the year and being able to provide meals when the school year, or the school day, has ended can help those children who may otherwise go hungry. Serving San Diego County, Angela and her team knew they wanted to prioritize the use of local foods into their meals, given the abundance of fresh produce and local foods available in the region.

Heaven’s Windows is a charitable organization and community resource network in San Diego aiming to help improve the lives of families, senior citizens, migrants, un-housed individuals, and children. They work to connect people with various resources to help overcome food insecurity and end childhood hunger by providing healthy food. Using their Farm to School grant, Heaven’s Windows supports 11 USDA Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) meal sites in the San Diego area to ensure that children receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. The free meals, which are served throughout the summer months and at eligible after-school programs throughout the school year, meet the federal nutrition guidelines and are provided in areas with significant concentrations of low-income families. Heaven’s Windows also provides meals for children and teens of the Campo Band of Mission Indians, where the nearest major grocery store is 50 miles from the Campo Reservation. Heaven’s Windows has provided meals and food since 2015 to families on the reservation, helping feed around 100 households weekly.

As mentioned, Heaven’s Windows and its community partners wanted to take advantage of the richness of grocers, farmers’ markets, and vendors that provide fresh, local foods to the San Diego Community. In 2021, Heaven’s Windows distributed over 500,000 pounds of local foods, and in 2023, they distributed over 700,00 pounds! Most of the local foods served were aggregated from the San Diego Food Bank, Feeding San Diego, ProduceGood, and Senior Gleaners, a consortium of collaborative non-profits that seek out farmers’ markets and local farms and look for opportunities to make connections for local procurement possibilities. Heaven’s Windows’ strong community partnerships allow them to help reach their goal of having 90% of their food purchased from local sources. Heaven’s Windows also provides nutrition education materials, conducts cooking classes at community centers, displays nutritional information on posters, and highlights local food option on their menus.

USDA Releases Establishing the Summer EBT Program and Rural Non-Congregate Option in the Summer Meal Programs Interim Final Rule: Comment Period Open

USDA’s goal across all summer nutrition programs is simple: connect children with nutritious food during the summer months to help them grow and thrive. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 requires the Secretary of Agriculture to make available to States an option to provide summer meals for non-congregate meal service in rural areas with no congregate meal service and to establish a permanent summer electronic benefits transfer for children program (Summer EBT) for the purpose of ensuring continued access to food when school is not in session for the summer. The interim final rule published on December 29, 2023, is an important step forward in increasing access to these services.

USDA welcomes your feedback and invites you to comment on the interim final rule. Comments received will inform the final rule. You can submit comments through April 29, 2024.

USDA’s 100^th Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum

USDA’s 100^th Annual Agricultural Outlook Forum (AOF), “Cultivating the Future,” will take place virtually and in-person on February 15-16, 2024, in Arlington, Virginia. USDA offers a unique opportunity to learn about the latest trends and developments in agriculture from leading experts and industry professionals while also networking with key players in the industry. Whether you’re a farmer, policymaker, industry leader, market analyst, or simply interested in the future of agriculture, the AOF is the perfect place to connect, learn, and engage.

Fun Fact! The AOF is USDA’s oldest and largest annual gathering, which began in 1923 to distribute and interpret national forecast to farmers in the field.

Help Make MyPlate a Household Name

Streaming entertainment services. Social media. Smartphones and smart homes. Society today is more diverse and dynamic than ever. Unsurprisingly, many elements of our daily lives–even the foods we eat–are customizable for our personal preferences, budget, and dietary needs. USDA’s MyPlate offers customizable resources and tools to fit your lifestyle and preferences without sacrificing traditions and favorite family recipes. It’s the simple way to make healthy eating choices at every stage of life, from infancy to older adulthood. The MyPlate symbol colorfully represents the concept of a balanced diet as a memorable snapshot that even children can understand.

MyPlate.gov has a variety of free resources and online tools for extension professionals to help people learn to eat better, one bite at a time.

• The MyPlate Plan is personalized based on your age, sex, height, weight, and activity level.
• The Shop Simple tool offers tips for shopping every aisle at your local grocery store for cost savings, plus new ways of preparing budget-friendly foods.
• The Start Simple mobile app lets you set daily food goals and track your real-time progress.
• MyPlate Quiz offers personalized resources based on your quiz results.
• MyPlate on Alexa gives you healthy eating tips on your Amazon Alexa device, smartphone, or tablet using the app.
• There’s also MyPlate Kitchen, with more than 1,000 healthy recipes.

Follow MyPlate on Instagram or Facebook and share your MyPlate wins by posting to social media and tagging us using #whatsonmyplate.

Celebrate World Pulses Day!

On February 10, World Pulses Day is an opportunity to raise public awareness of the nutritional and environmental benefits of growing and eating pulses. Pulses are a sub-group of legumes that are harvested for their dry seeds. Pulses have high protein content, are rich in soluble fiber, and are known to be used for intercropping and cover crops to help promote soil biodiversity. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations published A Guide to World Pulses Day 2024 to learn more about pulses and key actions you can take to celebrate.

Need some recipe inspiration? Here are some plant-forward recipes featuring pulses from Friends of the Earth's Climate-Friendly School Food Program. These recipes were created and implemented on menus in various school districts within California. Click the buttons below to view the recipes!

USDA Local and Regional Food Systems Resource Guide

The USDA Local Regional Food Systems (LRFS) Resource Guide helps stakeholders quickly familiarize themselves with USDA programs that most often serve local and regional food systems stakeholders and connect to these services. Stakeholders can use this resource to partner with USDA to address climate change, create more and better market opportunities, support food and nutrition security, and advance racial justice, rural prosperity, and equity. In addition to the LRFS Resource Guide, you can identify relevant USDA programs at a glance using the USDA Programs in the Local Food Supply Chain Fact Sheet.

Safe Meals, Healthy Kids: Food Safety Tips for Safe Summer Meals Webinar

USDA Food and Nutrition Service will host a national webinar for summer meal providers titled “Safe Meals, Healthy Kids: Food Safety Tips for Safe Summer Meals” on January 31, from 3:00 – 4:30 pm ET. The webinar will include a food safety presentation and some refreshers on the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) meal pattern, share tables, and other policy topics related to food safety, such as non-congregate meal service. There will also be a sharing session and a Q&A session. The webinar is for summer meal providers and others who may provide food safety training or technical assistance for summer meal operations. Pre-registration is not required. Attendees can join at the time of the webinar using the link below.

ASPHN’s Farm to ECE 2023-2024 Webinar Series

Join the Association of State Public Health Nutritionists (ASPHN) for their 2023-2024 Farm to Early Care and Education (ECE) webinar series. The monthly series will review topics, innovations, and ideas in farm to ECE to help grow the program in your State or locality. The next webinar will be held on February 13 from 2:00- 3:00 pm ET and is titled, “Caring for Chickens and Bees: Ways to Integrate Livestock in Farm to ECE.” 

Applications Open for Funding of Innovation and Partnerships in Rural School Food Systems 

As part of the USDA’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, funding and learning support are now available for a cohort of up to 35 rural school food authorities (SFAs). Project SCALES (Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems) will work with SFAs over a two-year period to help them build partnerships and innovative solutions that increase local procurement in their school meal programs. The Center for School and Community Partnerships at Boise State University will provide a grant (up to $150,000) for each SFA, with expert technical assistance from LunchAssist. For more information and to apply, visit the Project SCALES website. The online application portal is open, and the application submission deadline is January 26, 2024. 

Vermont FEED 2024-2025 Farm to School Institute Adaptation Program-Apply Now!

Vermont FEED’s Farm to School Adaptation Program helps State farm to school leaders grow robust, long-lasting farm to school training programs. State leaders learn to hold farm to school “institutes” that engage whole-school teams in building shared leadership and capacity and sustainable farm to school programs that connect-the-dots between classrooms, cafeterias, and communities through action planning, coaching, peer networking, and skill building.

Join Vermont FEED to bring the Institute model to your state! Applications are due Monday, January 29, 2024. Read the FAQ page and Adaptation Program webpage for more information about the program, the Institute model, and in-person retreat details.

Supporting the Use of Traditional Indigenous Foods in the Child Nutrition Programs Cooperative Agreement Request for Applications Now Open! 

USDA FNS released a Request for Applications (RFA) for the Supporting the Use of Traditional Indigenous Foods in the Child Nutrition Programs Cooperative Agreement which will be open through March 18, 2024. Through this cooperative agreement, FNS will engage organizations led and primarily staffed by members of Federally Recognized Tribes and/or Native Hawaiians to provide regionally focused training and technical assistance to school nutrition professionals on procurement, preparation, and crediting of traditional Indigenous foods as part of the Child Nutrition Programs. The cooperators, with FNS guidance and approval, will also develop culturally relevant nutrition education materials for students to accompany the traditional Indigenous foods that are served, and the cooperators will train school nutrition professionals and other school staff on providing nutrition education to students. Two informational webinars about the RFA are scheduled for February 8 (1:00 pm ET) and February 13, 2024 (3:00 pm ET).