About Us
What is the D.C. Farm to School Network?
The D.C. Farm to School Network is a coalition of diverse stakeholders working to incorporate more healthy, local foods into Washington, DC school meals, and to connect students with where their food comes from. Our Network includes teachers, parents, farmers, food service providers, school administrators, environmental organizations, farmers’ market directors, health advocates and community members. We are a group of organizations and individuals that care about the health and well being of the District of Columbia’s kids, our local environment and our local food economy. We are housed in Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture.
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What is the D.C. Farm to School Network’s mission?
To improve the health and well being of schoolchildren in the District of Columbia, and of our local environment and food economy, by increasing access to healthy, local, and sustainable foods in all Washington, D.C. schools; and to connect D.C. schoolchildren with where their food comes from.
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What is Farm to School?
Farm to School programs connect local farmers with schools to get more healthy, local foods into school cafeterias. Farm to School efforts improve child health; reconnect students with where food comes from; provide health, food and environmental education opportunities; and support the local food economy.
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What is Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture?
The D.C. Farm to School Network is a program of Arcadia, a new non-profit organization that aims to raise awareness about healthy food and its sources, and establish innovative connections between sustainable local farms and consumers. Arcadia’s mission is to create a more equitable and sustainable local food system which will improve the health of our community, increase the viability of local farmers, and preserve our environment for future generations. Learn more at the Arcadia website or blog.
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What is the National Farm to School Network?
The National Farm to School Network is an nation-wide organization that helps local farm to school programs grow. They are committed to educating, sharing information, and facilitating communication among local farm to school initiatives. The National Farm to School Network has regional “lead” agencies, and the mid-Atlantic regional lead is the Food Trust in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The D.C. Farm to School Network is the D.C. state lead agency, representing farm to school programs in the District of Columbia on the national stage.
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What are the benefits of Farm to School?
- Gets more unprocessed, local foods into school cafeterias
- Kids eat more healthy foods like fruits and vegetables because they are fresh and taste better
- Increases student alertness, improves student attitudes
- Reduces disparities in access to healthy, local foods
- Engages youth in health, food and environmental issues
- Increases school lunch satisfaction and participation
- Reaches families and communities with messages about healthy eating
- Provides markets for local and family-owned farms
- Preserves local land as open space
- Reduces school food carbon footprints
For more information, download the Bearing Fruit report summarizing the results of multiple farm to school evaluations.
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What is the D.C. Farm to School Network’s organizational structure?
The Network is a program of Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture, and is funded in part by a Healthy Eating Active Living Grant from Kaiser Permanente. Andrea Northup is the Network’s full-time Director, and founded the Network just over 3 years ago. She has previously worked in the fields of child nutrition, youth engagement and community health, and holds degrees in Public Health and Environmental Engineering from Tufts University. In her spare time she loves playing ultimate frisbee, volunteering with other innovative non-profits, and cooking delicious food.
Our staff also includes Liz Whitehurst – Farm Education Coordinator; Tom Flanagan – Mobile Market & School Educator; and Katherine Bryant – Farm Field Trip Logistics Coordinator.
The Network also has an Advisory Board of members representing key stakeholders in the local school food community. We also collaborate with a number of non-profit and for-profit organizations, government agencies, individuals, and coalitions.
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What does the D.C. Farm to School Network do?
We leverage our Network of stakeholders to identify creative solutions that make more healthy, local foods available in Washington, DC school meals. We are focused around 3 main program areas:
- Hands-on education about food origins, nutrition, cooking, and the importance of eating healthy, seasonal, farm-fresh foods through farm field trips, cooking demonstrations, mobile market visits to schools, and in-cafeteria taste tests;
- Assistance to school food service operations to help them integrate healthy, local, farm-fresh foods into school meals, through trainings, tools, resources and direct assistance; and
- Community engagement and outreach around farm to school issues through parent/family outreach, policy advocacy, and involvement in community-based coalitions.
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What are our Guiding Principles?
To direct our efforts and clarify our goals, we’ve adopted guiding principles based on similar principles upheld by the National Farm to School Network:
- We support experiential education that complements access to local foods in school cafeterias – such as school gardens, chef demonstrations and farm visits – so that students can form a lasting understanding of, appreciation for, and connection to healthy foods and their origins.
- We encourage Farm to School relationships that provide fair compensation to family or grower owned and operated farms that use sustainable practices.
- We organize around a spirit of collaboration, inclusion and respect, as creating change in the school food system will take a diverse coalition of community partners.
- We encourage healthy eating habits and knowledge among children – this is the first step towards healthier families and communities.
- We support farm to school programs across the entire District of Columbia – in its public, charter and private schools.
- We hope to capitalize on Washington, DC’s unique strengths and provide a model for Farm to School programs across the nation.
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How can I get involved?
- Provide in-kind or financial support – contact Andrea at andrea[at]dcfarmtoschool[dot]org for more information.
- Join our e-newsletter and/or google group discussion forum by filling out THIS form.
- Learn more about farm to school in Washington, DC by exploring the information on this website!
- Volunteer – we have special events throughout the year, and need volunteers to help! When you fill out the e-newsletter form (link above), be sure to indicate that you’d like to volunteer, and you’ll receive volunteer opportunities updates.
- Forge relationships with other advocates – check out our list of partners below.
Are you a school food service provider or grower or do know of a school that wants to get involved? Or do you have other questions? Contact Andrea Northup with specific questions or requests at andrea(at)dcfarmtoschool(dot)org.
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What other organizations are involved in this movement?
The following is a collection of organizations, groups, and blogs connected to and supportive of food distribution, the local food movement, and making sure that fresh food is available to everyone.
Local Organizations
National Organizations
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Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture aims to improve the health of area residents by providing a direct link to area farms. The organization does this by way of a farm for both sustainable production and consumer education; a mobile market that brings local fresh food into low-income neighborhoods and a center that operates as a local food distribution “hub”.
