Donate to the D.C. Farm to School Network online, join our email list and/or google group, download our brochure, find news & events below, or explore the pages to the left!

The D.C. Farm to School Network is a program of the Capital Area Food Bank, a member of the National Farm to School Network and a partner with School Food FOCUS.

Announcing: D.C. Farm to School Week!  October 12-15th 2010

We will work with all D.C. schools to serve fresh, locally-grown foods in school meals throughout the week.  We’ll also organize farm field trips and chef demonstrations in a number of schools, to help kids better understand where their food comes from.  Would you like to help SPONSOR the event?  Download our Sponsor Packet to learn how.  Learn more at our D.C. Farm to School Week page.

NEWS & UPDATES

September 1, 2010 – D.C. School Food Reform on the Kojo Nnamdi Show!

Listen to the archived recording of Ed Bruske, local gardener, DCPS parent and blogger; and restaurateur Cathal Armstrong discuss how Washington, DC schools are taking steps to get healthier food into cafeterias.  They discuss some of the initiatives happening with the start of the new school year, including serving fresh, local produce and other unprocessed foods, and the Chefs as Parents initiative at Tyler Elementary.

August 24, 2010 – Healthy Schools Act, School Meals & Farm to School

The D.C. Farm to School Network and D.C. Hunger Solutions collaborated to produce this PDF Visual summarizing how the Healthy Schools Act affects school meals.  It outlines the requirements in the Act, the incentives provided to schools that comply, and the penalties for schools who do not.  For more information about how the Healthy Schools Act will impact Farm to School specifically, visit our Healthy Schools Act page.

The makers of FRESH the movie decided to donate 1% of the film’s proceeds to a progressive organization working to “make a difference in the sustainable film movement.”  Cross your fingers that they’ll choose the D.C. Farm to School Network, and we’ll use the funds to make D.C. Farm to School Week stellar!

Last month, DC Farm to School Network took a team of school food providers and a staff member of the DC Council to Delaware to witness local farm production and establish opportunities for collaboration between producers and DC Schools. Read about the trip and its implications in the blog post on DC Food for All HERE.

Sean Clougherty, managing editor of American Farm covers our journey HERE.

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) recently announced the availability of grants for People’s Garden School Pilot Programs. The grants will be awarded to parties seeking to develop and run community gardens at eligible high poverty schools. The pilot programs should aim to teach students about agricultural production, diet and nutrition. For more information go HERE.

Applications are due by 5:00 PM EST on November 8, 2010.

Schools that served more than 60% free and reduced price lunches last year will receive 26 cents for each paid meal, $2.32 for each reduced-price meal, and $2.72 for each free meal from the USDA (through the Office of the State Superintendent of Education).  Find more information about breakfast, snack and supper reimbursements here.

August 5, 2010 – Initiative to Buy Virginia Grown!

The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) under Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell  recently launched the “Choose the Commonwealth!” initiative. The Governor is encouraging all Virginia business and industry leaders to seek out Virginia products, such as Virginia’s Finest and Virginia Grown items.

Check out Virginia’s Finest Directory HERE or search for all Virginia agricultural products HERE.

August 3, 2010 Round-table discussion about DCPS food services

The Community Discussion with Tony Tata, Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Mills, Director of Food Services, and Diana Bruce, Director of Health and Wellness was attended by about 60 community members and advocates.  There were great questions asked about the pilot projects for next year, breakfast in the classroom, nutrition education, procurement of local products, and more.

View blog posts  about the Forum here and a call for more community engagement and strategic planning here.

Building off of the success of Local Flavor Week last year, and combining forces with D.C. School Garden Week, we’ll celebrate fresh, local, seasonal foods this year on October 11-15th, 2010!  We’ll organize farm field trips and chef demonstrations in D.C. schools, and help get healthy, farm-fresh foods served in D.C. school cafeterias.  Mark your calendars, and visit our D.C. Farm to School Week page for more information.

July 15, 2010 – Meeting 8 Recap

We had a great discussion about the D.C. Farm to School Network’s recent successes, upcoming events and projects, and thought back to Local Flavor Week from September 2009.  We brainstormed for D.C. Farm to School/School Garden Week – which will be October 11-15th 2010!

Find slides and meeting notes HERE.

June 10, 2010 – Farm to School Video

Check out this quick clip describing how D.C. Central Kitchen’s Fresh Start Catering provides meals for a number of D.C. Schools using fresh, local ingredients from the Shenandoah Valley Produce Auction.  Talk about a great farm to school connection!

June 3, 2010 – Strawberries & Salad Greens Event!

On June 3, 2010, the D.C. Farm to School Network partnered with schools and food service providers across the District to get fresh, local strawberries & salad greens in over 150 D.C. schools in all 8 wards of the city!  We also helped coordinate hands-on educational displays (complete with plants, maps, gardening tools and stickers) in 16 cafeterias, chef demonstrations in 12 schools, and other educational events.  Read more and link to press coverage in this summary of the event.

School Food FOCUS has developed two pdf documents to help stakeholders better understand school meals -

• The Cost of School Lunch: color and greyscale [PDF]
• USDA Commodity Foods in School Lunch: color and greyscale [PDF]

Listen to their discussion of the Healthy Schools Act, its implications for D.C., realistically implementing the Act in D.C., and its potential to be a national model on the Kojo Nnamdi Show.

DCPS announced that they are looking to contract out services for two pilot projects in a handful of DCPS schools next year.  The contractors will provide 1) “from-scratch” fresh cooked meals made on-site from primarily from whole, unprocessed foods; and 2) “portable” pre-plated meals prepared off-site and delivered to the schools.  In both cases, there are requirements that the contractors use primarily healthy, local foods. Find the full RFP’s here.

The Sweet Life Festival on Saturday, April 24th was a huge success, and raised over $2,000 for the D.C. Farm to School Network (despite the  the cold and wet)!  See some pictures on their blog.  Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out.

Read the front page article on the Healthy Schools Act in Sunday May 2, 2010’s Washington Post.

NBC affiliate News4 compared school lunch programs in DC and Virginia’s Fairfax County. School district officials chose one high school cafeteria in each district and gave news cameras free rein. While the Fairfax cafeteria was the clear winner, offering both more choices and more information to students, Fairfax is three times the size of DC — with a corresponding budget. There were also differences in meal price, student participation rates, and eligibility for free or reduced price meals.

Read on The Slow Cook blog how D.C.’s Washington Jesuit Academy in the Brookland neighborhood in NE D.C. sources local food and cooks creative menus for their students, including fresh, local foods, from Fresh Start Catering.

The Washington Youth Garden’s Garden Science Program brings lessons in nutrition, environmental, earth and life sciences, to elementary schools in D.C. Listen to 88.5 WAMU’s coverage HERE.

The report details the CFSC’s research into four different Farm to School programs across the country, profiling the planning efforts and implications of the results.  Download the full PDF HERE or order a print copy HERE.

Click HERE to read a Washington Post article about E.W. Stokes Public Charter School (in the Brookland neighborhood in NE DC) and their innovative food service program, which provides students with students fresh, minimally-processed foods.  And they’re going local!

Thank you to all of the participating D.C. area restaurants, and to all who came out to eat and drink in support of DC Farm to School and local food!

Bar Pilar, Bread and Brew, Busboys and Poets, Eatonville, Cafe Saint-Ex, Clyde’s Restaurants, Farmers & Fishers, PS-7, ris, Coppi’s Organic, and Blue Ridge Restaurant

Listen to the podcast of the Slow Cook Ed Bruske discussing local food politics, his own kitchen garden in NW DC, and his blog  series ‘Tales from a DC School Kitchen‘.

Learn more HERE. As of now, tours are limited to local schools in the DC region. However, please note, that ‘local’ has many definitions and that the more interest the tours generate, the more likely the White House is to expand tour offerings.

Local Flavor Week this past September was a HUGE success! About 80 schools participated by serving local produce in their school meals and/or organizing fun events for students such as garden visits, farm field trips, cooking demonstrations and more. Local Flavor Week

Highlights and Summary: View the PDF!

Read the Local Flavor Week Press Release HERE.

LFW Resources for Students, for Teachers, for Parents, for Food Service Providers and Watermelon Activities!

Listen HERE to a podcast on WAMU 88.5AM where Andrea discusses “Getting Healthy School Food into Cafeterias.”

A webinar about the National Farm to School Network is available free online. After clicking on this link, scroll down the page and you’ll be able to download the webinar.

Rodale Institute:  The Movement to Make School Food Better

This three-part series covers the accomplishments of the School Food FOCUS Learning Lab districts. Part one details the work in Saint Paul; Part two highlights the work in Chicago; Part three covers what’s happening in Denver.

The Legislative Updates database which tracks federal and state bills filed during the current Congressional and state legislative sessions, provides detailed bill language and status updates. Issues include access to healthy food, school initiatives, menu labeling, sugar-sweetened beverage taxes, and more.

Contact Andrea Northup with specific questions or requests at andrea(at)dcfarmtoschool(dot)org; (202) 526-5344 x 298