January 26, 2023

This Week in Farm to School 

Farm to school connects local agriculture, schools, and partners to benefit students, educators, farmers, families, and communities.

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2023 North Carolina Jr Chef Competition (NCJCC)

Application due: February 3rd

Did you know that the NC Jr Chef Competition maximizes educational opportunities by offering a real-world application to classroom learning for students through creating and testing recipes for school meals.

The competition also enhances organization, teamwork, leadership, communication, and presentation skills for students!

Learn more here.

Food Justice for Food Security

February 1, 2023 // 10 am - 11 am ET

Join the Durham County Food Security Office for their third of four virtual training focused on food justice. This session will be led by Camryn Smith from Communities in Partnership. For more information, contact Mary Oxendine, moxendine@dconc.gov.

View the training here.


Principles of Culturally Response Garden Education: Honoring Diversity and Inclusion

February 1, 2o23 // 7 pm ET

Join KidsGardening for their new 2023 webinar series in partnership with Clif Family Foundation: Culturally Inclusive Teaching in the Garden. This webinar will delve deep into the significance of cultures as it relates to food and garden and also as it relates to diverse populations with who we work. Through student voices and examples, Dilafruz Williams and Sheila Williams Ridge will share the principles of culturally responsive garden education that honors diversity and inclusion.

Register here.


2023 NC Child Hunger Leaders Conference

February 22, 2023 // 8 am - 4 pm ET

Registration is now open for the 2023 NC Child Hunger Leaders Conference, an annual day of celebration and inspiration for anyone invested in making sure kids have access to healthy food. The one-day event is presented by the Carolina Hunger Initiative at UNC and will take place at The Friday Conference Center in Chapel Hill. Attendees will have a chance to connect with other child hunger leaders from across the state, learn about new strategies and success stories, and leave reenergized to continue the fight against child hunger.  

Register here.


Recorded Webinar: SGSO Network Music in the Garden Webinar

This School Garden Support Organization Network webinar demonstrated how to incorporate multi-sensory music experiences into your school garden curriculum. Symon Hajjar of Hot Toast Music Co. shared songs and lesson ideas, and facilitated a discussion about how to take advantage of the integrated learning opportunities found in a garden.

Watch here.

Tell us about your event!

Job Opportunity - Farm Manager/Educator at the NC State Agroecology Education Farm

The Center for Environmental Farming Systems is hiring a Farm Manager/Educator at the NC State Agroecology Education Farm. The Agroecology Education Farm is a 6-acre facility in Raleigh, NC at the Lake Wheeler Field Station that promotes agroecology and sustainable agriculture education through hands-on learning opportunities for NC State students, staff and faculty, and the surrounding community.  The Farm Manager will support both small-scale, and organic vegetable production while supporting various educational learning opportunities with diverse individuals.  All food produced from the Agroecology Education Farm goes directly to NC State Dining and campus eateries as well as to the food pantry on campus. 

Apply here.

2023 KidsGardening Youth Garden Grant Winners!

Congratulations to Shady Brook Elementary School in Kannapolis, North Carolina, and Newland Elementary in Newland, North Carolina for being the recipients of the 2023 KidsGardening Youth Garden Grant! You can view all of the rest of the winners here.

MasterChef Junior Casting

MasterChef Junior is searching nationwide for kids (8 to 13 years old) who love to cook and who want to try out for this fun, lighthearted show! Their goal is to get the word out to all the kids who have a passion for cooking and the potential to learn and blossom into a MasterChef Junior.

Submit an application here!

Visit our Resource Library!

Levels of Racism: A Theoretic Framework and a Gardener’s Tale

Camara Phyllis Jones presents a theoretic framework for understanding racism on 3 levels: institutionalized, personal, and internalized. This framework is useful for raising new hypotheses about the basis of race-associated differences in health outcomes, as well as for designing effective interventions to eliminate those differences.

Learn more here.

 

Confronting the Nonprofit Racial Leadership Gap

Race to Lead’s report explores disparity in leaders of color in the nonprofit sector. To increase the number of people of color leading nonprofits, the sector needs a new narrative about the problem and new strategies to address it. Nonprofits have to transfer the responsibility for the racial leadership gap from those who are targeted by it (aspiring leaders of color), to those governing organizations. 

Learn more here.

GroMoreGood Grassroots Grants

Deadline: February 10, 2023

The GrowMoreGood Grassroots Grant, brought to you by The Scotts Miracle-Gro Foundation and KidsGardening, is designed to bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens to communities across the United States. The Grassroots Grants are part of The Scotts Miracle-Gro’s larger GroMoreGood initiative, which will bring the life-enhancing benefits of gardens and greenspaces to 10 million children by the end of 2023. 

Learn more here.


Growing Minds Farm to School Funding Opportunities in Western North Carolina

Deadline: February 15, 2023

The Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project's Growing Minds program wants to help fund your farm to school project in Western North Carolina! This mini-grant program connects K-12 schools throughout the 18 westernmost counties of North Carolina with local agriculture and gives children positive experiences with healthy local foods through the four components of farm to school: farm field trips, local food cooking and taste tests, school gardens, and local food served in school cafeterias. Farm to school activity mini-grants will be provided up to $1000. 

Mini-grant applications are due every month on the 15th through April 15, 2023, and will be awarded by the 30th of each month!

Learn more here.


2023 NCDA&CS Specialty Crop Block Grant Program

Deadline: March 3, 2023 

The NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is accepting grant applications for the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. Nonprofits and government agencies wishing to apply should send a pdf draft application to jenni.keith@ncagr.gov. The Specialty Crop Block Grant Program aims to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops in the marketplace. The department will accept grant requests up to $200,000.

Learn more here.


School Nutrition Foundation Equipment Grants

Deadline: March 31, 2023

The School Nutrition Foundation is teaming up with industry partners to provide new kitchen equipment to deserving districts. Apply now for the 2023 SNF Equipment Grant Program, featuring applications for five grants! Eligible applicants have the opportunity to win equipment grants, each worth between $20,000 to $100,000 of equipment. Applications and photos must be submitted by a School Nutrition Director. There is a submission cap of 30 applications for each grant. 

Learn more here.

School Meals Advocacy Day

Save the date for the North Carolina Alliance for Health's advocacy day on March 14 to share the importance of school meals with the North Carolina General Assembly.

Register here. 

U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Agriculture (USDA) Announce 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee

On January 19, 2023, HHS and the USDA announced the appointment of 20 nationally recognized nutrition and public health experts to serve on the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. The Committee will be tasked with reviewing the current body of nutrition science and developing a scientific report that includes its independent, science-based advice for HHS and USDA to consider. The Committee’s review, along with public comments on its scientific report and agency input, will help inform HHS and USDA as they develop the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2025-2030.

Learn more here.

Farmers for Climate Action - Rally for Resilience

March 6-8, 2023 // Washington D.C. + satellite events hosted by partners around the country

The Rally for Resilience, led by the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition and other partners across the country, will bring together farmers and farm organizations from all over the country with a united request for their members of Congress–make climate change policy a priority in the 2023 Farm Bill! If you are interested in learning more about how you can participate, fill out this brief form and someone will be in touch.

Learn more here.

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