November 10, 2022

This Week in Farm to School 

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

Farm to School Coalition 2019 - 2021 Report

Check out our new Farm to School Coalition of NC Report! This report highlights some amazing success stories across our state that have provided a beacon of hope.



The Farm to School Coalition of North Carolina is committed to bringing communities together through farm to school efforts and ensuring all students, farmers, school staff, and families have the opportunity to participate.

Read here.

Replicable Teacher Professional Development Framework 

November 16, 2022 //  2 pm ET

Join the School Garden Support Organization Network for their Growing School Gardens Summit Webinar Series. During this upcoming session, members of the newly formed Florida Farm to School Collaborative will be sharing about their replicable teacher professional development framework to help school garden educators build gardening confidence, foster collaboration among leaders, and strengthen garden programs for long-term success. 

Register here.

FoodCorps’ Food Operators and Leaders of Color in Schools (FOLCS) Networking Event

November 17, 2022 // 12 pm ET

FoodCorps’ FOLCS program is hosting its first networking event. Join FOLCS to connect with diverse leaders of color in School Nutrition across the country. You’ll also hear about their mentorship program, meet potential mentors and mentees, and learn more about what they hope to accomplish in this network. 

Register here.

Recorded Webinar: Addressing the Student Mental Health Crisis

This Change for Good event provided a forum for national leaders from the US Surgeon General’s office and the US Department of Education to hear first-hand about successful state and local efforts, and for them to respond and share what their agencies are doing to address student mental health. 

Watch here.

North Carolina Crunch 2022 Follow-Up Survey

Please complete this quick follow-up survey to share your final count of participants and any stories you have captured during your NC Crunch celebration. The deadline to complete the survey is November 11th. Thank you to all that participated in the NC Crunch this year!

Complete the survey here.

Carolina Hunger Initiative Job Opening

Are you interested in working with Carolina Hunger Initiative at UNC? They are looking for a new Program Specialist to support budget management for their team. Applications are due Saturday, November 12th.

Learn more here.

USDA Signs Cooperative Agreements with North Carolina to Promote Economic Opportunities for Farmers and Producers

U.S. Department of Agriculture Deputy Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Mae Wu was joined by North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Chief Deputy Commissioner David Smith in Durham, N.C., to announce the signing of cooperative agreements between USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service and state under the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement Program and the Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program.

The funding provided by these programs will enable the North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services to purchase locally and regionally grown, produced and processed food from underserved farmers and producers and distribute the food to local communities and schools.

Learn more here.

Food and Literacy Grant

Deadline: November 15, 2022

The Food and Literacy mini-grants will support food literacy and nutrition programming for North Carolina's public libraries. This opportunity will fund at least five $17,000 grants to public libraries to purchase mobile teaching kitchens, supplemental programming materials, and appropriate safety supplies.

Learn more here.

Brighter Future Fund

Deadline: November 15, 2022

The American Farmland Trust’s Brighter Future Fund application is now open. Applications for grants up to $5,000 funding farm projects building resilience and displaying innovation are encouraged. 

Learn more here.

NC Farm Bureau Ag in the Classroom Going Local Grant

Deadline: November 15, 2022

Going Local Grants help educators provide Pre-K through collegiate-level students with valuable, real-world education and experiences directly related to the agriculture industry and the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. The grants value up to $500. 

Learn more here.

2023 Youth Garden Grant

Deadline: December 2, 2022

KidsGardening's Youth Garden Grant has supported school and youth educational garden projects since 1982. In early 2023, fifty organizations will be awarded $500 in funding and a collection of gardening supplies for their youth garden program. Ten programs will receive a specialty award package among the fifty winners.

Apply here.

From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals

Deadline: December 14, 2022

The primary goal of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) From Learning to Leading: Cultivating the Next Generation of Diverse Food and Agriculture Professionals Program (NEXTGEN) is to enable 1890 institutions, 1994 institutions, Alaska Native-serving institutions and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions, Hispanic-serving institutions (specifically, the certified Hispanic-serving agricultural colleges and universities (HSACUs)), and insular area institutions of higher education located in the U.S. territories to build and sustain the next generation of the food, agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences (FANH) workforce primarily through student scholarship support, paid internships, fellowships, and job opportunity matching, and facilitating pathways to employment in the federal sector.

Learn more here.

USDA Farm to School Grant 

Deadline: January 6, 2022

The United States Department of Agriculture will award up to $12 million in competitive grants to eligible entities through the Farm to School Grant Program in FY 2023. Each grant helps implement farm to school programs that increase access to local food in eligible schools, connect children with agriculture for better health, and inspire youth to consider careers in agriculture. The RFA includes three tracks - Implementation, State Agency, and Turnkey - to support a variety of projects and implementation stages. 

Learn more here.

School Meals for All Campaign

The North Carolina Alliance for Health, Carolina Hunger Initiative, Center for Black Health and Equity, A Better Chance A Better Community (ABC2), and other partners across North Carolina are launching a School Meals for All Campaign! This campaign will work to secure funding for school meals for all so that every child in every public school in North Carolina has access to breakfast and lunch at no cost to their families. Sign up to stay updated on the School Meals for All Campaign.

Learn more here.

Liberation on Land Skillshare Video Series

Soul Fire Farm’s Liberation on Land Skillshare Video Series features Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other people of color farmers and land stewards. The series is intended to equip all of us with the land-based skills needed to reclaim leadership as gardeners, farmers and food justice organizers in our communities, heal trauma and relationships with Earth, and imagine bolder futures. 

Learn more here.

The Power of Setting Intentions, Using Restorative Practices and the Arts for Healing and Social Justice

Learn more about restorative practices in this informative paper written by World Trust facilitator, Yvette Murrell. Explore transformative ways of utilizing the arts for restorative practices that work towards building an equitable world.

Learn more here.

Building Inclusive Communities and Strong Indigenous Youth

EmbraceRace, alongside Indigenous Vision, has created a call to action that highlights culturally affirming approaches to youth development. They acknowledge that insiders and allies can support Indigenous communities by challenging anti-Native narratives that dehumanize and otherwise bring harm to Indigenous communities and youth. Warning: This article does discuss mental health information that may be distressing for some readers.

Learn more here.