Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative
As part of a cooperative agreement to develop and implement the USDA Food and Nutrition Service’s Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, Action for Healthy Kids (AFHK) is offering Recognition Awards to celebrate School Food Authorities (SFA) that have made significant improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals. The Recognition Awards will spotlight innovative practices, student and community engagement activities, and strategies schools have used to provide meals that are consistent with the 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
SFAs meeting Recognition Award criteria will receive national and local recognition, as well as an awardee toolkit that includes digital assets, and travel stipends to attend a national Healthy Meals Summit. Action for Healthy Kids will highlight and share diverse best practices nationwide from Recognition Awardees through traditional and social media, stakeholder engagement, training and technical assistance activities, and Healthy Meals Summits.
Also as part of the cooperative agreement, Action for Healthy Kids has announced that they have awarded nearly $30 million in subgrants to 264 school districts across 44 states and the District of Columbia, reaching students in some of our nation’s highest need schools. These funds are being provided by USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.
Each small and/or rural school district will receive up to $150,000 to support them in improving the nutritional quality of their meals and modernizing their operations, through efforts which could include: innovative staff training programs; kitchen updates and renovations; redesigning food preparation and service spaces; other school-district led efforts to support school meals and school nutrition professionals.