School Food System
Innovation Grant

$100,000 - $1,500,000
Per Award Available

  • Strengthen Maine’s food supply

  • Increase the sourcing and use of Maine foods in school

  • Address barriers for schools

  • Support school nutrition teams

  • Foster lasting partnerships and collaborations

  • Establish sustainable solutions and best practices

School Food System
Innovation Grant

Key Objectives

The School Food System Innovation Grant will support innovative and collaborative pilot projects that reimagine what the local school food system could look like and have the potential to be sustained and/or scaled. Projects can be regional or statewide in scale and should address the unique barriers faced by schools when trying to increase their use of Maine-based items in school meal programs and expand their suppliers.

Proposed activities should be clearly aligned to the following objectives and demonstrate the potential for long-term sustainability and/or scalability in the following six areas:

  • Strengthen Maine’s food supply chain and enhance the capacity of growers, producers, processors, distributors, and other partners to supply fresh, nutritious, and Maine-sourced foods to schools;

  • Increase the sourcing and use of Maine foods in school meal programs across the state;

  • Address barriers for schools related to sourcing, ordering, processing, and/or storing foods produced in Maine; 

  • Support school nutrition teams in using Maine’s fresh ingredients, being responsive to the unique needs and preferences of students, and increasing creative menu development and scratch cooking in school kitchens;

  • Foster lasting partnerships and collaborations between SFAs and community-based food system partners like Maine growers, producers, fisheries, processors, distributors, aggregators, parents, caregivers, students, teachers, administrators, and other food system partners impacted by school food supply chain issues; and

  • Establish sustainable solutions and best practices for the K-12 food system that are scalable and replicable for other SFAs and organizations.

Funding Available

  • The USDA and Full Plates anticipate awarding up to $7.4 million through this grant

  • Funding requests can range from $100,000 to $1,500,000

  • Funds must be used by June 30, 2028

  • This grant does NOT require match funding from grantees

Important Application Dates

  • Sneak peek webinar: February 13, 2024 at 2 p.m. EST

  • Application opens: March 4, 2024 at 10 a.m. EST

  • Launch webinar: March 7, 2024 at 2 p.m. EST

  • Application deadline: May 1, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. EST

  • Notification of awards: June 2024

  • Grant project period: July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2028

  • Final grant reports due: July 31, 2028

Eligibility

Applications must have 1 Lead Partner and at least 2 Partner Organizations. The Lead Partner must be a Maine-based food system partner. This includes:

  • Local growers and producers (e.g., farms, fisheries)

  • Food processors

  • Food aggregators (e.g., food hubs)

  • Food distributors

  • SFAs

  • Food support organizations, including food systems-focused nonprofits;

  • Public sector agencies (e.g., local, county, or state government agency or department)

Application Resources

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender. Read more.