Resource & Action Center

Policymakers, parents, farmers, produce suppliers, school principal, cafeteria manager, and student sitting around a table meeting about a universal values-aligned school meal

Who Gets the Food to the Table?

More People Than You Might Think

Scroll through the journey

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Stage 2: The Truck

Greenhouse gas emissions from transportation are responsible for 27% of total U.S emissions. Local procurement is one solution and some organizations like food hubs are taking practical steps by gathering and redistributing local foods or food distributors/schools that value local foods. Let’s support the local economy and the environment while delivering fresh, farm-to-school food to ALL students, every day... Read More

Stage 3: The School

As well as instilling a love of curiosity and learning in our kids around academic and vocational subjects, what if we empowered them a reflection of the cultural diversity and the knowledge and skills of how their food gets to them via programs like scratch cooking and school gardens?... Read More

Stage 1: The Farm

The people who grow, harvest, process, and prepare our food shouldn’t have to struggle to put food on their own tables. Yet, a majority of the 2.5 million farm workers in the United States lack wage and safety protections, often exposed to harmful chemicals and dangerous working conditions. We must build relationships between producers, workers, and consumers to enrich our communities. Read More

Stage 5: The Student

As well as instilling a love of curiosity and learning in our kids around academic and vocational subjects, what if we empowered them with something else too? A reflection of cultural diversity and an understanding of how their food gets to them via programs like scratch cooking and school gardens? Read More

Stage 4: The Cafeteria

We must invest in the salaries, equipment, training, and operational support that school food professionals like food directors, nutrition experts, cafeteria managers and the folks who serve food, and see on a daily basis what kids choose to eat, and what gets chosen for them. Read More

Stage 6: The Compost

35 million tons of food waste is sent to landfills each year, where it decomposes to produce methane, a gas that is damaging to the environment. Getting food scraps into compost transforms food waste into healthy soil that can support new plants and crops. Composting can also create green jobs and liberate communities from toxic waste. Read More

And here we are back at the farm to begin all over again. We have come full circle, living our values as we navigate through the food system. Done right we can bring all the resources back to the farm, so nothing is wasted, nothing goes into landfills and the cycle starts again.

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More folks than you would think.

Values-aligned universal meals is a new way of thinking about the entire system that feeds our kids. From schools to policymakers to parents to farmers, and more–it takes a community to ensure quality foods are passed down the table to students every day, in a sustainable way.

Who are the people involved at the universal values-aligned school meal table
1
Policymakers
“My goal is to create opportunities across communities by ending school hunger.”
2
Parents
“I'm glad when school meals reinforce the healthy habits I try to instill at home.”
3
Farmers / Farm Workers
“Kids are smart—they taste the care we put into our local produce.”
4
Produce Suppliers
“Our process is steeped in values: local, sustainable, and fresh.”
5
School Principals
“Fresh food is just like textbooks - both are necessary to succeed.”
6
Cafeteria Managers
“Paper work and budget restrictions make things hard, but I juggle these to do what I love—keeping kids nourished.”
7
Students
"When the food is good and we know where it's coming from, no one is embarrassed to eat it."

If you agree with the importance of Values-Aligned School Meals, share these tools below to start a conversation about how food gets to our kids—hand to hand, farm to table.

Soon, we'll be sharing stories, resources, and ways to get involved in our values-aligned school meals campaign.

Let's make sure we feed our kids. Every single one.

Dig in! Learn more about Values-Aligned Universal School Meals.

Action Packs

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for a general audience

Feeding Kids Is Common Sense. Maintaining nutrition quality while actually reducing costs per meal. Read more here

No stigma for kids without the right paperwork.  In schools without universal meal service, students who do not have paperwork to verify their income are often singled out for unpaid meal debt or skip meals due to stigma. Read more here  

The 2010 “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids” Act, made school meals –pre-pandemic– the healthiest kids eat all day. CNN summary here and the original JAMA article here. Rigorous examination of 47 peer-reviewed studies found benefits to kids, including improved diet quality, food security, and academic performance

Leverage the Power of School Food Purchasing. Child nutrition programs across the country exercise collective purchasing power on a massive scale. Find out how here

Real Food, Real Ingredients, Real Careers When nutrition professionals have the resources they need to cook from scratch, they can provide nourishing meals with more fresh, unprocessed ingredients. Find out more about all the benefits of scratch cooking from The Lunch Box, from the Chef Ann Foundation

Enrich the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local food producers by enhancing food purchasing and education practices. Read more about the benefits of Farm to School

Jennifer Gaddis talks about the centrality of racial justice organizing to the success of the food movement, and the stunning connections between school food and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and uprisings against white supremacy in the United States. School Food Politics: A Conversation with Jennifer Gaddis, author of “The Labor of Lunch” Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for students

Enrich the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local food producers by enhancing food purchasing and education practices. Read more about the benefits of Farm to School

Jennifer Gaddis talks about the centrality of racial justice organizing to the success of the food movement, and the stunning connections between school food and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and uprisings against white supremacy in the United States. School Food Politics: A Conversation with Jennifer Gaddis, author of “The Labor of Lunch”  

School gardens are an integral part of farm to school programs. They offer great  educational opportunities as hands-on, interdisciplinary classrooms for students of all ages. Read more about Starting and Maintaining a School Garden  

When we say school nutrition professionals are heroes, we mean it! That’s why we celebrate them every spring with the annual School Lunch Hero Day. Join schools across the country who are recognizing the difference these team members make for every child who comes through their cafeteria. Read more about how to celebrate  School Lunch Hero Day by School Nutrition Association  

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for caregivers

Leverage the Power of School Food Purchasing. Child nutrition programs across the country exercise collective purchasing power on a massive scale. Find out how here

Lunchroom Education from The Lunch Box. Click here for ideas on engaging students with food-focused activities, to teach and demonstrate important connections to food

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for school food service workers  

Feeding Kids Is Common Sense. When schools have the funding to be able to serve meals to all kids, studies show that schools can maintain nutrition quality while actually reducing costs per meal. Read more here

No stigma for kids without the right paperwork. In schools without universal meal service, students who do not have paperwork to verify their income are often singled out for unpaid meal debt or skip meals due to stigma. Read more here  

Lunchroom Education from The Lunch Box. Click here for ideas on engaging students with food-focused activities, to teach and demonstrate important connections to food

Real Food, Real Ingredients, Real Careers When nutrition professionals have the resources they need to cook from scratch, they can provide nourishing meals with more fresh, unprocessed ingredients. Find out more about the benefits of scratch cooking at The Lunch Box, from the Chef Ann Foundation

Check out the Healthy School Toolkit by FoodCorps - a set of resources designed to: Take a snapshot of your current school food environment. Guide your school community in creating a vision for the future. Document your action plan for working toward that vision. Evaluate and celebrate your school community’s history and progress

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for educators

Check out the Healthy School Toolkit by FoodCorps - a set of resources designed to: Take a snapshot of your current school food environment. Guide your school community in creating a vision for the future. Document your action plan for working toward that vision. Evaluate and celebrate your school community’s history and progress

When we say school nutrition professionals are heroes, we mean it! That’s why we celebrate them every spring with the annual School Lunch Hero Day. Join schools across the country who are recognizing the difference these team members make for every child who comes through their cafeteria. Read more about how to celebrate  School Lunch Hero Day by the School Nutrition Association 

School meal programs in the U.S provide $40 billion in health and economic benefits to over 30 million students. Check out this report from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Center for Good Food Purchasing which shows an analysis of school meal programs in the U.S., finding that the programs provide $40 billion in health and economic benefits to over 30 million students daily

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Slide 1 heading

General Interest

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for a general audience

Feeding Kids Is Common Sense. Maintaining nutrition quality while actually reducing costs per meal. Read more here

No stigma for kids without the right paperwork.  In schools without universal meal service, students who do not have paperwork to verify their income are often singled out for unpaid meal debt or skip meals due to stigma. Read more here  

The 2010 “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids” Act, made school meals –pre-pandemic– the healthiest kids eat all day. CNN summary here and the original JAMA article here. Rigorous examination of 47 peer-reviewed studies found benefits to kids, including improved diet quality, food security, and academic performance

Leverage the Power of School Food Purchasing. Child nutrition programs across the country exercise collective purchasing power on a massive scale. Find out how here

Real Food, Real Ingredients, Real Careers When nutrition professionals have the resources they need to cook from scratch, they can provide nourishing meals with more fresh, unprocessed ingredients. Find out more about all the benefits of scratch cooking from The Lunch Box, from the Chef Ann Foundation

Enrich the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local food producers by enhancing food purchasing and education practices. Read more about the benefits of Farm to School

Jennifer Gaddis talks about the centrality of racial justice organizing to the success of the food movement, and the stunning connections between school food and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and uprisings against white supremacy in the United States. School Food Politics: A Conversation with Jennifer Gaddis, author of “The Labor of Lunch” Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Students

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for students

Enrich the connection communities have with fresh, healthy food and local food producers by enhancing food purchasing and education practices. Read more about the benefits of Farm to School

Jennifer Gaddis talks about the centrality of racial justice organizing to the success of the food movement, and the stunning connections between school food and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and uprisings against white supremacy in the United States. School Food Politics: A Conversation with Jennifer Gaddis, author of “The Labor of Lunch”  

School gardens are an integral part of farm to school programs. They offer great  educational opportunities as hands-on, interdisciplinary classrooms for students of all ages. Read more about Starting and Maintaining a School Garden  

When we say school nutrition professionals are heroes, we mean it! That’s why we celebrate them every spring with the annual School Lunch Hero Day. Join schools across the country who are recognizing the difference these team members make for every child who comes through their cafeteria. Read more about how to celebrate  School Lunch Hero Day by School Nutrition Association  

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Caregivers

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for caregivers

Leverage the Power of School Food Purchasing. Child nutrition programs across the country exercise collective purchasing power on a massive scale. Find out how here

Lunchroom Education from The Lunch Box. Click here for ideas on engaging students with food-focused activities, to teach and demonstrate important connections to food

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

School Food Service Workers

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for school food service workers  

Feeding Kids Is Common Sense. When schools have the funding to be able to serve meals to all kids, studies show that schools can maintain nutrition quality while actually reducing costs per meal. Read more here

No stigma for kids without the right paperwork. In schools without universal meal service, students who do not have paperwork to verify their income are often singled out for unpaid meal debt or skip meals due to stigma. Read more here  

Lunchroom Education from The Lunch Box. Click here for ideas on engaging students with food-focused activities, to teach and demonstrate important connections to food

Real Food, Real Ingredients, Real Careers When nutrition professionals have the resources they need to cook from scratch, they can provide nourishing meals with more fresh, unprocessed ingredients. Find out more about the benefits of scratch cooking at The Lunch Box, from the Chef Ann Foundation

Check out the Healthy School Toolkit by FoodCorps - a set of resources designed to: Take a snapshot of your current school food environment. Guide your school community in creating a vision for the future. Document your action plan for working toward that vision. Evaluate and celebrate your school community’s history and progress

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Educators

Check out our Action Pack with information and suggestions for taking action for educators

Check out the Healthy School Toolkit by FoodCorps - a set of resources designed to: Take a snapshot of your current school food environment. Guide your school community in creating a vision for the future. Document your action plan for working toward that vision. Evaluate and celebrate your school community’s history and progress

When we say school nutrition professionals are heroes, we mean it! That’s why we celebrate them every spring with the annual School Lunch Hero Day. Join schools across the country who are recognizing the difference these team members make for every child who comes through their cafeteria. Read more about how to celebrate  School Lunch Hero Day by the School Nutrition Association 

School meal programs in the U.S provide $40 billion in health and economic benefits to over 30 million students. Check out this report from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Center for Good Food Purchasing which shows an analysis of school meal programs in the U.S., finding that the programs provide $40 billion in health and economic benefits to over 30 million students daily

Link to all National Farm to School Network Fact Sheets & Resources

Social Media Kits

Raise awareness of this issue by downloading images and copy you can post

NFSN Resources

ResourcesValues-Aligned school mealsPress Center