Cherokee Nation
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- Website: Summer EBT Program
- Hotline: 539-234-3265 or 800-256-0671 ext. 5275
- Email: wicsebtc@cherokee.org
Washington, D.C., Oct. 11, 2022 – The Biden-Harris Administration today provided $50 million in grants for schools to invest in new food service equipment that will allow them to continue serving nutritious meals. Today’s funding adds to the $30 million in equipment grants that the administration gave schools earlier this year. This announcement comes as USDA stands with partners and advocates in the child nutrition community to celebrate National School Lunch Week (October 10-14), a time to recognize the critical nutrition that school meals provide to tens of millions of children every school day.
The added support for school meals and child nutrition builds on the momentum from last month’s White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, where the administration unveiled a national strategy to end hunger and reduce diet-related disease by 2030.
“Ensuring access to nutritious school meals is one of the best investments we can make in our fight to end child hunger and improve health,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “As we celebrate the valiant efforts of school nutrition professionals across the country this National School Lunch Week, USDA is doubling down on our commitment to helping schools overcome challenges including higher food prices and continued supply chain disruptions. These additional resources will allow schools to provide healthy, appealing meals by meeting vital food service equipment needs.”
USDA provides grant funds to states (see: state-by-state breakdown), which use a competitive application process to award them to school districts that participate in the National School Lunch Program. School districts can use the funds to purchase upgraded equipment that will support:
Here are a few testimonials about how the equipment grants have improved food service for school districts around the country:
These grants are only the latest in a series of efforts the Biden-Harris Administration has taken to financially support school meals and ensure our nation’s children are nutritionally secure. Last month, USDA launched the first phase of a $100 million Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative, which will award grants for small and rural schools to improve their meal quality. The request for applications is open to all nongovernmental organizations through Nov. 28, 2022. Later this year, FNS will announce the second and final phase of the initiative that will expand nutritious food options for school meals through collaboration with food industry partners.
Here’s a snapshot of the investments USDA had made in school meals for the 2022-2023 school year.
The administration is also investing in child nutrition more broadly. Last month, USDA issued a final rule that improves children’s access to USDA’s Summer Food Service Program through streamlining and strengthening program operations. USDA also approved families of nearly 33 million children to receive summertime child food benefits of $391 per child for summer 2022, with higher amounts in Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories. These benefits through the Summer P-EBT program are helping families cover food costs from the summer months when schools was out of session.
This announcement is part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. The National Strategy provides a roadmap of actions the federal government will take to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030 – all while reducing disparities. The National Strategy was released in conjunction with the first White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in over 50 years, hosted by President Biden on Sept. 28, 2022.
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, promoting competition and fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate-smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov.
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