Supporting the Use of Traditional Indigenous Foods in the Child Nutrition Programs

Anna Arrowsmith
anna.arrowsmith@usda.gov

The USDA Food and Nutrition Service offers funding for organizations led and staffed primarily by members of federally recognized tribes and/or Native Hawaiians to provide tailored training, technical assistance (TA), and support for school food authorities (SFAs) that serve tribal communities and participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Awardees will also develop culturally relevant nutrition education materials for students to accompany the traditional indigenous foods that are served and train school nutrition professionals and other school staff on providing nutrition education to students

Program objectives:

1. Gather information on barriers to including traditional Indigenous foods in lunch programs and strengths and challenges related to training and TA, provide a report to USDA, and utilize information gained to inform project implementation
2. Provide culturally appropriate training and TA to meet the unique needs of school nutrition professionals who procure, prepare, and serve meals for tribal communities
3. Market and distribute resources, tools, and trainings through culturally appropriate avenues
4. Develop culturally relevant nutrition education materials for students to accompany the traditional Indigenous foods that are served as part of their meals; train school nutrition professionals and other school staff on providing culturally relevant nutrition education to students; and ensure that nutrition education is delivered to students
5. Support the establishment of new procurement relationships; supply chain development/coordination; development, standardizing, and testing of new recipes; and/or increased engagement of students and their parents/caregivers, school nutrition professionals, other school staff, and tribal partners in increasing traditional indigenous foods
6. Facilitate a regional community of practice of school nutrition professionals from tribal serving schools to share best practices, collaborate, and learn from each other
7. Provide funding in the form of sub-grants to SFAs participating in the NSLP to support them in the implementation of concepts learned through training and TA (optional)

Lists of required activities and suggested approaches for each objective are provided in the application instructions.

Applicants must be one of the entity types:

• 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations
• School food authorities that participates in NSLP
• Tribal government owned entity, arm, or instrumentality
• Native Hawaiian organization as recognized by the Department of the Interior
• Other non-governmental entities including Tribal Colleges and Universities
• Fiscal sponsor of any of the above eligible organizations

The leadership and staff of the applicant must be predominantly (more than 50%) members of federally recognized tribes and/or Native Hawaiians.

Applicants must demonstrate existing relationships, experience and expertise in training, TA, school nutrition, indigenous foods, and nutrition education.

Award ceiling: $500,000
Award floor: $250,000
Project period: 2 years
Estimated number of awards: 4
Estimated total program funding: $2,000,000

Links to the full announcement and online application process are available through grants.gov. The application instructions will be found on the related documents tab.

While not required, potential applicants are encouraged to email a letter of intent to Anna Arrowsmith by February 14, 2024.