Center for School & Community Partnerships

MARCH 23, 2023: We are thrilled to have been selected by the United States Department of Agriculture as one of four teams to collaborate on the School Food Systems Transformation Challenge Sub-Grants Initiative, which aims to catalyze locally-developed innovations and partnerships that ensure a resilient and equitable school food system across the nation.

Project SCALES (Supporting Community Agriculture and Local Education Systems) will provide sub-grant funding and technical assistance to 70 school districts nationwide over the next five years. The project will be led by Dr. Lindsey Turner. Our key partner is LunchAssist, an organization that provides expert technical assistance to school nutrition professionals. Our team includes collaborators Dr. Erin Hager at Johns Hopkins University, and Dr. Hannah Lane at Duke University. Project SCALES will also be guided by several consultants, an expert advisory board with representatives from many large national organizations, and dissemination partners including the National Farm to School Network.

The first cohort of 35 school districts (2024-2026) will be from rural communities and the second cohort of 35 school districts (2026 to 2028) will be from rural, suburban, or urban areas. We will be announcing our request for applications from school districts later in 2023, and we look forward to doing this exciting work in collaboration with our partners!