Child Nutrition Programs Grants
The Vermont Agency of Education (VT AOE) Child Nutrition Programs team operates multiple grants which provide resources to Vermont's child nutrition programs. The State Equipment grant, Federal Equipment grant, and Local Foods Incentive grant all occur annually. When one-time funding opportunities are made available, guidance on how to apply for funds and how to manage awarded funds will be provided.
Questions regarding Child Nutrition Grants may be sent to Conor Floyd, conor.floyd@vermont.gov or 802-828-0310.
State School Nutrition Program (SNP) Equipment Grant
Purpose: Provides funding to School Food Authorities (SFAs) to purchase equipment for their nutrition programs.
Eligibility: Supervisory Unions and School Districts that operate or wish to operate the National School Lunch Program. Independent Schools are not eligible.
Grant Awards: Up to $10,000 per School Food Authority-wide application (e.g., a Point-of-Sale system) or up to $5,000 per school (site) specific application.
Multiple Applications: If submitting an SFA-wide application, only one may be submitted. If submitting school specific applications, SFAs may submit one per school.
Match Requirement: SFA must provide a 25% match.
Purchase Minimum: Equipment cost must be at least $200.
Typical Timeline: Applications open in Spring and funds are awarded in Summer. Exact dates will be announced in the Weekly Child Nutrition Update email.
Apply in the Grants Management System.
Federal National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Equipment Grant
Purpose: Provides funding to School Food Authorities (SFAs) to purchase equipment for their nutrition programs.
Eligibility: All School Food Authorities which operate the National School Lunch Program
Grant Awards: Up to $15,000 per school (site) specific application
Multiple Applications: SFAs may submit one application per school (site).
Match Requirement: There is no match requirement.
Purchase Minimum: Equipment cost must be at least $1000.
Typical Timeline: Applications open in late Fall and funds are awarded in Winter. Exact dates will be announced in the Weekly Child Nutrition Update email.
Apply in the Grants Management System.
Local Foods Incentive Grant Program
The Local Foods Incentive program is comprised of two separate grants. The Baseline Year grant is the first grant SU/SDs will apply to when beginning the Local Foods Incentive program. SU/SDs may only receive one Baseline Year grant award. After successfully applying for a Baseline Year grant, the SU/SD may apply for a Subsequent Year grant every year thereafter.
Comprehensive guidance for the Local Foods Incentive may be found within the Grant Guidance Document
The table below provides a broad overview of the two grants.
|
Local Foods Incentive Grants |
Baseline Year Grant |
Subsequent Year Grant |
|
Eligibility |
All SU/SDs are eligible. SU/SDs may only receive one Baseline Year grant. Independent schools that operate Universal School Meals may also apply. |
Any SU/SD that has received a Baseline Year grant may apply for a Subsequent Year grant. SU/SDs may submit a Subsequent Year grant application every year. |
|
Requirements |
There is no local purchasing threshold that must be achieved to receive a Baseline Year grant award. |
Achieve a local purchasing percentage of at least 15%. All local food purchases must be tracked and accompanying documentation must be kept on file. |
|
Local Definition |
For the Baseline Year grant application, the SU/SD can use its own definition of local when estimating the previous school year’s percent of locally produced foods. |
For Subsequent Year grant applications, SU/SDs must use the local-to-Vermont definition prescribed by the legislature. More details on this definition can be found here . |
|
Award Amounts |
$0.15 per lunch served in the previous school year. |
There are three grant award tiers which are based on the grantee’s locally produced foods percentage. The grant award tiers are as follows: 15% local = $0.15 per lunch |
|
Deadline |
Applications due by December 9th |
Applications due by December 9th |
|
Apply |
Via the Cognito Form application |
Via your Financial Report in Harvest |
Local Foods Incentive Resources
Recorded Webinars
2022 LFI Webinar: Covers the basics of the program: how to apply for Baseline Year and Subsequent Year grants, how to calculate your Locally Produced Foods Percentage, what counts as local and what is needed for product documentation, and what to expect during an audit of your application.
2023 LFI Webinar: Purchasing Strategies and Best Practices Roundtable discussion with three Food Service Directors who achieved 15% discussing their strategies for getting there and details of their programs.
Tools and Resources
Vermont Local Foods List: A list of processed and unique food products which qualify as VT Local. If it’s on this list, you don’t need any further documentation (because VT FEED collected the documentation on your behalf). If a food is not on this list, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t qualify, you just need to reach out to the producer for an attestation.
Local Food Tracker Template: A free resource from VT FEED to help you track your local foods purchases.
Local Beef One-Pager: Tips on how to buy, menu, and budget for local beef, which is often cited as the most important single local product from those SFAs achieving 15% local.
VT FEED Resource Hub: Many other resources from VT FEED.