Disinvestment in School Meals

Every child in Wisconsin deserves nourishing food at school. However, decades of disinvestment—stemming from racism and discrimination—have left our children with few healthy and culturally diverse options while they’re trying to learn. 

Read more about what youth in Wisconsin have to say about school meals in our report, Wisconsin Youth Conversations. 

To help eliminate these disparities, earlier this year we announced a grant opportunity of up to $250,000 to build pathways for local and nutritious food to reach more schools across Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana — especially in areas that don’t have equitable access to resources. 

“This effort will help address health disparities among people of color who experience higher rates of poverty and food insecurity than majority populations which translates to higher risk of disease outcome. Nutritional health is so important because how we eat affects how we think and feel; this determines the trajectory of our life and how long we live to enjoy it,” shared Bridgett Wilder of Perseverance Health in Milwaukee. 

First Round Complete

We’re so excited to announce that in the first round of grants (due April 30), we received 67 applicants! And, Wisconsin had the most of any state:

• Illinois: 16 
• Indiana: 13 
• Michigan: 17 
• Wisconsin: 19 
• Out of State: 2 

Thank you to everyone that took the time to consider and apply. Our goal is to support communities in providing nourishing food for our kids, and with so many great applications, making a decision will be incredibly hard.

The awards will be announced by June 30. Partnerships and coalitions across Wisconsin submitted some awesome innovative projects. Fingers crossed!

Contact

Daithi Wolfe, dwolfe@kidsforward.org