Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has announced that the Biden-Harris Administration is providing up to $1.5 billion to states and school districts to help school meal program operators deal with the challenges of supply chain disruptions brought on by the pandemic. As the administration continues to work towards Building a Better America by investing in our communities, the funding announced today will help to provide our nation’s children with the nutritious foods they need to thrive.
With funding made available through USDA’s Commodity Credit Corporation, USDA will provide $1 billion for schools to purchase food for their meal programs and another $300 million for states to purchase foods to be distributed to schools. An additional $200 million will be used for cooperative agreements to purchase local foods for schools with a focus on buying from historically underserved producers. A state-by-state breakdown of funds can be found in this table.