The Urban School Food Alliance (USFA), a nonprofit coalition of school nutrition professionals dedicated to providing nutritious meals to students across the nation's largest school districts, is releasing an interactive digital toolkit designed to help school food and nutrition programs identify and source local food products, including meat.

The comprehensive 20-page digital toolkit serves as a practical, one-stop reference for school food and nutrition programs, tailored to each region of the United States. Designed with busy school nutrition professionals in mind, the guide features interactive regional breakdowns highlighting available local sources.

"This toolkit was created to bring ease of use to school nutrition professionals who are working tirelessly every day to serve nutritious meals to students," said Dottie Arnold, FCSA cooperative agreement administrator for the Urban School Food Alliance. "It functions as a true one-stop reference toolkit, consolidating regional sourcing information so busy teams can quickly find reliable local options without extensive research."

Katie Wilson, executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance, said, "Sourcing local foods significantly enhances the nutritional quality of school meals by delivering fresher, more flavorful options that support student health and wellness. We are grateful to our partners at the USDA for collaborating with us on this beneficial toolkit, which will help advance healthier school environments nationwide."

This project was funded in part, by the USDA Cooperative Agreement with the Urban School Food Alliance, which focuses on improving procurement practices for school meals, addressing barriers faced by school food authorities and providing training and resources to support healthier options. This project aligns with the on-going work USFA supports to bring more local products to schools through webinars for local producers and TeamUp procurement trainings.

Source: Urban School Food Alliance