Local Food for Schools Funding Information
The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD) is pleased to announce the Local Food for Schools (LFS) funding information is now available.
This notification provides the following information about the LFS funding opportunity:
- LFS background information
- Attestation information to accept or decline LFS funds
- LFS webinar registration
- LFS contact information
Background
The U.S Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the LFS funding opportunity.The USDA awarded the CDE just over $23 million to allocate to eligible school food authorities (SFA). The goal of this program is to strengthen California’s food systems by providing funding specifically for the procurement of unprocessed or minimally processed foods from a local, regional or in state farmer, rancher, or producer with an emphasis on those that are a small business and/or a socially disadvantaged business. The funds from the non-competitive grant are available to schools participating in the National School Lunch and/or School Breakfast programs.
Eligible SFAs who opt-in to this program are required to submit procurement documentation and a purchasing timeline to receive the initial payment and provide quarterly progress and financial data reports on actual purchases to ensure program goals are met. The allocation of funds is based on participation and enrollment data to ensure equitable distribution to individual school districts.
The CDE has a predetermined formula which is a base payment of $5,000 plus a proportional funding amount based on the SFA’s share of statewide enrollment from October 2021. The CDE will use this information to determine each agency’s total LFS funds allocation.
For more information on the LFS Funding please visit the CDE LFS Funding web page.
Attestation Information
Eligible SFAs intending to accept or decline (opt-out of) their LFS funding allocation must complete and submit the required attestation. We request that all SFAs complete the attestation, even those intending to opt-out so that we have record of each SFA’s decision.
The attestation should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. Please note, the attestation requests each SFA to enter the following, so please have this data available prior to completing:
- Total number of local producers/vendors each SFA currently procures food products from
- Number of local producers/vendors that are from socially disadvantaged groups
- Number of local vendors/producers that are small businesses
- Value of purchases from local producers/vendors that are from socially disadvantaged groups
- Value of purchases from local vendors/producers that are small businesses
Attestation Due Date
The attestation must be completed and submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 31, 2023. Late submissions will not be accepted.
Attestation Access
LFS Webinar
The CDE is hosting an informational webinar on March 15, 2023, from 2:00–3:00 p.m.
The LFS webinar will include information on the following topics:
- Eligible institutions
- Registering for funds
- Allowable usage of funds
- Reporting requirements
- Funding timeline
- Questions and answers
Much of what will be covered is included on the CDE LFS web page.
Webinar Registration
This webinar is free to attend on Zoom. Please register in advance for this webinar
.
After registering, you will see a screen that says Webinar Registration Approved with a link to the webinar. You will also receive several emails with the information about joining the webinar. First, you will receive confirmation the day you register and then you will receive two reminder emails: one day and one hour prior to the webinar. If for some reason you cannot find the email confirmation or do not receive the reminders you can always reregister.
Tip for Attendees
To save time before the meeting, check your system to make sure it is ready to use Zoom.
- Visit the Zoom test link
.
- If you experience issues, visit Zoom Help Center web page
for assistance.
If for some reason you receive an error message that the host has declined your webinar registration, try using an alternate email address. While not ideal, you may also join by phone if you have technical issues logging in from your computer
Reasonable Accommodation
Pursuant to state and federal statutes, individuals with a disability may request reasonable accommodation to attend or participate in this webinar. Please note that Live Captioning will be available during the webinar.
Contact Information
If you have any questions regarding this subject, please email LFSGrant@cde.ca.gov.
