Updated 09/11/09

Washington Grown
Fruits and Vegetables
Grant Program

Established by the WA State Local Farms-Healthy Kids Act in 2008, the program is administered by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. The program currently provides 25 schools around Washington with funding to purchase Washington grown produce for their school’s snack program. Schools are encouraged to tie the snack program to education about health and nutrition and agricultural stewardship, and to work with community partners to enhance the project. The WSDA Farm-to-School Program works closely with OSPI and the grant-funded schools to assist with identifying locally grown foods for purchase, developing partnerships to enhance the snack programs, and for sharing curriculum materials and resources to build the learning components. The nutrition directors at each selected school are invited to join a list serve administered by the WSDA program to share ideas, seasonal food choices, recipes, education materials and partnership successes, and to learn from each other.

In their tough budget decisions for the coming biennium, the State Legislature reduced the WA Grown Fruit and Vegetable program budget for the school years starting in 2009 and 2010. For these years there will be 12 instead of 25 schools participating in the program. In happier news, the USDA Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Program received increased funding from the federal government, so more schools will be able to participate in that program. While the USDA program does not require Washington grown produce, we do provide services to help those schools identify and purchase locally-grown food. If your school is in either program, please contact us for assistance.

        Which schools have the grant?

        Which schools are eligible for the grant?

        How can I help get the grant for a school in my  community?   

        Who funds the program?

Which schools have the grant? 

A J West Elementary	Aberdeen School District	Aberdeen
Gildo Rey Elementary	Auburn School District	Auburn
Armin Jahr Elementary School	Bremerton School District	Bremerton
Beverly Park Elementary School	Highline School District	Burien
Shiloh Hills Elementary School	Mead School District	Mead
Nooksack Elementary	Nooksack Valley School District	Nooksack
Madison Elementary	Olympia School District	Olympia
Onalaska Middle School	Onalaska School District	Onalaska
Onion Creek	Onion Creek School District	Colville
Pomeroy Elementary School	Pomeroy School District	Pomeroy
Republic Elementary School	Republic School District	Republic
Van Asselt Elementary School	Seattle Public Schools	Seattle

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Which schools are eligible for the grant?

The grant gives priority to those schools that have over 50% of their students eligible for the free and reduced lunch program. Other schools will be considered if there is funding left over after those schools have been selected.

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How can I help get the grant for a school in my community?

Due to state funding cuts to the program, there are only 12 schools receiving the grants in the 2009-2010 school year. These were selected from schools that participated in the 2008-2009 school year, to give them a chance to build on the work they started last year. We hope that a second year for the pilot schools will build capacity to ensure the success of the program and demonstrate the potential benefits so the program can continue into the future to more schools. When the program is open for new schools to apply, OSPI will send grant applications and information to the school nutrition directors for each district in Washington and the notice will go out on our f2sconnections listserv. (Send an email to Farmtoschool@agr.wa.gov to ask to be added to the listserv to receive this and other updates!)

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Who funds the program?

The WA Fresh Fruits and Vegetables grants are funded solely by the Washington State Legislature, which must appropriate funding each session to continue the program.

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WA Grown Fruits and Vegetables Grant Program

Adele Roberts
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction
Adele.roberts@k12.wa.us
(360) 725-0410

Tricia Sexton Kovacs
WSDA Farm-to-School Program
FarmtoSchool@agr.wa.gov
(360) 902-2029