News

Deadline for IL Local Food For Schools funding approaches

Funding is available to help increase access to local foods for students. 

Raghela Scavuzzo, executive director of the Illinois Specialty Growers Association says $7.3 million is available to Illinois schools through the Local Food for Schools program.

“We have barely tapped into that at this point and this is not just for fruits and vegetables,” she says. “This is for protein and dairy and all sorts of other things.”

Scavuzzo tells Brownfield the program connects farmers with nearby schools….

“They have tried to make it really easy for their schools and there’s networks and systems like our market maker program,” she says, “which we’ve talked about shop local our directory with over 2300 food and farm businesses is designed to then help them find those farms.”

Open enrollment ends February 29, 2024.  She says interested school districts should contact the Illinois State Board of Education for more information.