Last year at this time, the future for Michigan’s 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms program was iffy. This year, thankfully, legislators aren’t debating whether or not to continue the popular program, but instead how to expand it.
Changing School Food Choices Through Policy Reform
Healthy Kids, Healthy Michigan (HKHM), a coalition of public and private sector health advocates united to fight childhood obesity, has emerged as an important advocate for the 10 Cents a Meal program. HKHM’s Healthy Food Access Team provides important policy support to inform legislators about how 10 Cents is strengthening Michigan, bolstering both students’ health and farmers’ bottom lines.
Building a conversation around school food
A recent overhaul of the federal nutrition rules for schools is meant to provide healthier options for children. But the new requirements-including larger servings of fruits and vegetables that local farmers could grow, less sodium and fat, and more whole grains-have sparked a heated debate nationally and right here in Traverse City.
10 Cents a Meal aims to bring local food to school cafeterias
Would you chip in $1 if it meant 10 schoolchildren could eat locally grown fruits and vegetables at lunch on Monday? How about $10 for 100 kids? That’s about four classes full of children, bursting with energy and ready to learn new things. You can do just that by contributing to a new campaign that starts this fall for a program that could be in place by spring: 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms.
Snyder Samples TC’s Local Food Efforts
New “10 cents” project advocates for an additional dime to be spent on each student’s meal in local schools.
