Grants / Department of Agriculture / Food and Nutrition Service

USDA-FNS-2023-HMI: Development and Implementation of Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards and Sub-Grants for School Food Authorities

Closed Closed November 28, 2022 Opportunity USDA-FNS-2023-HMI ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Harvest to Hallways: National School Lunch Program, Equipment Assistance Grants (USDA-FNA-CN-HTH-NSLP-EAG-2027). Status: Closes January 11, 2027 (65 days left). It is in our archive of Food and Nutrition Service notices from 2022.

• Award ceiling$47.0 million
• Award floor$30.0 million
• Total funding$47.0 million
• Expected awards1
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits and colleges and universities.

• Public and State controlled institutions of higher education
• Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education
• Private institutions of higher education

This RFA is open to all non-governmental entities, including accredited colleges/universities, private or public non-profit or for-profit research institutions, or organizations with experience working in school food service and working with school nutrition professionals to improve the nutritional quality of school meals. Further, the cooperator and/or its partners must have experience in planning and implementing conferences and meetings. Cooperator experience in managing a recognition awards program is highly desired.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Child Nutrition Discretionary Grants Limited Availability awards averaged $954,532; this notice allows up to $47.0 million per award.
• Most of the program's money (55% over five years) went to state and local governments.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

USDA FNS has established the Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative to improve the nutritional quality of school meals through food systems transformation, SFA recognition and technical assistance, the generation and sharing of innovative ideas and tested practices, and grants. This Initiative consists of four key activities: The Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Awards for SFAs will recognize and share best practices from SFAs that have made significant improvements to the nutritional quality of their school meals. The Healthy Meals Incentives Grants for Small and/or Rural SFAs will offer competitive grants of up to $150,000 per grant for small and/or rural SFAs experiencing challenges in the improvement of the nutritional quality of their school meals due to limited staffing, difficulty in accessing training, increased food costs due to limited purchasing power, lack of physical space, and outdated kitchen equipment. The grants are intended to help small and/or rural SFAs overcome these challenges, improve the nutritional quality of school meals, and meet Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award criteria. Healthy Meals Summits will convene Healthy Meals Incentives Recognition Award recipients and School Food Systems Transformation grantees to be recognized, share best practices, and discuss strategies for sustaining their achievements into the future. School Food Systems Transformation Grants will stimulate innovation in strengthening the availability of nutritious food products in the kindergarten–12th (K–12) grade school food marketplace. The Healthy Meals Incentives activities noted above are expected to increase utilization, and thereby demand, for nutritious agricultural commodities, such as whole grains, vegetables, legumes, and fruits as well as food products that reflect various cultures. These efforts are also positioned to strengthen small and rural SFA’s access to nutritious agricultural commodities through food systems transformation and grants to small and rural SFA’s. The collection and sharing of best practices regarding SFA’s use of nutritious agricultural commodities in school meals, as well as the incentivization of practices such as nutrition education (including farm to school nutrition education), use of local agricultural products in scratch cooking, and the development of culturally diverse school meal menu items is also expected to indirectly benefit producers that supply food products to schools.

Category: Agriculture, Food and Nutrition.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, USDA-FNA-CN-HTH-NSLP-EAG-2027, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.