School Programs (Food Access)

The DUG Network serves as a community connector and advocate for DC area residents of all ages and levels of interest. Below is a list of organizations offering food access and nutrition programs and other activities developed specifically to engage students in school and classroom settings.

Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

logo for Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

Arcadia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating a more equitable and sustainable local food system in the Washington, DC area. Based on the historic grounds of Woodlawn Estate in Alexandria, VA, Arcadia manages four distinct program areas which include Arcadia Farm, Farm to School, Mobile Market, and Food Hub.

Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture

Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food and Agriculture - Specific Information on School Programs

CentroNía

logo for CentroNía

CentroNía is a nationally recognized, award-winning educational organization that provides affordable, high quality education, professional development and family support services in a bilingual, multicultural environment to more than 1500 children.

CentroNía

CentroNía - Specific Information on School Programs

City Blossoms

logo for City Blossoms

City Blossoms is a nonprofit dedicated to fostering healthy communities by developing creative, kid-driven green spaces and innovative resources, approaches, and techniques.

City Blossoms

City Blossoms - Specific Information on School Programs

Cultivate the City

logo for Cultivate the City

Cultivate the City is urban farmers working to feed families & communities with pesticide-free, locally-grown food by growing vertically. It was created to inspire healthy and sustainable living by empowering communities with tools and training for urban agriculture.

Cultivate the City

Cultivate the City - Specific Information on School Programs

DC Central Kitchen

logo for DC Central Kitchen

DC Central Kitchen is America’s leader in reducing hunger with recycled food, training unemployed adults for culinary careers, serving healthy school meals, and rebuilding urban food systems through social enterprise.

DC Central Kitchen

DC Central Kitchen - Specific Information on School Programs

DC Greens

logo for DC Greens

DC Greens uses the power of partnerships to support food education, food access, and food policy in the nation’s capital. It works toward a city where food education is on the menu in every classroom; where doctors write prescriptions for fresh fruits and vegetables as a matter of course; where urban agriculture is a valued element of our cityscape; and where zipcode does not determine life expectancy.

DC Greens

DC Greens - Specific Information on School Programs

ECO City Farms

logo for ECO City Farms

ECO City Farms is an educational, non-profit organization located in Prince George’s County, Maryland designed to serve as a prototype for sustainable local urban farming. Currently, they operate two farms in Maryland, offer training classes and have a CSA with Certified Naturally Grown produce.

ECO City Farms

ECO City Farms - Specific Information on School Programs

Food Recovery Network

logo for Food Recovery Network

Food Recovery Network unites students on college campuses to fight food waste and hunger by recovering perishable food that would otherwise go to waste from their campuses and communities and donating it to people in need.

Food Recovery Network

Food Recovery Network - Specific Information on School Programs

Free and Reduced-priced Meals (FARM) Application

logo for Free and Reduced-priced Meals (FARM) Application

Your child’s school offers nutritious, appetizing breakfasts and lunches each school day through National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs; most schools also offer a light snack or supper to students attending afterschool programming. The DCPS Free and Reduced-meal (FARM) application supports the DCPS Office of Food and Nutrition Services providing students with high-quality meals through federal meal reimbursement.

Free and Reduced-priced Meals (FARM) Application

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)

logo for Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)

At the State level, the FFVP is administered by the State Agency (OSSE), housed under Wellness and Nutrition Services, School Programs. Selected schools in the District of Columbia receive reimbursement for fresh fruits and vegetables made available, free of cost, to students during the school day. FFVP can be an important tool in our efforts to combat childhood obesity. The Program has been successful in introducing school children to a variety of produce that they otherwise might not have the opportunity to sample.

Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)

FRESHFARM Markets

logo for FRESHFARM Markets

FreshFarm Markets strive to build and strengthen the local-food movement in the Chesapeake Bay region, using farmers markets to create vibrant urban and community places, providing economic opportunities for farmers and artisanal food producers and showcasing our region’s agricultural bounty. FRESHFARM Markets operates 11 producer-only farmers markets with more than 110 farmers and producers from 5 states who farm more than 9,000 acres.

FRESHFARM Markets

FRESHFARM Markets - Specific Information on School Programs

George Washington University Public Health Nutrition Program

logo for George Washington University Public Health Nutrition Program

The mission of the MPH program in Public Health Nutrition at the Milken Institute School of Public Health (SPH) is to develop and train graduate students to integrate nutrition into the core of public health practice. The program encompasses a social ecological perspective to the role of nutrition in the etiology, prevention and treatment of both acute and chronic disease at the individual, community, national and global levels.

George Washington University Public Health Nutrition Program

Growing Healthy Schools Month

logo for Growing Healthy Schools Month

Growing Healthy Schools Month celebrates the DC Healthy Schools Act in public schools throughout the District. During the annual celebration, public school staff collaborate with local community based organizations, DC government agencies, farmers, athletes, and chefs to coordinate inspiring activities aimed at engaging students in conversations about nutrition, the environment, recycling, and being active.

Growing Healthy Schools Month

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

logo for Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

The Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future works with students, educators, researchers, policymakers, advocacy organizations and communities to build a healthier, more equitable, and resilient food system. At the Center for a Livable Future we explore how public health, diet, food production, and the environment shape our daily lives and our future, and how they face constant pressures from population growth, lack of equity, resource depletion, and climate disruption.

Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future

Kid Power

logo for Kid Power

Currently, Kid Power’s after-school and summer programs serve 425 elementary and middle school students at Title 1 DC Public Schools. Kid Power serves an additional 1,200 students at 5 DCPS schools with monthly in-school VeggieTime science lessons. Our programs include: The Academic Power Hour, The VeggieTime Project, The Citizenship Project, and The Summer Leadership Academy.

Kid Power

Kid Power - Specific Information on School Programs

Martha’s Table

logo for Martha’s Table

For over 35 years, Martha’s Table has worked to build a better future for children, their families, and neighbors in Washington, DC by increasing access to education, food, and opportunity. Martha’s table programs are divided into three initiatives: healthy start, healthy eating, and healthy connections.

Martha’s Table

Martha’s Table - Specific Information on School Programs

National School Lunch Program (NSLP)

logo for National School Lunch Program (NSLP)

The NSLP provides cash subsidies to assist schools with meeting meal costs while providing students nutritious lunches during the school day. OSSE WNS School Programs administers the NSLP for the District of Columbia and ensures that all participating schools meet the guidelines, rules and regulations as required by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

National School Lunch Program (NSLP)

Office of the State Superintendent of Education – Division of Health and Wellness

logo for Office of the State Superintendent of Education – Division of Health and Wellness

The mission of the Division of Health and Wellness is to work with schools and community based organizations to promote positive healthy behaviors and to improve the quality of life for children and youth in the District of Columbia. We offer capacity building to schools and community based organizations through the administration of the federal child nutrition programs, the distribution of federal and local funding, technical assistance and programming.

Office of the State Superintendent of Education – Division of Health and Wellness

OSSE School Garden Program

logo for OSSE School Garden Program

The DC Office of State Superintendent of Education’s School Gardens Program team assists schools in building and maintaining school gardens and provides training and technical assistance to teachers in utilizing school gardens as a teaching tool The SGP also oversees the administration of the DC School Garden Grant and assists in the planning and implementation of District-wide events such as Growing Healthy Schools Week and Strawberries and Salad Greens Day.

OSSE School Garden Program

Real Food for Kids

logo for Real Food for Kids

A group of concerned parents in Fairfax County, Virginia who want to improve FCPS school lunches, to include local and organic foods and farm-to-school programs, and, to educate the school community, students, administrators and parents.

Real Food for Kids

Real Food for Kids - Specific Information on School Programs

The Campus Kitchens Project

logo for The Campus Kitchens Project

We partner with high schools, colleges and universities to share on-campus kitchen space, recover food from cafeterias and engage students as volunteers who prepare and deliver meals to the community.

The Campus Kitchens Project

The GW Food Institute

logo for The GW Food Institute

The GW Food Institute is home to faculty and student scholars engaged in research about all things related to food, from sustainable agriculture to the way diet and meals shape human society. Healthy communities depend on sustainable food systems that are resilient, diverse, fair, economically balanced, and transparent. Established in September 2015, the GW Food Institute brings together a wide range of scholars to focus collaboratively on:

The GW Food Institute

Zenful Bites

logo for Zenful Bites

Zenful Bites is a social enterprise that provides plant-based eco-catering and holistic food education programming to foster a sustainable food system.

Zenful Bites

Zenful Bites - Specific Information on School Programs

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