About the Foundation for Healthy Schools
About Us
The Foundation for Healthy Schools facilitates the integration of customized, sustainable cultivation applications in schools to improve student health and retention of the curriculum taught through a hands-on approach to growing fresh nutrient-balanced produce for school meals and snacks. The research combined with horticulture fills the gaps connecting kids to the life that gives life. The customization offers a residual opportunity to produce excess foods to self-fund extra-curricular programs that unite the community. Our research-validated customization program is designed to empower through nutrition, knowledge, and nature.
Our Mission
Cultivating and empowering children's health through nutrition, knowledge, and nature.
We accomplish this mission through:
Designing school-specific, customizable regenerative and sustainable cultivation systems that maximize healthy food production.
Promoting student health through access to fresh, nutrient-rich foods grown at the school.
Enhancing academic performance and retention by improving focus, behavior, and overall wellness through better nutrition and health.
Providing STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and nutrition science curriculum for teachers, enhancing the educational foundation for the students.
Educating students about basic nutrition and empowering them to make healthier choices for themselves and their families.
Fostering stewardship and sustainable habits by teaching students the value of respecting the land, growing their own food, and understanding where their food comes from.
Making school meals free and accessible to all students, not only improving the nutrition of all students, but also removing the stigma related to the affordability of traditional school meals.
Providing opportunities for school clubs and after-school programs around food cultivation.
Fostering a connection and appreciation of nature through the cultivation of fruits and vegetables.
Activating community involvement and support in children’s health and nutrition.
Partnering with local businesses and Chambers of Commerce to include the entire community in supporting real foods and healthy nutrition.
Working with other nonprofits and partners to source all the other elements of school meals (meats, dairy, etc.) at the highest level possible.
Encouraging and supporting the return of school chefs and cooking school meals from scratch over the current ultra-processed sourced foods.
Connecting with all key stakeholders to ensure the best possible outcomes for schools, teachers, parents, students, families, and communities.
Our Vision
To transform the health, nutrition education, and connection to nature for the 54+ million students in elementary, middle, and high schools across the U.S.
Background
School cafeterias serve about 7 billion meals a year, but because of regulations and budgets, most of these meals consist of ultra-processed foods containing excess sugar, (toxic) seed oils, and unnecessary chemicals. (Sources: Nation’s Restaurant News, National Center for Education Statistics)
Because of budget cuts and the move to using prepared foods in school meals, many cafeteria cooks and chefs were let go, but happily, there is a new movement to bring trained chefs back to schools with a mission to create the healthiest and tastiest made-from-scratch meals using real ingredients.
Furthermore, some governmental programs have supported a farm-to-school movement that encourages the use of local, fresh foods in school meals. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, “child nutrition programs purchased more than $1.26 billion in local foods for the 2018-2019 school year, which is a significant opportunity for farmers, fishers, ranchers, food processors, and food manufacturers.”
Many schools have attempted to integrate gardens and greenhouses at some point in the past, often spurred on by an enthusiastic teacher or principal, but few have kept the programs going, and even fewer attempted to integrate the foods grown into the school meals.
Several wonderful nonprofits are working on parts of this issue, but none are working on the entire process – from a detailed and customized cultivation system to the Earth science and nutrition curriculum to overhauling school meals and providing support for all school system stakeholders.
