The NYS Regional School Food Infrastructure Grant Program will encourage the use of fresh New York State farm products in meal preparation for K-12 school children, reduce food insecurity, increase market opportunities for New York State producers, and strengthen the resiliency of our state’s food system. Additionally, this program will encourage workforce development by providing training for culinary arts, food processing, safe food handling and storage, logistics, delivery, and other community needs. This grant program will require that facilities serve multiple school districts, support their local community, and provide workforce development opportunities. Grant funds are available for the costs of capital projects, including services, expenses, and grants for the cost of construction, renovation, alteration, rehabilitation, improvements, installation, acquisition, repair or replacement of buildings or equipment for the development of facilities to support the preparation and distribution of New York focused meals for regional school infrastructure, such as aggregation, storage hubs and/or commissary-type kitchens.
