Meet the changemakers
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Select allIndigenous Food Justice
Nutrition Education & School Food
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Food Justice for Kids Prize Recipient
27 results
Black Girls Cook
Nutrition Education & School Food
Florida & Maryland
Center for Ecoliteracy
Nutrition Education & School Food
California
Chef Ann Foundation
Nutrition Education & School Food
Colorado
Community Food Advocates
Nutrition Education & School Food
New York
Detroit Food & Entrepreneurship Academy
Nutrition Education & School Food
Michigan
End Hunger Connecticut!
Nutrition Education & School Food
Connecticut
Food Research and Action Center
Nutrition Education & School Food
Washington, D.C.
FoodCorps
Nutrition Education & School Food
New York
FoodWhat?!
Nutrition Education & School Food
California
FRESHFARM
Nutrition Education & School Food
Washington, D.C.
Georgia Organics
Nutrition Education & School Food
Georgia
Greater Newark Conservancy
Nutrition Education & School Food
New Jersey
Green Bronx Machine
Nutrition Education & School Food
New York
Green Village Initiative
Nutrition Education & School Food
Connecticut
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
Nutrition Education & School Food
Michigan
Grow Dat Youth Farm
Nutrition Education & School Food
New Orleans, Louisiana
Wellness in the Schools
Wellness in the Schools (WITS) is a national nonprofit that teaches public school students healthy habits to learn, live, and thrive. WITS partners with public schools, chefs, and coaches to expand access to nourishing food and active play.
Photo courtesy of Urban School Food Alliance.
Urban School Food Alliance
Urban School Food Alliance addresses the unique needs of the nation’s largest school districts and shares best practices, develops procurement standards, and advocates for the wellness of students.
Photo courtesy of Urban School Food Alliance.
Photo courtesy of Southwest Organizing Project.
Southwest Organizing Project
SWOP is a membership-based organization with a mission to work with communities in the Southwest to realize racial and gender equality and social and economic change. SWOP has a core of over 2,000 members and a supporting base of over 30,000 people in New Mexico. It regularly brings dozens of members to community meetings and hundreds of community members to large-scale events, and it engages with thousands of active users online through its many platforms and campaign areas. SWOP works in campaign areas related to youth empowerment, juvenile justice, civic engagement, gender justice and reproductive rights, food justice, and environmental justice.
Photo courtesy of Southwest Organizing Project.
Photo courtesy of Soul Fire Farm.
Soul Fire Farm
Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous centered community farm and training center committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. Based in Petersburg, NY, the organization brings diverse communities together on this healing land to share skills on sustainable agriculture, natural building, spiritual activism, health, and environmental justice. Through one-day workshops, youth can learn about food systems, food justice, and how to be agents of change in society.
Photo courtesy of Soul Fire Farm.
Photo courtesy of National Farm to School Network.
National Farm to School Network
The mission of the National Farm to School Network (NFSN) is to increase access to local food, gardens, and nutrition and agriculture education to improve children’s health, strengthen family farms, and cultivate vibrant communities. NFSN envisions a nation in which farm to school and farm to early care and education are essential components of strong and just local and regional food systems. NFSN works to develop a strong network of partners across sectors, build awareness about farm to school, and increase activities at the state and regional levels through training, capacity building, and policy advocacy.
Photo courtesy of National Farm to School Network.
Photo courtesy of Mississippi Farm to School Network.
Mississippi Farm to School Network
The Mississippi Farm to School Network builds strong connections within Mississippi communities by promoting healthy, locally grown foods and supporting local producers. By implementing changes in food purchasing and education practices at schools and early childcare institutions, students can access nutrient-dense locally grown foods and educational opportunities, such as school gardens, cooking demos, and farm field trips.
Photo courtesy of Mississippi Farm to School Network.
Photo courtesy of The Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger.
The Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger
The Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger is a public non-profit dedicated to changing our food system to improve and increase nutrition security for Montana’s children and their families.
Photo courtesy of The Montana Partnership to End Childhood Hunger.
Massachusetts Farm to School
Massachusetts Farm to School works to strengthen local farms and fisheries and promote healthy communities by increasing local food purchasing and education at schools.
Photo courtesy of Healthy Harvest of North Iowa.
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa
Healthy Harvest of North Iowa connects and educates in support of the local food system. The nonprofit partners with regional school districts, early care centers, local food hubs, extension offices, and more to increase the procurement of local foods into cafeterias for the youth of North Iowa, school garden and greenhouse activities, and related nutrition education in the classroom.
Photo courtesy of Healthy Harvest of North Iowa.
Photo courtesy of Harlem Grown.
Harlem Grown
Healthy habits start young, which is why Harlem Grown’s programs target elementary-aged students. Urban farms become living classrooms and facilitate hands-on lessons. Children from urban settings are introduced to sustainable growing practices, as well as farm-based education programming. The result is a sense of membership in an environmentally conscious, sustainable community. Harlem Grown’s programming empowers children to be community leaders with the skills and agency to maintain their well-being and succeed in their careers.
Photo courtesy of Harlem Grown.
Photo courtesy of Groundwork Center.
Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities
Founded in 1995, Groundwork develops sustainable local-based solutions in local food, clean energy, and livable towns. Groundwork supports the outreach, advocacy, and policy engagement on the 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms, a state program implemented by the Michigan Department of Education, that provides schools and early childhood education centers with up to 10 cents per meal in match funding to purchase and serve Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and dry beans.
Photo courtesy of Groundwork Center.
Photo courtesy of Green Village Initiative.
Green Village Initiative
Green Village Initiative (GVI) is an urban agriculture and food justice organization in Bridgeport, CT. Its mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership, and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport. The GVI Youth Leadership Program cultivates leaders in agricultural, food justice, career readiness, and leadership knowledge skills through the Summer Farm Crew and Food Leader Advisory Group (FLAG) programs. Youth not only develop an understanding of our food system, but they also forge meaningful connections with their neighbors, land, and city as they grow.
Photo courtesy of Green Village Initiative.
Photo courtesy of Green Bronx Machine.
Green Bronx Machine
Green Bronx Machine (GBM) builds healthy, equitable, and resilient communities through inspired education, local food systems, and 21st century workforce development. Dedicated to cultivating minds and harvesting hope, GBM’s school-based model, using urban agriculture aligned to key school performance indicators, grows healthy students and high-performing schools to transform communities that are fragmented and marginalized into neighborhoods that are inclusive and thriving. GBM grows vegetables, the vegetables grow students, and the students grow happy, healthy, and thriving classrooms, schools, and communities en-route to better health outcomes.
Photo courtesy of Green Bronx Machine.
Photo courtesy of Greater Newark Conservancy.
Greater Newark Conservancy
Greater Newark Conservancy fosters collaboration in its community at the intersection of environmental, food, and racial justice to promote the health and wellbeing of Newark, NJ, residents. The Conservancy engages with thousands of schoolchildren and adults each year, by promoting good nutrition, healthy eating, and how to grow one’s own fresh food, and by forming a coalition of local stakeholders to advocate for healthy meals being served in school cafeterias.
Photo courtesy of Greater Newark Conservancy.
Photo courtesy of Georgia Organics.
Georgia Organics
The Georgia Organics Farm to School Innovation Mini Grant provides local school districts with the opportunity to expand their farm to school programming based on their needs and goals. The purpose of this program is to strengthen the community of Georgia farm to school champions, to gather data and best practices, to advance health equity and to overall encourage innovative nutrition and gardening education efforts.
Photo courtesy of Georgia Organics.
Photo courtesy of FRESHFARM.
FRESHFARM
FRESHFARM works to create a more resilient, equitable, and sustainable food future.
Photo courtesy of FRESHFARM.
Photo courtesy of End Hunger Connecticut!
End Hunger Connecticut!
End Hunger Connecticut! is a statewide anti-hunger nonprofit in Connecticut dedicated to eliminating hunger and promoting healthy nutrition through outreach, public education, and legislative and administrative advocacy. As part of its work, the nonprofit seeks permanent legislative funding for free, nutritious school meals for all K-12 students in Connecticut.
Photo courtesy of End Hunger Connecticut!
Photo courtesy of Detroit Food Academy.
Detroit Food & Entrepreneurship Academy
Detroit Food & Entrepreneurship Academy (Michigan) is a non-profit that works to inspire young Detroiters (ages 10-24) through culinary arts and food entrepreneurship.
Photo courtesy of Detroit Food Academy.
Photo courtesy of Community Food Advocates.
Community Food Advocates
The mission of Community Food Advocates (CFA) is to ensure all New Yorkers have access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate foods through equity-centered, high impact public policy. CFA builds creative, strategic coalitions—engaging those directly impacted—to leverage the strength of collective power, experiences, and knowledge to achieve policy change. Through its Youth Food Advocates program, CFA is growing the next generation of food justice leaders by doing a deep dive into the policies that shape our food system, and providing experiential learning opportunities where young people develop the skills to fully engage in the policy making process and create systemic change in the nation’s largest school system.
Photo courtesy of Community Food Advocates.
Photo courtesy of Center for Ecoliteracy.
Center for Ecoliteracy
Center for Ecoliteracy advances change in TK–12 schools with California Food for California Kids® — a network of school districts committed to serving more fresh and local school meals and educating students about the food system.
Photo courtesy of Center for Ecoliteracy.
Photo courtesy of Black Girls Cook.
Black Girls Cook
Black Girls Cook (Florida and Maryland) is a Miami and Baltimore-based nonprofit helping young girls embrace the farm-to-table concept while also learning about Black Diaspora history.
Photo courtesy of Black Girls Cook.
Photo courtesy of Oregon Farm to School Network.
Oregon Farm to School Network
The Oregon Farm to School Network unites farmers, educators, and nutrition professionals to transform school food systems, making local food more accessible in schools statewide. Their collaborative approach bridges the gap between Oregon’s agricultural community and school nutrition programs.
2024 impact:
- Secured $10.9M in state funding for Farm to School programs, exceeded funding goal by $700K
- Supported the development of a robust and diverse School Meals for All Coalition, which successfully advocated for the adoption of free school meals in 95% of Oregon schools
Photo courtesy of Oregon Farm to School Network.
Photo courtesy of Food What?!
FoodWhat?!
“Food, What?!” is a youth empowerment and food justice organization. At FoodWhat, youth engage in relationships with land, food, and each other in ways that are grounded in love and rooted in justice. The organization provides meaningful space where youth from the Santa Cruz, CA, region define and cultivate their empowerment, liberation, and well-being.
2024 impact:
- In 2024, more than 90 youth participated in FoodWhat?!’s programming
- 95% of youth reported that they gained useful job skills
- 86% of participants reported that they were eating healthier as a result of the program
Photo courtesy of Food What?!
Photo courtesy of FRAC.
Food Research and Action Center
Food Research and Action Center leads a nationwide movement to ensure all students have access to free school meals. By convening local, state, and national partners, they help states adopt policies that provide free, healthy school meals for all children.
2024 impact:
- > 3M children received free breakfast and > 6M children received free lunch on an average day across the eight states with Healthy School Meals for All policies during the ‘23-24 school year
- 11 additional states and D.C. have active coalitions working towards healthy school meals for all
Photo courtesy of FRAC.
Photo courtesy of Grow Dat Youth Farm.
Grow Dat Youth Farm
The mission of Grow Dat Youth Farm is to nurture a diverse group of young leaders through the meaningful work of growing food. Since 2010, Grow Dat has graduated over 600 youth participants with hands-on work experience, harvested about 383,325 pounds of food for the New Orleans community, and donated about 76,665 pounds of that food to other food-insecure residents.
2024 impact:
- 50 youth engaged in reimagining local food systems through collaborative farming
- 100% of participants gained skills to create positive community change
- 95% learned new cooking techniques and sustainable agriculture principles
“Grow Dat has taught me that I am always growing as a person and nothing is set in stone. I feel way more sure of myself than I did before, and especially when it involves food systems or farming in general. I now realize that my words and thoughts have value and people will actually listen to me if I talk.” —Reid, Grow Dat Participant, 2021-2024
Photo courtesy of Grow Dat Youth Farm.
FoodCorps member with children.
FoodCorps
FoodCorps places AmeriCorps members in schools nationwide to transform how children experience food through hands-on education, nourishing meals, and culturally-rooted food experiences. Building on school programming, FoodCorps develops leaders, grows networks, and advocates for policy change in service of every child’s health and well-being.
2024 impact:
- 528K students engaged across 220 schools in 18 states and D.C.
- Students eat up to 3x more fruits and vegetables after participating in FoodCorps programming
- 70% of states with Foodcorps programming made progress toward policies that support expanded access to nourishing school meals and/or food education
“I never knew cooking could be so fun! Now I can help make dinner at home and choose healthier foods.” —Foodcorps participant, Alanson School District (Michigan)
FoodCorps member with children.
Photo courtesy of Chef Ann Foundation.
Chef Ann Foundation
The Chef Ann Foundation ensures that school food professionals have the resources, funding, and support they need to provide fresh, healthy, delicious, cooked-from-scratch meals that support the health of children and the planet.
2024 impact:
- 419K students from 396 districts and 370 schools have benefitted from Get Schools Cooking and Healthy School Food Pathway since 2016
- 145K+ nutrition professionals used The LunchBox in 2024 to access recipes, support meal planning, and learn new ideas to implement in their classroom
- 800 new schools and districts used The LunchBox for the first time.
“Great tips and recommendations here to help implement change in our public schools. I have been searching for ways to help implement change for increasing plant-based foods in school lunches. This is a little slice of gold I have found on your site. Thank you very much.” —School Nurse in New Jersey
Photo courtesy of Chef Ann Foundation.
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