Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities

Enabling people to create a community with a clean environment, strong economy, and healthy citizens.

THE FOCUS

Building local solutions to strengthen the community.

Groundwork Center creates initiatives to bring healthy, local food to school cafeterias and to incorporate on-the-ground direct nutrition and garden education for students.

Visit groundworkcenter.org

THE MISSION

Fueling children's nutrition in school

Groundwork believes all students should have access to fresh food every day. School is where many students get most of their calories—up to two meals a day. Through its work supporting Michigan’s state-funded 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms program, Groundwork has removed barriers to healthy eating at schools.

10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms provides schools and early care and education sites up to 10 cents per meal in match funding to purchase and serve Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and dry beans. First piloted over 10 years ago with three schools in Northwest Lower Michigan with private funding, the program is now available statewide and implemented by the Michigan Department of Education with support from partner organizations Groundwork Center, Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems, and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Serving both rural and urban communities, the 2020-2021 program year impacted over 585,000 children across 57 of 83 counties from Southeast Michigan to the Upper Peninsula.