The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) is working to ensure all communities have access to foods that support good health and well-being. This focus on nutrition security builds on and complements their longstanding efforts to address food insecurity and emphasizes the co-existence of food insecurity and diet related diseases. Watch their new video, which highlights how FNS nutrition assistance programs help all Americans thrive.

FNS works to end hunger and obesity through the administration of 16 federal nutrition assistance programs including WIC, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and school meals. In partnership with state and tribal governments, their programs serve one in four Americans during the course of a year.

The Literacy In Place Rural Teen Writing Contest is officially open to rural writers in grades 6 – 12! This year they will have a middle school and high school category, so middle school students’ submissions will be judged against fellow middle schoolers and high school submissions against their fellow high school writers.

The portal for submissions will remain open until December 1st.

Rural middle and high school teachers and librarians, please encourage the writers in your lives to submit. Teachers in the past have made this part of their writing curriculum. It’s a wonderful opportunity for students to have an authentic audience for their work, and they stand to win (them and you) some great prizes!

School districts interested in pursuing $10-$20 million grants for building improvements from the EPA Community Change Grant program now have access to dedicated support to help with their grant applications.

The Center for Green Schools, The Collaborative for High Performance Schools, The Association of School Business Officials, and the National Rural Education Association are working together to create grant writing tools and provide direct coaching for school districts to use to apply for a U.S. EPA Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grant. Applications for this grant are due on a rolling basis until November 21, 2024.

Projects under the grant must address climate action and pollution reduction in disadvantaged communities, so school districts will first need to ensure that a proposed project is eligible. The documents in the new "Readiness Check" are the first step in understanding if this grant opportunity is a good fit. Once a school district has decided they are ready, the next step is to sign up for a short training series before having access to one-on-one coaching from a grant writer.