Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) students and families under the poverty line face disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and frequently lack sufficient access to fresh nutritious foods. Holistic school garden and nutrition education initiatives can be leveraged to address these systemic inequities through improved access to fresh fruits and vegetables at school coupled with food systems education that empowers students and families with the knowledge and skills to make healthy choices. 

Though many school garden and nutrition education classes exist within LAUSD communities, most are disconnected from local food systems. For instance, instructors often purchase the produce for these lessons from the most convenient place, which is typically a large chain grocery store. The Farm to Classroom project creates a streamlined option for garden and nutrition educators to easily purchase from farmers’ markets for taste tests and cooking demonstrations using Food Access LA’s new online ordering and delivery platform called “eat!”  The project also offers supplemental food systems education materials, or, “Education Bites,” that highlight facts about locally-grown produce items as well as the SEE-LA farmers who grow them. 

You can check out our Education Bite materials in the Farm to Classroom Resource Library.

Thank you to our funders, past and present: CDFA Farm to School Incubator Grant Program, L.A. Food Equity Fund