Chef Ann Foundation

Ever wonder how school districts master scratch cooking? Last week, we hosted our Scratch Cooking Curious Workshop in partnership with the Park Foundation in Ithaca, New York. Over 25 school food professionals, representing 80+ districts, got a front-row seat to healthy school food in action. 🥦

Guests toured the Ithaca City School District Central Production Kitchen at Boynton Middle School. They visited sites at Lansing Central School District and Dryden Central School District
to witness the magic firsthand, before sitting down to a delicious scratch-cooked lunch featuring Beef & Pepper Rice Bowls with local NY meat, Chickpea Masala, and a vibrant salad bar.

The day wrapped up with a powerful panel featuring seasoned directors who shared their school food transformation journeys. Participants walked away with actionable insights, feeling empowered to champion small, meaningful steps to successfully weave scratch-cooking practices into their own operations.✨

📸 Images courtesy of Lansing Central School District and Alicia Michael.

In the span of a week, Congress introduced two major school food bills.

1️⃣ On May 13th, Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Ilhan Omar reintroduced the Universal School Meals Program Act, which would make school breakfast and lunch free for all students.

2️⃣On May 20th, the Scratch Cooked Meals for Students Act was reintroduced by Rep Jahana Hayes, Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, Congresswoman Julia Brownley, and Senator Adam Schiff. This bill would create a grant program to expand scratch cooking in schools.

Together, these bills present a major opportunity to reduce childhood hunger and improve children’s diets, which now consist of more than 60% ultraprocessed foods.

Read our full statement: https://ow.ly/8QcR50Z5cxL

⏳ ONLY 48 HOURS LEFT! ⏳

Our matching campaign ends very soon! We are so close to our $2,500 goal. Will you help us cross the finish line?

Every dollar donated TODAY is matched by the Johnson Ohana Foundation. Let’s finish strong! Double your gift: https://ow.ly/qVbr50YQKhQ

At Selah School District School District in Washington, students are enjoying vibrant Asian-inspired meals, such as beef bulgogi, pancit and lumpia, teriyaki salmon with sunumono salad, tikka masala, and punjabi samosas. For Laurie Ozanich, nutrition services director at Selah School District and a graduate of our Fellowship program, crafting menus that honor her students’ cultural roots is a mission deeply intertwined with her own lineage.

Food has been the heartbeat of Laurie’s family for generations. During World War II, Laurie’s great-grandfather, George Nagamoto, owned a soy sauce company where he sold tofu, shoyu, miso, and koji to the Amache Internment Camp in Colorado. As a child, Laurie grew up around homemade sushi, sashimi, noodles, and mochi during family gatherings. Today, it is the simple, daily comfort of rice, furikake, ginger, and chazuke that fosters the deepest sense of joy and connection to her heritage.

A formative memory from elementary school continues to drive Laurie’s commitment to bringing understanding and inclusion to the cafeteria: “I once brought my favorite food, onigiri, for lunch, and a student mocked it in front of the class. It looked different, was unfamiliar [to other students], and that experience brought to light what I already was feeling; that few students looked like me, and I didn’t belong. The memory stayed with me and helped shape my desire to bring understanding and inclusion into the cafeteria.”

Through her dedicated leadership, Laurie is transforming the cafeteria into a space where students feel truly seen, valued, and nourished every single day. Please join us in celebrating Laurie and her commitment to making such a meaningful difference in her students' lives!

On June 4, the 80th anniversary of the National School Lunch Act, we joined a group of national school meal advocates on Capitol Hill to support the 30 million students who rely on school meals each day and the professionals who make these meals possible. Together, we urged Congress to prioritize funding for school meals and the resources needed to ensure that those meals are scratch-cooked, locally sourced, and delicious.

At the Chef Ann Foundation, we exist because we believe in investing in the people who power school meals. School food professionals have one of the most important jobs there is. They shape the health and support the success of our nation’s kids. Our work centers on building and upskilling this vital workforce — because when school food professionals thrive, so do our kids.

Drop a 🫶 in the comments if you believe every child deserves access to healthy school meals.

School Nutrition Association Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

Summer is a busy time for hiring new employees. Check out our hiring resources for over 15 school food job descriptions, sample interview questions, and cooking tests to help you evaluate candidates’ skills.

View hiring resources here: https://ow.ly/GZPy50Z8gbk

Californians, we need your voice to protect school food workforce funding!🚨

The California State Senate recently released its proposed budget, which eliminates ongoing funding for the Healthy School Food Pathway program. Budget negotiations are moving quickly, and decisions made in the coming days will determine whether this program remains funded.

Ongoing investment is essential to support California’s school food professionals, who are transforming meal programs by increasing scratch cooking, serving more freshly prepared and local foods, and ensuring students have access to nutritious meals every day.

Please take a moment to 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺. We’ve already drafted the message for you – simply add your name and click send. https://ow.ly/hZzb50Z7LXz

If you are an advocate located outside California, you can still make an impact by circulating this call to action throughout your CA-based networks! Every email counts – let’s make our voices heard!