The Fall 2024 Healthy Meals Summit brought the full HMI community together for the first large-scale national convening of the initiative. School nutrition directors, chefs, grant program managers, USDA staff, and State Agency partners spent three days on what works, what isn't working, and where the field goes next.
Attendee feedback pointed to three things as the most valuable parts of the week: breakout sessions led by peer districts, networking time between formal blocks, and a recognition program that spotlighted awardees across the country.
Themes from the Week
Scratch cooking is scaling
Multiple breakouts showcased districts that have moved meaningful portions of their menus to from-scratch preparation. The common elements across successful programs: a single big-ticket equipment investment, structured staff training, and a willingness to iterate recipes based on what students actually ate.
Student engagement drives participation
Districts reporting the strongest meal participation gains paired menu changes with visible student involvement. Menu Advisory Councils, taste testing labs, and student-run social media accounts came up in session after session.
Small and rural districts need tailored support
A recurring theme in hallway conversations was the gap between urban and rural district capacity. Several breakouts focused on how State Agencies and cooperative partners can better support programs that lack dedicated menu planners or marketing staff.
Featured Sessions
A sampling of the week's standout sessions, drawn from attendee evaluations.
- Building a Menu Advisory Council that actually works. Led by a large urban district that meets four times a year with student, parent, and staff representatives.
- Local sourcing on a rural budget. Case studies from districts working with one or two producers to transform protein and produce quality.
- Recognition Award applications, end to end. A walkthrough from a recently recognized awardee, including documentation systems and common application pitfalls.
- Marketing your program without a marketing team. Templates and operational patterns for social media, press releases, and family communication.
- Small and rural sustainability. How districts without dedicated nutrition staff keep improvements going past the initial grant period.
Recognition & Celebration
Recognition Awardees were celebrated throughout the event. Districts shared what they did to qualify, how they built the documentation, and what they would change if they applied again. The tone across these sessions was pragmatic rather than polished, which attendees said was part of what made them useful.
Looking Ahead
The summit closed with a preview of the Fall 2025 Virtual Summit, which will broaden participation by removing the travel barrier. Session proposals and topic ideas gathered from Fall 2024 attendees are shaping the Fall 2025 agenda.