CHICAGO, May 20, 2024 – Action for Healthy Kids and USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service announced that 17 school districts have received Healthy Meals Incentives (HMI) Recognition Awards for trailblazing and innovative work in improving the nutritional quality of their school meals.

The HMI Recognition Awards Program recognizes and celebrates school districts that make operational changes to improve the planning and preparation of nutritious school meals, as well as those that engage students and families in menu planning and nutrition education.

Learn About the Awardees:

• Marshall County School District (Alabama) received the Innovation in Nutrition Education Award for holding an open house event for students, parents, staff, board members, stakeholders, media, and the public to showcase their child nutrition program. During the open house, school nutrition staff showed off their newly learned culinary skills, allowing attendees to taste menu items and provide feedback. Funding for this activity was provided by the USDA’s 2023 Team Nutrition Training Grant.

• Laguna Beach Unified School District (California) received the Small or Rural Food Authority Breakfast Trailblazer Award and the Small or Rural School Food Authority Lunch Trailblazer Award for their efforts in reducing added sugars during breakfast and reducing sodium during lunch. To reduce added sugars at breakfast, they made changes including switching to reduced sugar cereal, offering only unflavored milk, and no longer offering fruit juice. To reduce sodium at lunch, they started using salt-free seasonings to add flavor and purchasing lower sodium condiments and canned items. In addition, students are offered a variety of fresh produce daily through a Salad of the Week and a Salad Bar.

• Palo Alto Unified School District (California) received the Innovative School Lunch Makeover Award for their efforts to switch to scratch cooking, and for hosting an Annual Tasting Day where students, parents, and staff can taste new menu items and vote for their favorites. The scratch made Chicken Pho and Tofu Pho were huge hits with students at all grade levels.

• Weld County School District RE – 6 Greeley (Colorado) received the Innovation in Nutrition Education Award for reaching K-12 students at fourteen schools with their Culinary Classroom and Culinary Life Skills programs. This program is led by the district’s Nutrition Education Specialist and run in collaboration with the local health department. Utilizing funds from their USDA Team Nutrition Training Grant, students participated in taste-testing, cooking demonstrations, and other hands-on nutrition education activities in their classrooms.

• Portage Township Schools Corporation (Indiana) received the Innovation in Nutrition Education Award for utilizing signage in the cafeteria to promote balanced eating and exercise to students. They also distributed a digital magazine via email, social media, and QR codes to all district households which included information on menu items and a link to their local school wellness policy.

• Urbandale Community School District (Iowa) received the Lunch Trailblazer Award for collaborating with chef Rebecca Polson to train school nutrition staff to prepare scratch made sides and add a wider variety of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables to the menu, helping to reduce sodium. Some of the new recipes include Ranch Seasoning, Roasted Ratatouille, Roasted Ranch Seasoned Potatoes, and Roasted Asparagus.

• Whitman – Hanson Regional School District (Massachusetts) received the Innovation in the Cultural Diversity of School Meals Award for introducing a variety of new menu items, including “Build Your Own Street Tacos,” after staff completed extensive training on Latin American Cuisine from the John C. Stalker Institute of Food and Nutrition at Framingham State University. Including a diverse selection of proteins, whole grains, and toppings, the “Build Your Own Street Tacos” were a huge success, having been promoted on social media, with flyers in the cafeteria, and with a taste test event.

• Lansing Catholic Central High School (Michigan) received the Lunch Trailblazer Award for reducing sodium in their lunch offerings by using only frozen or fresh fruits and vegetables, using herbs/spices for flavor instead of salt, and incorporating more scratch made menu items, including Personal Pan Pizza, Guacamole, and Chicken Burritos.

• Glacial Hills Elementary School (Minnesota) received the Innovation in Nutrition Education Award for implementing weekly nutrition education programming for students in grades Pre-K through 6 that focused on environmental literacy and farm to school initiatives, such as schoolyard gardening and farmers markets. Students have learned to trace the origins of food and connect with local farmers and have made their own salsa, canned tomatoes, and pickles.

• Northville Central School District (New York) received the Small or Rural School Food Authority Breakfast Trailblazer Award for making several changes to their breakfast menu as part of their commitment to reducing added sugars. These changes include offering only unflavored milk, transitioning to reduced sugar cereal, omitting grain-based desserts, and adding new scratch made menu items like yogurt and cooked oatmeal with fruit topping.

• Louisville City School District (Ohio) received the Small or Rural School Food Authority Lunch Trailblazer Award for reducing sodium in school lunches by focusing on increasing the use of fresh vegetables on their menu. In addition, they ensure that all canned and frozen vegetables have no salt added, and they use herbs and spices instead of salt to enhance flavors.

• Cascade School District 5 (Oregon) received the Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals Award for working closely with students to gain feedback on the current menu choices. From this feedback, school nutrition staff identified new scratch made recipes to add to the menu, including Shredded Pork Burrito, Chicken Tetrazzini, and Macaroni and Cheese, which have been well accepted by students.

• Edgefield County School District (South Carolina) received the Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals Award for switching from using pre-packaged muffins on their menu to scratch made. The new muffins are lower in sugar and sodium, utilize local ingredients, are more cost-effective, and can be made in a wider variety of flavors, including banana, blueberry, pumpkin, and lemon – plus, the students and staff love them!

• Spartanburg School District 4 (South Carolina) received the Small or Rural School Food Authority Breakfast Trailblazer Award for transitioning to reduced sugar cereals, offering lower sugar yogurt, and utilizing only fresh fruit and vegetables at breakfast. This helped reduce added sugars on their breakfast menu to less than 10% of calories, and the addition of vegetables at breakfast has given students more variety in the morning.

• Ellensburg School District (Washington) received the Innovation in Nutrition Education Award for developing a program to teach 4^th grade students about four local agricultural products: apples, bison, coho salmon, and asparagus. Each lesson is led by the school’s Registered Dietitian and Farm to School Coordinator, and focuses on nutrition, cultural relevance, and seasonality of the four foods.

• Mount Horeb Area School District (Wisconsin) received the Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals Award for utilizing the funds from their HMI Grant for Small and/or Rural School Food Authorities to partner with Sustainable Kitchens (a group of Wisconsin-based consultants). Together they provided training to staff to increase scratch cooking in schools with a focus on locally sourced ingredients. Students have been enjoying new menu items such as Mongolian Beef Bowls, Chicken Jambalaya, and Pork Ramen Noodle Bowls.

• New Richmond School District (Wisconsin) received the Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals Award for introducing new, scratch made menu items including Chicken Noodle Soup, Marinara Sauce made with locally sourced tomatoes, Baked Ziti, and Sheet Pan Omelets. The district relies heavily on trends and student feedback when creating new menu items, ensuring that they always have a fresh menu rotation filled with student favorites.

A map of all the Recognition awardees and more information about their awards can be found on the Awardee Spotlight webpage.

“Action for Healthy Kids and the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service would like to congratulate these school districts on the progress they’ve made in their nutrition programs this school year,” said Rob Bisceglie, Executive Officer/President of Action for Healthy Kids. “We applaud the staff who have worked hard to prepare fresh, appealing, and delicious meals for their students.”

School districts can apply for one or more of the following HMI Recognition Awards:

• Breakfast Trailblazer
• Small and/or Rural School Food Authority Breakfast Trailblazer
• Lunch Trailblazer
• Small and/or Rural School Food Authority Lunch Trailblazer
• Innovative School Lunch Makeover
• Innovation in the Cultural Diversity of School Meals
• Innovation in the Preparation of School Meals
• Innovation in Nutrition Education

“The Recognition Awards highlight the progress our schools are making in improving the quality of school breakfast and lunch,” said Cindy Long, administrator of USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service. “We’re seeing incredible efforts and innovative accomplishments by school nutrition professionals, as they provide their students with healthy, nutritious meals.”

The Recognition Awards application can be found on the HMI website. School districts are eligible to apply for the Recognition Awards if they participate in the National School Lunch Program and/or School Breakfast Program in the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, or the U.S. Virgin Islands. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis over a two-year application period ending June 30, 2025.

ABOUT USDA’S FOOD AND NUTRITION SERVICE

USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service works to end hunger and improve food and nutrition security through a suite of 16 nutrition assistance programs, such as the school breakfast and lunch programs, WIC, and SNAP. Together, these programs serve 1 in 4 Americans over the course of a year, promoting consistent and equitable access to healthy, safe, and affordable food essential to optimal health and well-being. FNS also provides science-based nutrition recommendations through the co-development of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. FNS’s report, “Leveraging the White House Conference to Promote and Elevate Nutrition Security: The Role of the USDA Food and Nutrition Service,” highlights ways the agency will support the Biden-Harris Administration’s National Strategy, released in conjunction with the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. To learn more about FNS, visit www.fns.usda.gov and follow @USDANutrition.

ABOUT ACTION FOR HEALTHY KIDS

Action for Healthy Kids is dedicated to improving children’s health and well-being by bringing together and mobilizing educators, families, and other key stakeholders to help children lead healthy lives. Through its core programming and family-school partnerships, Action for Healthy Kids has impacted more than 20 million children in 55,000 schools nationwide to address systemic challenges in underserved communities. To learn more about its growing network of volunteers and champions, visit: actionforhealthykids.org.