DCPS School Food Collaborative
The School Food Collaborative is a joint initiative of DC Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) and DC Greens. Since the Spring of 2017, we have convened over 700 community stakeholders including parents, students, educators and other invested community members and organizations in order to collect feedback and input on the state of school meals. Six public meetings took place at DCPS schools across the city with residents from each ward in attendance as well as DCPS FNS, SodexoMAGIC, and DC Central Kitchen staff. Thousands of different pieces of feedback were collected, analyzed and respond to where possible.
If you are interested in receiving the DCPS School Food Collaborative quarterly newsletter, sign up here. For more information or to get involved, please contact Tamara Hobbs at DCPS: Tamara.Hobbs2@k12.dc.gov.
Other ways to engage:
We hosted our 9th School Food Collaborative Meeting on June 8th. During the meeting attendees heard updates from DCPS Food and Nutrition Services on their meal program, watched the winning student videos from the #MyTrayMyWay campaign, and had the chance to provide feedback on the school meal program directly to FNS leadership. With nearly 85 participants, we did not have enough time during the meeting to address all the excellent questions and feedback from attendees. We have responded to all questions captured during the meeting and via our survey, here.
For those that attended the meeting, if you haven't already, please fill out our meeting survey here!
SY21/22 Engagements
View our School Food Collaborative Meeting #8 Recording above!
We hosted our 8th School Food Collaborative Meeting (and first of the school year!) on November 18th. With over 100 participants, the meeting covered a lot of ground. Attendees heard updates from DCPS Food and Nutrition Services staff and food service vendors (DC Central Kitchen and SodexoMAGIC) on the outlook for this school year including some of the opportunities and challenges they’re currently facing. They also provided updates on engagement opportunities for students throughout the school year. Then participants joined breakout groups to provide feedback on and ideas for DCPS school meals! Stay tuned for our next meeting in 2022!
What were we up to during SY20/21?
After a year hiatus due to COVID, we got the School Food Collaborative crew back together and on June 9th from Noon - 1PM, we hosted our 7th DCPS School Food Collaborative meeting. We recorded the virtual meeting which you can view here! As you can see from the agenda, we largely focused on the results from the Elevate Student Voice in School Meals campaign. For a quick reference, click this link to review DCPS Food and Nutrition Services’ in depth response to the winning student’s feedback.
Stay tuned for announcements about School Food Collaborative Meetings in School Year 2021-22. We hope to see you in person!
We launched a campaign to “Elevate Student Voice in School Meals!”
You are likely on this page because you also believe that school meals are a vital part of the academic day. Students need nutritious and delicious foods to get through their classes and reach their full potential - which is why we asked DCPS students to tell us how school meals could be better!
This campaign is a partnership with DC Public Schools Food and Nutrition Services, DC Greens, The Green Scheme and Don’t Mute My Health. More information can be found here.
To view winning student videos and DCPS Food and Nutrition Services’ response, click here!
Sign up for our Quarterly Newsletter!
This newsletter is a direct result of feedback from School Food Collaborative members who requested greater transparency and more regular communications from FNS. You can view our February newsletter here, May newsletter here and October newsletter here! We want to thank you in advance for your thoughtful engagement and feedback!
If you are interested in receiving the DCPS School Food Collaborative quarterly newsletter, sign up here. Please contact Tamara Hobbs at DCPS for more information or to get involved: Tamara.Hobbs2@k12.dc.gov.