We know you care about kids, education, and agriculture. We’re hoping you can take a few minutes of your day to make a big difference - If we work together, we can get free lunches for all public school kids, free early child care, and more!

Our thanks to the National Farm to School Network for all this info!

Last week, the US Senate released their latest set of COVID-19 relief bills, a $1 trillion bundle of legislation covering business aid, money for schools and agricultural aid funding. Included in the legislation is a potential $70 billion for K-12 schools ($46 billion is reserved for costs of reopening in-person school this fall), and $20 billion in agricultural aid funding with no additional guardrails to correct the shortcomings of USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (see here and here). While we’re glad that Senators have recognized that our schools are in urgent need of critical funding support, this proposed legislation from the Senate falls far short of targeting the actual needs of our kids, educators, farmers, and school nutrition professionals.

Land to Learn, in particular, has seen how remote learning has been failing our students, who have been hit hard by the massive economic, health, and technological inequities highlighted by this pandemic. If and when schools reopen, it is Congress’ responsibility to support our schools and our teachers, and ensure our kids have access to free and healthy meal options while at school.

We need targeted policies that match the scale of this current crisis. Specifically, we need policies that directly support Black, Indigenous and small scale farmers, early care and education providers, and school food service operators – They all play a critical role in feeding and caring for our communities, and especially so during this pandemic.

That’s why, as the Senate and House work out the details of this next round of COVID-19 relief, we’re calling on policymakers to:

Fully fund universal free school meals, informed by these values, this next school year.
Provide immediate funding support to early child care and education centers.
Create a set-aside small business relief fund for farmers of color.
Waive the non-federal match requirement for local food and agriculture programs, including the USDA Farm to School Grant Program, for the next two years.

We are pleased to see some of these bold solutions already coming from the champions in the House and Senate. Rep. Antonio Delgado (D-NY) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) yesterday introduced the Small Farm to School Act, a bipartisan bill to pilot increased reimbursement for local procurement. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) has included targeted support for Black, Indigenous and other farmers of color who grow vegetables and fruit, and a waiver of the non-federal match for USDA Farm to School Grants, in his Local Food Assistance and Resilient Markets Act. Bills like these should be leading this round of COVID-19 relief from Congress.

It’s essential that your Senators hear from you about what your community needs right now to support kids, educators, farmers and school nutrition professionals. This legislation is expected to move quickly, so don’t wait - take this quick 5 minute action right now!

TAKE ACTION

Your voice is needed! Call your Senators TODAY and tell them you want to see more support for kids, farmers and educators in your community. Here’s how:

Step 1: Call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
Step 2: Ask to be connected with your Senator's office. Not sure who your Senators are? (You have 2!) Give the Switchboard your zip code and they can connect you to the correct offices. Or, look up your Senators here and give them a call directly.
Step 3: Leave a message for your Senators like this:

Hi, my name is ____ and I’m a constituent and a ____ [parent, teacher, gardener, farmer, etc.]. I’d like to ask [your Senator’s name] to advocate for the following things to be included in next round of COVID-19 relief legislation:

Fully fund universal free school meals this next school year.
Provide immediate funding support to early child care and education centers.
Create a set-aside small business relief fund for farmers of color.
Support the Local FARM Act (S. 4140).
These issues matter to me because ____ [tell your story!]. Thank you!

Step 4: Take one minute to sign-on to the National Farm to School Network’s petition on the COVID-19 Federal Policy Platform. They have included more measures that can be passed by the Senate to ensure immediate relief for the people most impacted by this pandemic, while building towards longer-term policies that strengthen a resilient, just food system.

Taking action right now, while this relief bill is in discussion, is especially crucial. Make your calls, sign-on to the platform, and forward this message to a friend. THANK YOU for taking a few minutes out of your day to make your voice heard.