Fighting to ensure every Californian has increased and equitable access to healthy food by focusing on the issues of food deserts, student hunger, supporting local sustainable agriculture and freshly prepared climate-friendly school meals.
In 2021, NextGen was an original cosponsor and part of the School Meals for All network that helped secure funding to cover the complete cost of offering free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students, which made California the first state in the nation to do so. Building on that success, NextGen continued to play a key role in advocating for ongoing funding and helped secure unprecedented investments in the future of our state’s school food system, totaling more than $2 billion in related programming.
$2 Billion – A total of more than $2 billion was allocated in the California Budget to support our state’s school food system. The numbers below identify how some of this money will be used to address food insecurity in our school systems.
$600 Million – for school kitchen equipment and upgrades to kitchen infrastructure.
$596 Million – to implement School Meals for All, providing free breakfast and lunch to all K-12 students.
$100 Million – to supply California-grown, minimally processed, sustainably grown foods for school meals.
$60 Million – to expand the California Farm to School grant program.
$45 Million – to launch The California Healthy School Meals Pathway Program, a new, first-of-its-kind program to develop a school food labor force.
SB 907 Win! The Local Equitable Access to Food (LEAF) program was signed by the Governor, improving access to healthy foods for all California families, regardless of income, by increasing EBT access at local farmers’ markets, as well as increasing the number of farmers’ markets throughout California.
School Meals for All Win! In 2022 NextGen was instrumental in building on the success of School Meals for All, we continued to play a key role in advocating for ongoing funding and helped secure unprecedented investments in the future of our state’s school food system, totaling more than $2 billion in related programming.
Stay connected with us & let’s work together to fight the injustices that plague our state.