Brown Announces New Federal Resources To Help Ohio School Districts Serve Fresh, Healthy Meals To Students

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With a recent report finding more than 75 percent of Ohio school districts without adequate kitchen equipment, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced more than $1 million in new federal funding to help Ohio school districts purchase kitchen appliances and equipment to help prepare fresh, healthy meals for Ohio students. Brown has been a long-time advocate for improving nutritional standards in the school lunch program, and worked to include funding in the 2014 Farm Bill to encourage local-sourcing of fruits and vegetables for school lunches. Brown is a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

“Students need fresh, healthy food to help support their growth and focus in the classroom,” Brown said. “These new federal resources will help districts throughout the state purchase new kitchen equipment that can help get healthy foods back into our school cafeterias.”

The funds are part of a recent announcement by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that it will distribute more than $25 million in federal grants to help school purchase new equipment. The funding will be competitively distributed by the Ohio Department of Education to districts, with a priority focus on schools currently serving more than 50 percent of meals to students on free or reduced price meals.

Brown is a leading voice in the U.S. Congress for eradicating hunger and improving childhood nutrition. In 2010, as then Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Subcommittee on Hunger, Nutrition, and Family Farms, Brown helped author key provisions of the Hunger-Free Schools Act. His measure to help reduce paperwork and enroll already eligible students in childhood nutrition programs through direct certification, was the centerpiece of the anti-hunger component of the bill passed by both the House and the Senate.

As the first Ohio Senator in more than 40 years on the Senate Agriculture Committee, Brown fought to include key provisions of his Local Farm, Food, and Jobs Act in the 2014 Farm Bill. The legislation would help Ohio farmers and producers sell their products directly to consumers and create jobs by addressing production, aggregation, and marketing and distribution needs. It would also ensure that consumers – including school districts – have better access to nutritious, locally-grown food.

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