In This Issue

• Good Food Leader: Silver spotlight on Austin Independent School District
• The Good Plate News features Center: Food Procurement Choices and their Power
• Center awarded as 2026 Food Justice for Kids Prize grant recipient
• Fall Webinar: Making the Lunchline Local through School-Food Hub Partnerships
• Collective Action Plan details Good Food CA collaborative strategies
• New Good Food guides help Michigan institutions transform food purchasing into local impact
• Inside the GFPP Ecosystem: Updates, New Resources & Upcoming Events

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We also thank Austin ISD for welcoming the Center to celebrate the district’s hard work and Good Food Leader: Silver achievement alongside officials from the Texas Department of Agriculture and the City of Austin, farmers and vendors providing ingredients for the day’s featured dish, and other key partners at an inspiring event held at Bowie High School on Oct. 20, which showcased purchasing strategies and community collaborations instrumental in AISD’s success.

“We are proud to earn Good Food Leader: Silver status to show that school meals can do far more than just nourish students,” said Caroline Juarez, purchasing coordinator at Austin ISD. “At Austin ISD, we prioritize values-based procurement to make sure our food purchasing efforts reflect our community’s values. This recognition validates the hard work of our food service team and our commitment to sustainable, equitable sourcing.”

Austin Independent School District At a Glance (2024-25)

During the 2024-25 school year, Austin ISD invested nearly $2.7 million in local and community-based economies, including $228,000 spent with historically underutilized businesses. Procurement strategy and contracting language were key in this effort, while also supporting 80 percent data completeness.

AISD achieved a massive reduction in carbon and water footprint, reducing carbon footprint per meal by more than 48 percent and water footprint per meal by nearly 29 percent while investing $259,000 in sustainable and regenerative products. The district’s daily plant-based options and protein blending practices, such as serving beef with lentils, contributed greatly to this success, along with the employment of waste reduction best practices. The district’s Inventory Control Specialist has advanced a model of efficiency focused on strategic menuing, waste reduction, and warehouse management, providing regularly updated usage reports so vendors have clear expectations and can bid accordingly.

Austin ISD’s Good Food Purchasing Program achievement is one of the strategies outlined in the Austin/Travis County Food Plan around values-based purchasing. Adopted in 2024, the Food Plan sets clear goals and strategies to move toward a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient food system and provides a coordinating structure for all food-related initiatives.

“When a school feeds students every day, every purchase is a choice: who grows the food, how it’s grown, how people are treated along the way, and what ends up on a kid’s tray,“ said Amanda Rohlich, Food Policy Advisor with the City of Austin’s Office of Climate Action & Resilience. “AISD has made these choices with purpose year after year.”

Clockwise, from top left: Michael Reyes of Diamond A Ranch stands by a sign at Austin ISD promoting the featured meal made with beef from his ranch. // A student volunteer worker distributes hot honey sweet potato beef bowls made with locally sourced sweet potatoes, honey, rice, hot sauce, and beef. // AISD food service leaders and partners display a Good Food Leader: Silver certificate of achievement.

“This is the ultimate goal: producing food to serve to families, children, locally,” said Michael Reyes, a rancher with Diamond A Ranch. “It sounds cliche, but it's a big deal for us as producers to see people enjoying it. We ship a box off and who knows if they enjoyed it or not. This is really exciting to see.”

“Together, we’re showing that school meals can nourish our students while strengthening local agriculture and food systems across Texas. 💚”

The Good Plate News features Center: Food Procurement Choices and their Power

Christina Conell, Chief Program Officer at the Center for Good Food Purchasing, recently joined host Paola Fattorini for episode 2 of The Good Plate News, a Fairfax Public Access program connecting food to issues like equity, culture, access, and opportunity. In this episode, Christina and Paola discuss the power public food procurement holds in transforming a transparent and equitable food system built on values.

Center awarded as 2026 Food Justice for Kids Prize grant recipient

We’re proud to be a part of a cohort of 14 organizations advancing food justice for children across the country. Over the next two years, the Center will receive up to $100,000 to be used to help us show how state investment in good food purchasing translates to changes on students’ plates. With evidence from California and Michigan, districts and advocates can build the case for permanent funding in both states and adapt the model with partners in other states, moving toward a future where all public food programs uplift the wellbeing of all kids, families, and communities through the power of procurement and the true value of food.

“The Food Justice for Kids Prize supports innovative leaders and organizations growing the next generation of food citizens,” said Alex Amouyel, President and CEO of Newman’s Own Foundation. “We’re honored Humanitix, The Henry P. Kendall Foundation, and the Hunger to Health Collaboratory joined the Prize to advance food justice and child nutrition for all.”

Good Food Purchasing California

Fall Webinar: Making the Lunchline Local through School-Food Hub Partnerships

In a Good Food Purchasing California webinar hosted by the Center for Good Food Purchasing and Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Anna Nakamura Knight of Old Grove Orange and Cassidy Boardman of Upland Unified School District highlighted the ways food hubs and schools are working together to drive good food efficiency and achievement.

Check out the webinar presentation and recording to learn more about procurement strategies and opportunities made possible through these partnerships, with benefits extending to farmers, districts, and food hubs:

Good Food for Michigan: Year 1 At a Glance

During the first year of the Good Food for Michigan project, October 2025 through September 2026, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), the Center for Good Food Purchasing, Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems, and Byrum & Fisk Advocacy Communications reached major milestones in partnership with Good Food for Michigan buyers, suppliers, and champions to expand Michiganders’ access to good food and to establish a foundation for even greater progress over the remaining two years of the project – and beyond.

Good Food for Michigan is working closely with Bendle Public Schools, Chippewa Luce Mackinac Community Action Agency, Dearborn Public Schools, and Corewell Health Foundation West Michigan to assess their food purchasing and take action to bring more fresh, locally sourced, values-aligned food to students, seniors, and patients served at their sites. Project partners also have engaged 10 supply chain partners so far to strengthen Michigan’s food purchasing networks and institutional market relationships, in addition to collaborating with Good Food stakeholders across the region to address challenges, identify and embrace opportunities, and grow a culture of Good Food.

MI HEADLINES

On a panel organized by the Wallace Center, Center Chief Program Officer Christina Conell spoke with Jodee Smith of FARMWISE Indiana, Mary Fales of Winrock International, and Dan Spatz of FRESH Network / Healthy Flavors Arkansas on “What the Middle Knows: Value Chain Coordination as a Source of Risk Intelligence,” making the case for value chain coordination and institutions as viable market opportunities for regenerative agriculture:

”In the program thus far, we’ve asked what data and intelligence are needed to modernize agricultural finance and insurance. Much of that conversation focuses on farm-level data, including soil health, yields, and performance. But an important source of risk intelligence sits further down the value chain: the relationships and infrastructure connecting producers, aggregators, processors, distributors, and buyers. Value Chain Coordination requires human capital that is rarely funded, measured, or priced into a project. It helps solve supply and processing constraints, build markets, align producers and buyers, secure committed demand, and create the conditions for regenerative agriculture and regional food systems to scale. This discussion will explore what becomes visible when we look beyond the farm: how value chain coordination can surface risks and opportunities, strengthen market relationships, improve farm viability, and create more investable conditions for regenerative agriculture and resilient regional food systems.”

California Farm to School Summit celebrates statewide leadership, builds momentum for future

At the California Farm to School Summit, presented by First Partner of California Jennifer Siebel Newsom, California Department of Food and Agriculture, Center for Ecoliteracy, Alice Waters Institute, National Farm to School Network, and Soil Born Farms in Sacramento Oct. 14-15, food systems leaders, farmers, chefs, and school nutrition professionals gathered to celebrate the state’s nation-leading Farm to School Program, strengthen connections across California, and build momentum for the future of farm to school.

Peter Cohen, Program Manager at the Center for Good Food Purchasing, joined colleagues including Good Food for California partners Claire Tauber and Michelle Duong of Community Alliance with Family Farmers alongside 1,000 attendees for inspiring and educational reflection on the impact of farm to school investments and how to continue building on these successes. Panels explored Farm to School in policy, in the kitchen, in the field, and in the classroom, and leadership and innovation awards were presented to 10 school nutrition leaders, including Manish Singh and Florence Simpson, Director of Food Services and Deputy Director at Los Angeles Unified School District, a foundational and exemplary Good Food Purchasing Program leader institution.

For 45+ years, Farmworker Justice has championed the inclusion of farmworkers in conversations about the future of our food system. Attendees are invited to gather at the Farmworker Justice Regional Convenings to discuss food system awareness and collaboration, sustainability and climate resilience, marketing and fundraising strategies to increase impact, and other ways to work toward a healthier, more sustainable food system for workers, consumers, and communities alike.

Honoring the legacy of Dolores Huerta, American labor leader and civil rights activist

“Huerta, the pioneering labor leader, feminist and environmental justice advocate who co-founded the United Farm Workers and transformed the possibilities of Latina leadership in America, died … October 28 at home in Bakersfield surrounded by her close family. She was 96.

…

“Perhaps the most important part of her legacy is not simply that she was ahead of her time.

“It is that she helped change the times.

“She challenged the idea that leadership belonged to men. She challenged the idea that workers without money or political connections were powerless. She challenged her own culture, her own movement and sometimes her own assumptions. And as she gained power, she used it to help other women, workers, immigrants and young people find their own.

“Dolores is survived by 14 children, 24 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, 7 great-great-grandchildren, and a large community of organizers who continue to follow her roadmap for change, believing that Si Se Puede will mean they too can fight for and see change.”

Photo credit: West Contra Costa Unified School District via Black Press USA

WCCUSD Joins Statewide Organic School Food Purchasing Cooperative
Via Black Press USA

“Seventeen California public school districts, including West Contra Costa Unified (WCCUSD), have joined a purchasing cooperative to pool their buying power and expand access to organic food in school meals.

“The nonprofit Conscious Kitchen recently announced the launch of the Conscious Organic School Food Purchasing Cooperative. Its founding districts serve more than 300,000 students combined.

“The cooperative partnered with food distributors UNFI and Sysco to expand the organic products available to participating districts. Combining schools’ purchasing demand helps distributors plan with suppliers while creating more dependable markets for organic farmers and food makers, according to Conscious Kitchen.

“Other eligible California school districts can access the cooperative’s products and pricing through its existing contracts without conducting their own bids. Mt. Diablo Unified School District serves as the lead district for the cooperative’s grocery bid.”

“The Food Systems Leadership Network (FSLN) and ISED Solutions are organizing a national gathering of community food systems leaders in Asheville, North Carolina, April 5–8, 2027. Building on the highly successful Resistance and Resilience: Cross-Pollinating Food Movements conference held in Portland, Oregon in June 2025, the 2027 event will bring together 500+ community food systems leaders, farmers, public servants, funders, researchers, and other partners from across the country to Western North Carolina for three days of learning, connection, skill-building, and collective action.

“We're intentionally designing an action-oriented gathering where attendees walk away with new ideas, tools, strategies, and connections to advance their community food systems work. We invite you to help co-create this kind of gathering by submitting a session proposal!”