Fellowship: Scratch Cooking for the Future

Over the course of 12 months, these Fellows will become leaders that have the knowledge, skills, abilities, and vision to improve school food through successful self-operated, scratch-cook meal programs that serve fresh and healthy meals to students. Fellows will be ready to not only lead their own teams but also cultivate transformative change within the school food system.

With roughly $20 billion invested in the federal National School Breakfast (NSB) and National School Lunch Program (NSLP), and nearly half of that spent on school food staff salaries and benefits, an investment in labor would make a significant impact on the availability and quality of healthy school meal programs. Yet, according to a recent report by the Congressional Research Service, “enacted and proposed reforms to the school meals programs have largely centered on topics such as the sourcing and quality of food and meals, program administration, and eligibility rules for students, rather than the school foodservice workforce.”

High Road Training

In order to develop the best program possible, The Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) spent seven months in an intensive planning phase collecting feedback with a carefully selected research partner. Through almost 30 interviews and over 130 survey responses, the team was able to better understand what is needed of a school food fellowship program. CAF’s research partner also spoke with others developing leadership programs in school food, including FoodCorps and SNA.

Ultimately, the research demonstrated that: “School food offers an ideal space to work collectively towards shared goals including great food for all children, equitable community health, worker rights and empowerment, environmental protection and addressing our climate crisis, and more. We need to train the next generation of school food leaders for the health and wellbeing of students, protection of the planet, and creation of thriving wage jobs with room for growth and advancement. At the same time, if we do not address structural barriers to success (e.g. opportunities for growth and advancement at the district level, equipment and infrastructure to facilitate scratch cooking, food systems education of students, staff, parents, and school administrators), then these leaders will be turned out into a vacuum without support. A fellowship must be clearly situated in a constellation of innovative policies, programs, and more that support the systems change CAF seeks. And a fellowship must engage directly in training leaders for systems change work.”

As individuals begin to complete the Fellowship, the group of fellow alumni will continue to grow. CAF will stay engaged with alumni and draw on their expertise to support other districts and leverage the collective voice to elevate and advocate for healthy school meals, efficient scratch cooking operations, climate positive food system solutions, and an equity-driven, valued workforce.

Click here to learn more about the Fellowship program.

Have questions? Sign up for our 30-minute webinar on Thursday, September 29th at 2pm MT/4pm ET where our Program Director of Workforce Development, Laura Smith, will provide an overview of the Fellowship program and application.

The Fellowship is accepting applications now through October 23rd, 2022. Apply here!