’10 Cents a Meal’ Application Reopens for 2021-22 School Year
February 1, 2022

The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) has announced today that applications for 10 Cents A Meal for Michigan’s Kids & Farms program will reopen starting tomorrow.

The state-funded grant program provides matching incentive funding up to 10 cents per meal to purchase and serve Michigan-grown fruits and vegetables is open to school districts (public, public school academies, or private), and non-school sponsors of USDA Child Nutrition Programs such as residential childcare institutions (RCCIs), and child care centers and after school programs participating in the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).

“10 Cents a Meal provides additional funds for food service directors and childcare staff to feed children healthy, local food,” said Melanie Wong MA, RDN, Farm to ECE Specialist with Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities. “With the application reopening I am hoping more eligible schools and non-school sponsors will take the opportunity to get additional funding to support their local food purchasing, especially with the bounty of the spring and summer growing seasons quickly approaching.”

The program was signed into law in July 2021 by Governor Gretchen Whitmer making the bill the largest single-year School Aid Fund budget ever passed by the state.

The window for grant applications will be open from Tuesday, February 1st through February 11th. For more information about the application process, please visit www.tencentsmichigan.org or click here.