DURHAM, N.H. — Students in Manchester’s school cafeterias will soon have something new to crave on the their lunch menu — more local and culturally relevant foods sourced from farmers in Manchester and across New Hampshire. NH Farm to School, a community outreach program of the Sustainability Institute at the University of New Hampshire, was awarded the 2024 New England Food Vision Prize from the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. The $85,894 grant will be used to launch a two-year project in the Manchester School District to increase local food sources for food service in the cafeteria and develop more culturally connected meal options.

“Our schools present a unique opportunity to build creative solutions to the complex food challenges we face,” says Nicole Cardwell, program director of the NH Food Alliance. “As New Hampshire continues to attract new industries, the Granite state’s economy has grown and so has the state’s population, especially in our cities, and this project is an opportunity to build school communities that reflect the populations they serve.”   

UNH’s NH Farm to School and the NH Food Alliance will work with the Manchester School Food Service Department to train school food service staff on working with fresh local foods, develop ways to engage students about the new food options through educational opportunities and peer-to-peer learning and foster school food purchasing relationships.

“This project will allow us to empower students with information about nutritious food options and foster an understanding of the impact locally sourced food and ingredients can have on the people and economy of a community,” says Jim Connors, director of school food and nutrition services at the Manchester School District. “By engaging students as meal ambassadors and working with local food hubs, we're creating meaningful connections between our classrooms and our community while ensuring access to nutritious, culturally connected meals.”

In addition to enriching the mealtime, the project will also provide a new market for New Hampshire’s farmers, particularly the new American farmers in the Manchester area.

“The Fresh Start farmers are excited to expand their market by adding the Manchester School District as an institutional food buyer. Not only will it benefit them financially, but it will build awareness and connect other new Americans to the Fresh Start farmers as a source for culturally significant food here in New Hampshire,” says Sarah Bower, food hub operations manager at Fresh Start Farms.

Stacey Purslow, the program coordinator for NH Farm to School, proposed the project as a continuation of more than 20 years of work by the NH Farm to School and its network partners in support of New Hampshire’s students, families and educators incorporating agriculture, seafood and local food into their education and lives.

“Because the state population has changed so much over the years, especially in Manchester among children under the age of 18, schools are one of the first institutions to serve these students,” said Purslow. “And this project is an opportunity to celebrate those changes and prepare them for life in an increasingly diverse state.”

According to research out of UNH’s Carsey School of Public Policy, more than 43% of the children in Manchester and more than 45% of those in Nashua are minorities.

NH Farm to School and the NH Food Alliance are both community outreach programs housed in UNH’s Sustainability Institute. The Institute supports the work of both programs as part of the public university's mission and strategic priority to build collaborations that support the Granite state’s economy, quality of life, sustainability and resilience.

The project is expected to launch in the Manchester School District in early 2025. For more information about the project or NH Farm to School, contact Colleen Jennings at colleen.jennings@unh.edu or visit the NH Farm to School website.

About UNH:
The University of New Hampshire inspires innovation and transforms lives in our state, nation and world. More than 16,000 students from 50 states and 87 countries engage with an award-winning faculty in top-ranked programs in business, engineering, law, health and human services, liberal arts and the sciences across more than 200 programs of study. A Carnegie Classification R1 institution, UNH partners with NASA, NOAA, NSF, and NIH, and received over $250 million in competitive external funding in FY24 to further explore and define the frontiers of land, sea and space.