LEGISLATIVE ALERT! Help Make 10 Cents a Meal Available Statewide. Contact Your Legislators This Week!

June 20, 2019 |

AUTHOR: Diane Conners

Above: Wendy Christensen, Food Production Manager at Flint Community Schools, which is one of 57 current 10 Cents a Meal grantees. Photo at Eisenhower Elementary, by Steven Hanna.

This is historic: All three branches of Michigan government have included 10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms in their proposed 2019–2020 budgets. That’s the matching grant program that assists schools in purchasing Michigan-grown fruits, vegetables, and dry beans.

But it’s not over yet, and your voice is important NOW.

The school aid budget, where 10 Cents is funded, now goes to conference committee starting as early as Tuesday, June 25, to iron out differences. The Senate, thanks to the leadership of Sen. Wayne Schmidt, includes expanding 10 Cents to a statewide program, $2 million in funding, and adding sponsors of early childcare centers as eligible; the House and Governor‘s budgets call for repeating this year’s funding level of $575,000, and keeps the funding available only to applicants in the currently eligible five prosperity regions.

Let Governor Whitmer, legislators, and all of Michigan know that 10 Cents a Meal is essential for our children and our communities! We’ve provided contact information below.

LEARN HOW 10 Cents a Meal can make your school’s cafeteria menu healthier with help from state matching funds: tencentsmichigan.org.

5 Easy Ways to Be Persuasive

1. Use this messaging when you contact your legislators and the governor.

10 Cents a Meal for School Kids & Farms has proven itself as a powerful way to introduce healthy, delicious food to children in Michigan while investing in Michigan agriculture and local economies. Please increase funding to $2 million and turn this pilot project into a program that is available statewide. Schools around the state should have the opportunity to apply for these matching fund grants out of one statewide 10 Cents fund. 10 Cents a Meal also should be expanded to include sponsors of early childcare centers. Thank you for your support of 10 Cents a Meal!

2. Personalize your letter to legislators and the governor.

Add your own thoughts about why it is important to invest in healthy, locally grown food for Michigan’s children. Want some ideas? You can find additional information about the program’s impacts on children and farms in fun quotes, data, and infographics in the legislative report