Applications for 2025 School Garden Grants are closed.
Letters of intent were due Friday February 7. Please join our mailing list to receive timely notices of network activities, events and funding opportunities.
School garden mini-grants
Schools can apply for $5,000 for garden materials and supplies as well as nutrition education materials, plus $2500 in staff or student support for garden activities.
The Kentucky Farm to School Network invites Kentucky preK - 12 grade schools to apply for a school garden mini-grant opportunity. This project will provide funding for schools to establish school gardens and implement nutrition and cooking education using the produce grown in the school gardens.
Awards will be for $5,000: $4,000 of the mini-grant is to be spent on garden supplies (plants, tools, etc.) and $1,000 of the mini-grant is to be spent on cooking and nutrition education supplies. Garden supplies can include: materials for raised beds, seeds and vegetable starts, perennial plants and fruit or nut trees, rakes, shovels, trowels, landscape cloth, wheelbarrow, seed starting supplies, mulch, soil amendments, tool storage, hoses, watering cans, rain barrels, pest exclusion, crop protection, stakes or other plant supports, fencing, hydroponic or aquaponic materials and supplies. Example cooking supplies include: cutting boards, knives, mini-fridge, hot plates, pots and pans, measuring and mixing tools, aprons, canning jars, canner, cookbooks, printing costs for producing a cookbook, ingredients to supplement garden items to complete recipes. Projects may include an element of indoor growing (hydroponic or aquaponic), but must include some outdoor growing to be eligible for funding. Emphasis should be on edible crops, but some ornamental or conservation crops (like pollinator plants) may also be included. $2500 in personnel support can be used as a stipend or stipends for the school staff implementing the project and/or for paying student interns or assistants.
Funding for this project is provided by Community Farm Alliance through a USDA Patrick Leahy Farm to School grant and by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky.
Eligibility:
In order to be eligible, schools must be: public or private; and serve grade levels within pre-K - 12th grades. The project must reside within one campus, i.e. you can apply for multiple schools under one grant application if all school grounds are physically adjoining. Note: Funds will not be issued to any individual. Checks must be issued to a school, school board or possibly to a community partner, like a PTA or PTO.
Key Details & Dates:
The network will accept letters of intent to apply from January 27-February 7.
Following a review of letters of intent, by February 12, a limited number of schools will then be invited to submit a full grant proposal by the end of February. Some assistance may be available in developing a quality grant proposal.
Mini-Grant awardees will be selected and notified by Monday March 10
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) will be executed between Community Farm Alliance and the grantee. Checks can be issued when the MOU is signed by both parties.
Planning for the gardens with the KY Farm to School Network team and/or student interns will begin in March 2025. Each awardee will get a site visit from an ag professional at the start of the project.
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Because a full proposal can be a considerable amount of work and because some good applicants may need assistance with putting together a proposal, we’ve decided to start with a letter of intent for this round of funding, followed by inviting a limited number of full proposals.
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Send a letter of intent to apply to KYF2Snetwork@gmail.com by 5pm on Friday February 7, 2025. In your letter, please give the name of your school and the grade levels of students served and answer the following questions:
Why would a school garden benefit your school and students?
What is your long-term vision for the garden?
Describe how the garden will be used to support your school’s educational curriculum and student outcomes.
What kind of support do you have from other staff at your school?
Have you received a different grant for a school garden in the past? If yes, tell the amount received and describe what it funded.
Potential applicants should read the outline of a full proposal below and be prepared to develop a proposal if invited.
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For those who are invited to continue, a full grant proposal will include:
Garden Plan
Growing - What types of fruits and vegetables do you plan to grow?
What is the applicant’s level of experience with gardening in Kentucky? If the applicant is new to gardening, how willing are they to learn from expert gardeners?
School support - What type of support do you have for a school garden from the school and/or school district (e.g. teachers, existing classes, students, principal, superintendent, etc)?
Describe what steps you have taken/will take to ensure your garden has the resources and care it needs. Consider seasonal care, irrigation, summer break, etc. Specifically describe how you plan to care for the garden during the summer and school breaks..
Education planWho is/will be involved in enrichment programs/lessons? (community partners, parent groups, teachers, etc.)
Explain how the harvests from the garden will be utilized to promote local produce consumption. (e.g. summer school programs, cooking classes, school cafeteria, giveaways, etc)
Describe ways that the school garden and cooking and nutrition education programs could be integrated into summer programming.
Financial plan
How will your school finance department administer the grant funds? (Some finance departments have more restrictions about their processes and approvals. Please check with your school finance staff to find out how easy it will be for your school to administer the grant. If an alternative to school finance administration is needed, it may be easier to work with a community partner, like a PTO)
How do you plan on using the grant funds? ($4,000 for garden supplies and $1,000 for cooking supplies) **Please provide an itemized budget (can be general categories).
Personnel Support
How will your project utilize $2500 funds to support staff or student time in the garden?
Letters of Support - Please provide a signed letter of support from each of the following:
School administration - the principal or assistant principal and/or school finance officer
School grounds/maintenance staff - (garden plans that don’t have back up from the groundskeepers are much more likely to encounter difficulties)
At least one other school faculty or staff member
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Schools applying for this mini-grant opportunity agree to:
Work with KY Farm to School Network team to plan, establish, maintain, and evaluate the school garden and education project
provide periodic reports, including final report, about school garden activities
Participate in summer garden and nutrition education/cooking programming, which could be through summer feeding, summer school, daycare, etc.
Get an endorsement from the school maintenance/groundskeeping staff
Keep all receipts/ purchase orders/ invoices and turn them in to the Kentucky Farm to School Network at the end (November at the latest)
Get parent/guardian permission for relevant student photos/media, take and share photos/video of the garden project
Make a budget and plan to spend the associated personnel support funds
Optional, but encouraged:
Form a booster club for volunteer support and sustained fundraising
In March of 2024, four schools were awarded school garden grants of $5,000 each.
The network received 51 letters of intent and considered 13 full proposals. The next round of garden grants will open for applications in December of 2024. Join our mailing list to be notified of funding opportunities from the Network. (We share lots of other funding opportunities as well.)
Questions about applying?
Contact Laurie White, network coordinator:
kyf2snetwork@gmail.com
859-428-7961 (call or text)