Jenniffer Gonzalez Announces $9 Million to Ensure Food for Students

To ensure that the nutrition of students is not disrupted as a result of the pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) allocated $9,060,667 to Puerto Rico to strengthen the school meals program, granted the commissioner resident, Jennifer González Colón.

"To prevent our students from losing food service in schools, due to interruptions in the supply chain as a result of the pandemic, Federal Agriculture has identified funds for the purchase of local food and thus supply the dining rooms. Access to nutrition services is one of my priorities, which is why during the school closures last year, I advocated that school cafeterias be continued. This nutrition service is essential for our students, who in some cases are their only meal of the day, because of those impulses and I managed to get the island included in the Pandemic-EBT, as an alternative to school canteens during the pandemic where we received over $600 million helping about 330,000 students and 73,000 children in care," said González Colón.

Nationally, USDA will dole out $1.5 billion to states and school districts divided as follows: $1 billion for schools to purchase food for their meal programs; $300 million for states to purchase food for distribution to schools; and $200 million for cooperative agreements to purchase local food for schools with a focus on purchasing from historically underserved producers.

The funds come from the Commodity Credit Corporation, a government corporation within the Department of Agriculture whose funds are used to implement specific programs established by Congress, as well as to carry out activities under the authorities of the law that creates the corporation.

In his communication, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack "During the COVID-19 pandemic, school districts have faced extraordinary challenges in ensuring that all children have the food they need to learn, grow, and thrive. Food and funding that USDA is distributing by helping to ensure that schools have the resources they need to continue serving our nation's schoolchildren with quality food they can depend on, while building a stronger, fairer, and more competitive food system."

Under the Supply Chain Assistance fund, Puerto Rico will receive $5,994,056 for school districts to purchase food for their school meal programs. Unprocessed and minimally processed household foods such as fresh fruit, milk, cheese, frozen vegetables, and ground meat can be purchased. Each state will allocate funds to schools based on enrollment, with a minimum amount per district to ensure small schools don't fall behind.

To strengthen local food supply chains, states have the option to use up to 10% of these funds to make bulk purchases of local foods and then distribute these foods to schools for use in their feeding programs. . States also have the option to target funds to areas of greatest need by limiting distribution to school districts where a quarter or more of the students come from low-income households.

Through the new Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program, Puerto Rico will receive $1,198,811. This program seeks to strengthen the food system for schools by helping to build a local food chain.

USDA $1,867,800 in Puerto Rico to purchase 100% domestically grown and produced food products, known as USDA Foods, for states to distribute to schools to offset the impact of disruptions to their normal supply chains.

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