In 2012, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) updated school meal
requirements to reflect the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Many schools initially struggled
with these new meal requirements but found ways to adjust. However, legislative and
administrative actions delayed the full implementation of milk, whole grain and sodium
requirements. Additionally, the disruption of regular school meal services during the COVID-19
pandemic decreased many students’ access to meals. The Lake Michigan region is made up of
at least 40 percent of families who qualify for free- and reduced-price school meals and who are
more likely to experience nutrition insecurity.
About Our Proposal
This is the context in which the Illinois Public Health Institute (IPHI) launched the new Lake
Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub (Innovation Hub) program as part of the USDA
Healthy Meals Incentives Initiative.
IPHI’s proposal to the USDA emphasized the critical need for the multistate project team to
center equity in the design and implementation of the project. With organizations serving in each of the four Innovation Hub states—Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin—as “State Leads,” as well as national and local food justice organizations, the partners decided to launch a committee that would develop a distinctive Request for Applications (RFA) for the Innovation
Hub. Wanting to ensure that the program design focused on priority communities most in need of school food system innovation, the partners endeavored to create an RFA-Development Committee, comprised of at least 51 percent members who represented the priority populations and target grantees, and less than 50 percent of the State Lead and Innovation Hub staff. By focusing on shared interests, collaboration and priority communities, the RFA-Development Committee created an RFA over the course of five months and released it in February 2024.
Level Setting: A Collaborative Approach to RFA Development
Across all the members of the Innovation Hub’s RFA-Development Committee is a shared trend
of exemplary individuals leveraging their personal experiences—and the experiences of
others—to foster change in food systems. For Kathryn Bernstein, the Director of the Innovation
Hub, this mindset is exactly what drew her to the USDA’s grant opportunity in the first place. She
saw its alignment with her greater work done with the Illinois Alliance to Promote Opportunities
for Health (IAPOH) at IPHI:
“IPHI has developed innovative, equity-centered grantmaking approaches that engage
people with relevant lived experiences and people from the priority applicant
organizations to assist with the design of grant programs and selection of grantees to
ensure an equity-centered process that meets real-life, community-identified needs.”
The committee’s advocacy for equitable representation in the RFA-development process is
noteworthy. They wanted more presence of consultants with lived experiences, recognizing that
genuine engagement requires a diverse group that reflects the communities they aim to serve.
While the initial proposal recognized the need for engaging people with lived experience in the
priority communities, seasoned public health advocate and community organizer Tatiana Maida noted, “Only one consultant [per state] was not enough. [Tokenism] is harmful to the process.”
The group pushed to ensure more than half of the committee would represent the Innovation
Hub priority communities/grantees. An intersectional approach is vital in dismantling power
dynamics within the school food system, which often marginalizes certain voices.
Grants and Contracts Manager, Mariela Medina, highlighted some additional challenges the
RFA-Development Committee faced in striving to maintain a focus on priority communities while
also ensuring all grant requirements were met. As a solution, IPHI engaged two independent
consultants, Rachel Gooen and Kim Gilchrist, to play a neutral convening role and move the
group through difficult conversations. Familiar with challenges faced within dynamic working
groups, Rachel outlined the conflicting reality of “verbal contracts built off a network or
professional relationship versus actually constructing a working group aimed at getting the
legwork done for the project at hand.” Rachel and Kim were vital mediators, constantly
emphasizing the importance of realistic goal-setting and trust-building among committee
members to achieve their objectives effectively.
Defining “Priority Communities” and Other RFA Components
When developing an RFA, “getting on the same page” as a working group of experts is only half
the battle. There also needs to be clarity behind the content, themes and ideas discussed in the
work. When creating the Innovation Hub RFA, the Committee decided on numerous
components together, including the definition of the priority communities, what questions to
include in the application, what scoring criteria should be used, and how to best support
potential applicants. When creating the priority community definition, the Committee
acknowledged their definition could seem broad, but that its strategic conceptualization served
as a foundational element to guide their efforts and ensure focused, meaningful engagement.
When asked about their experience engaging in conversations to define the term “priority
communities,” author, anti-oppression/DEI consultant and former Director of Special Projects at
Beyond Diversity Resource Center, J.R. Reynolds, stated, “Oh! That was a big job.” He saw a
difficult balance in looking at the “element of power” introspectively in hand with greater systems
at play in our country. “Unless you understand such big pictures, you come from such a unique
‘echo chamber’ of community needs,” he said. Similarly, when discussing the same topic,
Tatiana emphasized the importance of “having good conversations.” She also highlighted
“getting back to the ‘why’ behind the program,” focusing the RFA’s development on the initial
“mission statement of this project.”
Difficult and intentional conversations held among working partners played a crucial role in
refining the definition, illustrating the importance of dialogue in community-focused initiatives.
This approach was also integral in the committee’s development of other RFA components
aimed at centering equity, such as allowing both written and audio responses from applicants,
suggesting the creation of short, informational videos, and technical assistance support
mechanisms.
Progress and Lessons Learned
With the inaugural cohort of Innovation Hub grantees announced and their projects just getting
started, it’s time to look back on how a collective of public health leaders, community organizers,
educators, parents, public servants, and school food system change advocates successfully
started an ongoing effort to strengthen the Lake Michigan K-12 food system and improve
schools’ access to nutritious, local, and culturally relevant products. To help shed light on their
innovative approach and how this collective came together, interviews were conducted with
seven members from the Innovation Hub’s RFA-Development Committee: Kathryn Bernstein, MPH, RDN, LDN (IPHI), Mariela Medina (IPHI), Jenna Kaczmarski, MPH, RDN (Action for
Healthy Kids), Tatiana Maida (healthTIDE), J.R. Reynolds (author of Something Bigger Than
Ourselves), Rachel Gooen, MS, MSW (Rachel Gooen Consulting) and Kim Gilchrist, MS (KG
Consulting LLC). From their responses, it is clear that the Innovation Hub’s RFA-Development
Committee has made significant strides in prioritizing access and equity in grant application
programs. Their collective journey is a showcase on how systems change can only occur when
there is a shared commitment to community-driven approaches to innovative transformation.
The Committee underscored critical lessons from their experiences, including:
- Have a full grasp on what grant funders require and simplifying this information for the
intended audience. - Acknowledge that this grant’s target audience is individuals who may have limited
experience applying for grants. - Be intentional about finding new thought partners and skilled experts to bring important,
unheard perspectives to the discussion. - Balance a team by establishing familiarity. This includes understanding the different
levels of expertise on an ad-hoc team, creating a safe space, and recalibrating meeting
structure to build authentic trust. - Take a community-centric approach—especially when making important decisions—by
uplifting those with lived experiences doing “hands-on” work as guiding consultants. - Build out a timeline, determine clear methods of communication, and share enough
background information to get everyone on the same page.
“Move at the speed of trust. We were operating on the timeline we originally
proposed. But ultimately, we decided to request a revised timeline because we
couldn’t do the work in an equitable way with the timeline we were operating within.”— Kathryn Bernstein
Having worked in school food systems since 2004, Jenna Kaczmarski, Program Manager with Action for Healthy Kids, said it best:
“We each have a unique set of life experiences that help us contribute to a process like
this. We feel like we need to have all the answers, but in reality, each of us brings value
to the table, and the only things we need to do are contribute and share our voice and help uplift the voice of others.”
Envisioning the Future: Beyond the Next Five Years
By fostering inclusive practices, addressing systemic challenges, and prioritizing sustainability,
the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub’s Committee is laying the groundwork
for a healthier future for all students and a more equitable system for the people who feed them.
Their journey is a testament to the power of collaboration in overcoming systemic barriers and
creating meaningful change in food access and nutrition. This groundwork has been successful! IPHI received applications from a variety of organizations representing priority communities and aligned with the Innovation Hub goals. After hosting a series of listening sessions, the Innovation Hub team learned that, overall, the RFA felt accessible and priority communities felt well-supported to apply.
As the Innovation Hub prepares to launch its next cycle, committee members express hope for
sustainability and growth. Both Kathryn and Mariela also hope this innovative adventure will go
beyond strengthening the local school food system and support the achievement of greater food
justice goals across the Lake Michigan region—and by sharing best practices, even across the
country.
Right now, there is no way of knowing for sure how the Innovation Hub will transform over these
next four years. Only our future Stories of Innovation will tell. Though, one thing is clear: this
work cannot be done alone. If you are interested in getting involved with the Innovation Hub’s
future development, please get in touch.
By Clay Connor Elmore, Janna Simon, and Kathryn Bernstein, IPHI