Bridging Impact, in partnership with Capriolo Farm, LLC and the Malone Center, will develop an action plan to implement a farm to school project focusing on a food secure future with youth-led, sustainable vertical farming that addresses food insecurity and related health and nutritional needs for students and families served by the Malone Center while providing nutrition and agricultural education to the next generation of leaders and farmers.

Health Partners Initiative dba Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln's Farm to Early Childhood Education project will increase access to local foods, increase sourcing from local and regional producers, and increase access to agriculture education. This proposal will reach early childhood education sites in Lincoln/Lancaster County, Nebraska, prioritizing sites in lower income, higher nutrition insecure census tracts. Partnership for a Healthy Lincoln will bring together a broad network of local food advocates to integrate sustainability of farm to early childhood education into local food system work.

The Nurturing Northeast Lincoln project will develop and expand school gardens and Family and Consumer Science courses in three high poverty middle schools in northeast Lincoln as the foundation for introducing agriculture education and related careers, as well as increasing access to locally grown foods. Students will develop and manage their own gardens; harvest food for use in Family and Consumer Science classes and after school clubs, and in an annual local food showcase event; and engage with local food producers and growers. These middle school students will be mentored by high school students in the Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems focus program at nearby Lincoln Northeast High School, who will visit the middle school garden clubs and host them at their own, larger garden. The overall impact of the project will be to improve access to local foods in the participating eligible Child Nutrition Program sites through the use of school garden produce.