Provides guidance on finding who to talk to, when to contact, key considerations, and conversation starters.
This resource walks farmers and ranchers interested in selling to schools through some of the most important preliminary steps to take, and considerations to keep in mind, in this process.
This document contains brief advice and tips as you delve deeper into the farm-to-school space, from the first stages of understanding how to identify school district decision makers and set up a first meeting with them all the way through closing this first conversation and following up. It also provides conversational openers to spark ideas as you look to make connections with your local school district representatives.
If your primary focus is finding your point of contact in schools, here is the direct link to the spreadsheet created by our Department of Education that has every participating sponsor (school meal operator) and their contact info.
We recommend familiarizing yourself with the Colorado School Districts and Counties Map. Find which School Districts are near you and then reference the spreadsheet with contact info.
Also, the CO School Districts and Counties Map does not show Charter School locations, and those are found on the spreadsheet if they operate a Child Nutrition Program that receives Federal Reimbursement. You can visit the CO League of Charter Schools website and the Charter Schools Institute website to identify where the Charter Schools are. Important note – not every Charter School runs its own school meal program. Most receive meals from their local school district, some receive meals from a vended meal company, and others don’t run a reimbursable meal program and either have parents pay for meals and/or they have them delivered by a local restaurant. When chatting with your local charter school it is important to ask how they operate their meal program and who is their SFA (School Food Authority). The SFA will be the decision maker on local food purchases.