Food Connects Farm to School program is excited to step into new roles of leadership in the Windham Region and at the statewide level through expanded professional development opportunities. Interest continues to grow for workshops exploring Farm to School’s role in supporting students through a trauma-informed approach. Food Connects was awarded an Agency of Education contract, along with our partners from across the state, to provide additional professional development in the coming school year. 

Trauma and Nutrition Professional Development 

Food Connects began our second year of a two-year grant from the Thomas Thompson Trust focused on investigating the links between trauma and nutrition. We’re grateful for the opportunity to develop a set of best practices and resources for schools that utilize Farm to School approaches to support students through a trauma-sensitive lens. We now provide professional development opportunities on this topic and the interest in our trainings is very high. We are also coordinating a bi-monthly community of practice group on this topic for wellness leaders in WSESU, and participants find those discussions rich and valuable. As we continue to monitor and respond to the COVID-19 crisis in our community, we know that resources for supporting students who experienced the trauma of food insecurity are becoming more and more relevant every day. We deeply appreciate the support we have received to delve into this important topic and share our learning throughout the region. If you are interested in learning more about this work, please contact our Farm to School team at farmtoschool@foodconnects.org.

Agency of Education Contract

In early March, the Agency of Education awarded Food Connects and other regional Farm to School organizations a contract to provide professional development to educators across Vermont over the next year. 

As a part of Vermont Farm to School Network, Food Connects works with the Ease of Use team to better reach Farm to School coordinators across the state. The team hosts regional gatherings, collaborates on professional development opportunities, and publishes a quarterly newsletter. This past winter, the Agency of Education released a request for proposals for contracts to provide Farm to School professional development throughout Vermont. The Ease of Use team was well-positioned to serve out this contract given its collective experience delivering Farm to School professional development and the combined geographic reach of the organizations. 

Through the collaborative contract, Food Connects, Green Mountain Farm-to-School, Healthy Roots Collaborative, VT FEED, and Vital Communities will create a unified set of modular professional development workshops. These workshops may include topics such as collaborating with farmers, the school nutrition program as a curricular resource, and trauma-informed approaches to nutrition education. Each regional organization will bring this newly created catalog of workshops to school nutrition professionals and teachers in their area to identify which workshops should be offered. This approach ensures that there is a consistent Farm to School approach throughout the state while still providing regional flexibility. 

Food Connects is excited to be a part of this partnership which highlights the highly collaborative nature of the Vermont Farm to School Network. We look forward to sharing our knowledge of Farm to School programming and nutrition education with our statewide partners and bringing new professional development opportunities back to our stakeholders in southeastern Vermont.