Chef Ann Foundation launches fellowship program to bolster school-food leadership

BOULDER — The Chef Ann Foundation, a Boulder-based nonprofit that seeks to ensure students at American schools have access to quality food, has selected 24 people from around the country to participate in its first Healthy School Food Pathway Fellowship program. 

The program “will develop the next generation of diverse leaders in scratch-cooked school food operations that can support future sustainable programs and drive school food reform,” the foundation said in a news release. “As the first-ever federally registered fellowship program for mid- to upper-level school food professionals, participants will focus on workforce development and upskilling the profession to grow scratch-cooked school food leadership across the country.”

The 2023 cohort includes fellows from Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Virginia and the Northern Mariana Islands. Among them are school district area supervisors, assistant directors, chefs, culinary managers, food service directors, kitchen leads, program specialists and nutritionists. 

“Fellows will participate in weekly live learning sessions across 12 key content areas, gain hands-on experience in exemplary school districts and through the Culinary Institute for Child Nutrition, earn credits toward a certificate in food systems and food justice from UCLA Extension’s Food Studies program, and build their network of scratch cooked school food peers,” the Chef Ann Foundation said. “Their experience will culminate in an implementation-based capstone project demonstrating the application of their learning to benefit their home school district and ultimately cultivate transformative change within the school food system.”

Source: BizWest