Recovery Act grants improve school food service, boost economy

LANSING - Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today announced that 167 Michigan schools in 103 school districts will receive more than $2.5 million to purchase school lunch equipment, helping ensure Michigan students receive safe and nutritious meals at school.  The Michigan Department of Education administers the competitive grant program for schools participating in the National School Lunch Program with funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act).

"Quality nutrition is a key ingredient to our students' academic achievement," said Granholm.  "These Recovery Act funds will help struggling school districts acquire the equipment they need to make sure their students receive safe and healthy meals."

The Recovery Act school lunch equipment grants are designed to help school districts replace old, worn out food service equipment or purchase new equipment to expand and enhance a school's food service operation.  The Recovery Act requires the Michigan Department of Education to prioritize funding for schools where at least 50 percent of the students are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.  Equipment purchases must meet one or more of the following functions:

-  improve the quality of meals served in schools;
-  improve the safety of food served in schools;
-  improve the overall energy efficiency of school food service operations;
-  allow schools to expand student participation in their school meals program.

"These federal funds will allow the schools to invest in major food service equipment that they normally wouldn't have been able to purchase," said state Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan. "This is a greatly-needed investment in our schools."

The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) operates in over 101,000 schools and residential child care institutions nationwide.  Schools participating in NSLP provide nutritionally balanced, low-cost or free lunches to more than 31 million children each school day.  The Recovery Act provided $100 million nationally to states for competitive grants to fund school food service equipment.

A complete list of the funding recipients is attached below.

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