Chef Ann Foundation

Millions of children in New York rely on meals served in public schools and early childhood education programs like Head Start and preschools.

These meals play a powerful role in shaping student health and educational outcomes. Students who eat school meals daily have better diets than those who do not; they consume more fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. While government funding supports school meal administration, nutrition, eligibility, and procurement, it omits a critical element: recruiting, training, and maintaining the school food workforce. School districts report labor shortages as a common challenge for their meal programs; more than 90% of districts nationwide reported labor shortages in 2024. In 2025, NYHealth awarded the Chef Ann Foundation (CAF) a grant to build statewide capacity by testing a workforce training program and expanding infrastructure for early childhood education programs to increase local food purchasing and fresh food preparation. 

Under this grant, CAF will partner with Central New York school districts to pilot its school food workforce apprenticeship program. CAF will build a local coalition including school districts, universities, nonprofits, and community members with support from the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance. It will identify and recruit districts with leadership buy-in and fresh cooking capacity. CAF will launch paid, on-the-job apprenticeships in at least five schools. CAF will provide technical assistance, evaluate the pilot, and formalize a New York-specific model for state approval and long-term sustainability through existing funding streams. 

NYHealth also awarded a complementary grant to the Rural Health Network of South Central New York.