US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on the fight against food + nutrition insecurity, $200M to help improve school meals—and what you can do to help. 

"We're dealing with not just food insecurity, but nutrition insecurity," Secretary Vilsack explains. "We need to make sure that when people are fed that they're also fed well."  

To allow for greater opportunity for higher levels of nutrition, Secretary Vilsack announced a new program called The Local Food for Schools Cooperative Agreement Program (LFS) that will provide up to $200 million for states to purchase local food for school meal programs.  

"We're trying to figure out ways in which we can better link those local producers with their local schools with the kids and making sure that it provides the opportunity for those school nutrition folks to be able to do the very best job they can to feed our children," he says. "It's a program we really hope is expand over time. We want to create the connections today, and that's the $200 million we're announcing." 

So what can YOU do in your own community to help?  "Go to a school board meeting and advocate for proper nutrition," Secretary Vilsack says, "donate to Hunger Free America...volunteer in the schools...work with local restaurants to figure out ways in which chefs can be encouraged to go into those local school districts to help work with the school nutrition folks to figure out the most creative way to provide the most delicious meal that's nutritious."