With over 40 years in school nutrition, Dr. Katie Wilson is no stranger to the procurement challenges school nutrition operators face on a daily basis.
As the Executive Director for the Urban School Food Alliance (USFA), a nonprofit made up of 17 member school districts that aims to procure high-quality food for schools, Wilson has approached the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to see if there were ways the USFA could lend a hand in improving the procurement process for operators throughout the country.
“We always said we have to fix this, but we have to really sit down and look at it from a broad, open perspective and stop using band aids and bubble gum,” says Wilson. “In talking with USDA, I kept saying, ‘look, there’s got to be a better way to do this. I just need a chance to pilot some things. We want to make a difference.’”
Read the full article about the USFA and USDA partnership from foodservicedirector.com via this link.
Join the Conversation
The latest news and headlines from Urban School Food Alliance
HuffPost: I Randomly Decided To Pay Off A School’s Lunch Debt. Then Something Incredible Happened.
May 5, 2025
The thing about witnessing a 7-year-old having their hot lunch tray yanked away and replaced with a cold sandwich...
Urban School Food Alliance Welcomes Aldine ISD, Leveraging Larger Collective Voice to Transform School Meals
Apr 28, 2025
Washington D.C. – April 28, 2025 – The Urban School Food Alliance (USFA), a powerhouse coalition of the nation’s...
Urban School Food Alliance Releases 2024 Annual Report Highlighting Progress in School Meal Programs Across the Nation
Feb 27, 2025
Washington D.C. – February 24, 2025 – The Urban School Food Alliance (USFA), a coalition of the nation’s largest...
AMNY: Op-Ed | A recipe for change: NYC’s journey to healthy, delicious school meals
Nov 5, 2024
From amNew York: "School food has long been synonymous with unappetizing meals. During my own school days, I...