FY 2027 MA FRESH Questions and Answers

Are food security non-profits eligible to apply for the FY27 MA FRESH Grant?

No. Eligible MA FRESH applicants include licensed early childhood programs that offer meals through the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) and provide programming to children birth to age five years old, and schools or school districts serving students Pre-Kindergarten through 12^th grade that offer meals through the National School Lunch Program (NSLP). Food security non-profits may serve as external collaborators and contractors to eligible MA FRESH applicants if outlined in the application and project workplan.
We have a Farm to School Coordinator. Can we leverage this funding to pay for their salary?

Grant awards may not be used to fund existing activities, projects or staff positions. Funds can only be used to fund new staff time or salaries as a result of new or expanded initiatives.
My organization is not a K–12 school but, in the summer, we partner with the state to offer free summer meals to children. Is our organization eligible to apply for FY27 MA FRESH?

Unfortunately, Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors who are not also a National School Lunch Program (NSLP) sponsor or Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) sponsor are not eligible to apply for the MA FRESH grant.
Is an eligible entity that is both a CACFP and NSLP sponsor able to apply twice, once for their early education program and once for their K–12 schools?

Unfortunately, LEAs are only eligible to submit one application even if they are both a CACFP and NSLP sponsor. Your project proposal and funding request should be inclusive of all programming you hope to accomplish across all sites you are applying for and can incorporate both early education and K–12 sites and programming.
Can MA FRESH funds be used to procure local fruits and vegetables from a local farm share?

MA FRESH funds may not be used to procure local fruits and vegetables if they will be served as part of reimbursable meal service (breakfast, lunch, snack, supper) as part of the National School Lunch Program or Child and Adult Care Food Program. MA FRESH funds may be used to procure local fruits and vegetables from a local farm share if this food will be used for supplementary programming such as a cooking class, food literacy curriculum, or a taste test program.
I would love to apply for my school district — do I need to create a GEM$ login?

To date, most schools and school districts in Massachusetts already have a primary GEM$ log in. Check with your school or district's administrative/grants office to confirm that the district has GEM$ access as well as a "LEA User Access Administrator." To gain direct access to the FY27 MA FRESH application in GEM$, request that your district's LEA User Access Administrator creates user access for you and assigns you to the GEM$ role of "LEA Grantwriter."

For more guidance on GEM$ access and user roles, please visit GEM$ and navigate to "DESE Resources" on the left side navigation bar > GEM$ LEA User Roles — Guidance and Forms.
My business office has set me up with a log in for GEM$, but I am still having trouble accessing the grant application. How do I navigate GEM$ for access?

If your district's GEM$ User Access Administrator (UAA) has created a GEM$ log in for you and assigned you as an "LEA Grantwriter" for FC 0710 (fiscal year 2027), you will take the following steps to access the application:
1. On the GEM$ Funding Application Main Page on the left column navigation bar, you will select Search > Funding Applications.
2. In the search function on this page, be sure to select "2027" as the fiscal year, "FC 0710" as the Funding Application and Application Status as "All"
Do you have criteria or a rubric available for the application submission components?

Every section of the "Required Grant Questions" of the application that will be scored has a corresponding point value stated in the header. Applications will be reviewed and scored toward this maximum point value. Applications are scored out of 100 points total (the grant budget is scored out of 10 points). The section headers provide applicants the weight associated with each application question in final scoring.
I was wondering if there is a copy of the 2027 MA FRESH grant application that you can share. It is helpful for our team to be able to review the questions/fields outside of the GEM$ application site, to better prepare our responses.

A FY27 FC 0710 MA FRESH Planning Template, outlining the questions asked in the GEM$ "Required Grant Questions" section, can be found on the GEM$ Home Page > DESE Resources > Competitive Grants - Planning Templates and Documents. While the FY27 FC 0710 MA FRESH Planning Template may be used as a planning and organizing tool, responses to the questions in the "Required Grant Questions" section of the application must be submitted through GEM$ in order to be reviewed.
An early education site doesn't have space to install a garden on their property but has the opportunity to collaborate with a community center that hosts after school programing. Can a garden be installed at the community center that is not the early education (licensed CACFP) site using MA FRESH funds?

Unfortunately, no. As stated in the RFP, the impact of grant activities must be associated with the physical location where NSLP/CACFP meals are served.
What is the best way to distinguish between a "new" or "expanding" applicant? We have a school garden that has been used by students for recreational use only for years. The students use it during recess as an alternative social/emotional activity for kids who otherwise do not participate in sports, and the school hires a community partner periodically to keep the garden healthy and meet with kids who come of their own accord to plant, maintain or harvest the vegetables. Teachers do not teach garden lessons in the classroom, the food does not go to the cafeteria, nor are there field trips to farms or school garden produce donated to community partners. Would our application be "new"?

Unfortunately, DESE is not able to advise regarding an applicant's "New" versus "Existing" status for the submission of their grant application other than directing them back to the language provided in the RFP:

"New" farm to school/early education initiatives engage in none or only one of the farm to school three "C's": Classroom (such as curriculum and school garden engagement), Cafeteria (such as local menu offerings) and Community (such as farm field trips or non-profit food system partnerships). Applicants that have been dormant in all farm to school activities for the last three years also qualify as "new."

Please note: the categorization of the application should be based on the applicant, not on the specific project proposal the applicant is submitting.

It is ultimately up to the discretion of the applicant to select a categorization of an application. If members of the grant review team feel the rational for this categorization is unreasonable, the application will be shifted to a more appropriate categorization. There is no penalty to the applicant for this shift and the applicant will be notified of the change during the review process.
We would like to have one of our focuses of our MA FRESH application on native flowers of New England and/or Massachusetts. Through this hands-on learning, students will become familiar with several keystone native plant species and the pollinators they help support, as well as the transferable skills involved with gardening. Is this kind of activity allowed? From there, we would also incorporate adding a variety of fruits and veggies.

Expenses such as native flower seeds or seedlings as well as project activities that incorporate native flowers are allowable for MA FRESH. That said, strong project applications will integrate educational activities with the exposure of children to local food, especially food served as part of a Child Nutrition Program or during farm to school educational activities. Activities that prioritize edible plants will ultimately have a stronger tie to MA FRESH grant goals.
Would education and implementation of in school composting for food waste reduction be an eligible expense for FY2027: MA Farming Reinforces Education and Student Health (FRESH)?

Expenses incurred for the education and implementation of in school composting for food waste reduction are allowable for MA FRESH. That said, strong project applications will integrate educational activities with the exposure of children to local food, especially food served as part of a Child Nutrition Program or during farm to school educational activities. Activities that prioritize composting connection and impacts to the local food system will ultimately have a stronger tie to MA FRESH grant goals.
Are three goals required in the application workplan? What if I only have one main overarching goal with 3 activities?

The application requires that three goals are submitted in the application workplan. Strong project workplans will share at least two proposed activities per goal.
Could a toddler classroom be included in the activities of my MA FRESH application as a CACFP sponsor or would this be too young?

CACFP applicants are able to serve children from birth to age 5 (including toddlers) through MA FRESH activities.
Is the School Nutrition Director responsible for the execution of the MA FRESH grant workplan? If there was a culinary instructor or/group that was interested in getting a farm to school program started would they qualify to apply and execute the grant?

No, the School Nutrition Director is not responsible for overseeing, managing and executing an MA FRESH grant, if awarded. Strong applications will partner with internal and external partners, including their nutrition department, to ensure their project can be executed. That said, because the grant is administered through the DESE Office for Food and Nutrition Programs, application submissions should be developed in collaboration with and reviewed by your Child Nutrition Program Food Service Director.
Would the cost to cover a food and nutrition-based school assembly or performance (approximately $3,000) be an allowable cost for the FY2027 MA FRESH grant?

Yes, a contractor that hosts a food and nutrition-based school assembly or performance is an allowable cost under the FY2027 MA FRESH grant.
Our district is looking for funding to start a couple of hydroponic vertical flex farms however we won't be able to feed all of our students with the expected production. Instead, we plan to provide the produce in our CTE café and throughout the district as focused programming. Is our application still meeting the grant goal even though all of the produce will not be used specifically in the NSLP program?

Strong project descriptions will integrate educational activities with the exposure of children to local food served as part of a Child Nutrition Program. However, it is not required that produce grown through food literacy educational efforts or through infrastructure funded through the grant be integrated in the National School Lunch Program and serve to all students. Please consider reviewing descriptions of past grantees to see how awardees have incorporated produce grown onsite into their programs and meal services in a variety of ways.
Are private special education (former Chapter 766) schools eligible to apply to FC 0710? What about public charter schools?

Public Charter Schools and Private Special Education Schools are eligible to apply as long as they are a National School Lunch Program sponsor.
How is an award amount for the FY2027 MA FRESH grant paid out to the school district, if awarded?

Through the application process, applicants are responsible for developing their project budget in collaboration with their entity's fiscal representative, which includes identifying the object code and function code for each budget line item. Awards are made directly to LEAs and funding is received through a reimbursement model on an allotment schedule. LEAs must execute programming and pay the upfront costs of project materials, contracts, fees or staffing prior to requesting reimbursement from DESE under the object codes and function codes identified in the project budget. Additionally, the full award value will be incrementally released to the LEA throughout the fiscal year to draw down through the reimbursement process.
Our CACFP (a preschool) shares its land with a land trust which hosts a community garden. Can the land trust also apply for this grant? The land trust provides curriculum activities and plants for the preschoolers. The children participate in the planting, upkeep, harvest and enjoy eating the vegetables.

The land trust is not eligible to apply for the FY2027 MA FRESH grant application directly, however, your CACFP program is eligible to apply and may leverage grant funding to contract and compensate the land trust for the completion of grant activities.
We have a garden at our school and in the past have hired a few students to help care for it over the summer. This year we lost our funding and are wondering if we would be eligible for any grant money to hire students and/or staff for this coming summer.

The start date for awarded FY27 MA FRESH recipients is expected to be Fall 2026. Grant activities may not begin prior to the grant start date and must be completed by June 30, 2027. Additionally, grant awards may not be used to fund existing activities, projects or staff positions (including current Farm to School Coordinators). Funds can only be used to fund new staff time or salaries because of new or expanded initiatives.

Last Updated: May 4, 2026