Farm to Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative

Request for Applications

To: Iowa early child care and education (ECE) providers based inpreschools, Head Start centers, center-based child care programs, preschool programs, and child development in home programs.

Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children (Iowa AEYC) and North East Iowa Food and Fitness (NEIFFI)is requestingapplications for sites interested in becoming part of a regional farm to early care and education learning collaborative. The collaborative will support new and expanding farm to early care and education projects in Iowaby providing funding, training, support,and participation in a peer learning collaborative.

What is farm to early care and education?

Farm to early care and education seeks to improve young children’s access to healthy foods and physical activity. This is done connecting early child care and education settings with local farmers, ranchers, and food processors, engaging in positive food introduction opportunities, and gardening experiences.Activity examples include:

  • Taste testing vegetables grown onsite or from a farmers market
  • Hosting celebration activities involving parents and families featuring healthy foods
  • Planting seeds in containers and observing the growing process with children
  • Making menu changes to highlight items locally grown
  • Sharing updates of activities through parent newsletters

Why is farm to early care and education important?

These programs have been shown to increase children’s access to fresh fruits and vegetables while increasing their desire to eat healthier foods. This is particularly vital when children are learning eating patterns that will stick with them throughout life. For more information on farm to early care and education please visit

Who is eligible?

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis to form diverse regional collaborations in three target areas in southwest, south central, and east central Iowa. Selected programs will receive free resources, materials, training, and professional development.

Early child care and education settings and/or programs serving children between the ages of 2-5 are eligible to apply. Regulated programs in Audubon, Cass, Shelby, Wapello, Linn and Johnson counties will be prioritized.Preference will be given to sites that operate year-round. We hope to have a mix of programs from each area of the state.

What will be expected if selected?

 Applicants will be asked to assign a Lead for each site.

  • The Leadwill serve as the primary point of contact for this opportunity. This individual should be from the program itself; the director, family child care providers, lead teacher, or cook/food program staff. This Lead will be expected to attend the locally held monthly meetings and communicate with Iowa AEYC staff regarding the project’s activity.
  • The Lead will be encouraged to identify additional partners to help implement activities. These partners will be welcomed to attend monthly meetings, but not required. This could be a cook/food program staff, interested parent,family member, assistant, teacher or other community member.

 A brief introductory meeting will be scheduled in your area by our staff. This will provide an opportunity to introduce team members and talk about the project.

 Monthly meetings will be held centrally for each farm to early care learning collaborative. Exact time and dates will be determined, but likely be held in the evenings or Saturday mornings. These will be held through October 2017, with the possibility of continued professional development offerings from October to March 2018.

 Your program will be expected to implement farm to early care and education activities after considering your own current activities and various options. Curriculum training and ways to integrate in lesson plans will be shared in meetings and trainings. Activities will be planned with the support of Iowa AEYC and implemented throughout summer and fall 2017.

 Project staff, teaching staff, food preparation staff, and parents will be encouraged to participate in evaluation activities throughout the project’s participation.

What will be provided for support?

Support of activities will be given through onsite technical assistance, including telephone/web-based technical assistance. Related supplies and resources valued at approximately $750 per site will be provided to each accepted participating program.

Additionally, Department of Human Services Approved Training Hours will be given for the monthly meetings.

Farm to Early Care and Education Learning Collaborative

Program Application

We are committed to supportingfarm to early care and education efforts in a wide variety of settings. If you have questions or are interested in applying but feel you need assistance with any aspect of the application, please contact us:

Kelly Hanson, Farm to Early Care and Education Program Specialist

515-331-8000 ext. 107

Application Deadline has been extended to May 11th, 2017.They may be sent by email, mail or via the Survey Monkey Link:

Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children

Attn: Kelly Hanson, Farm to Early Care and Education Program Specialist

5525 Meredith Drive, Suite C

Des Moines, IA 50310

Contact and Demographic Information
Site Name:
Street Address of Site:
Program type / Center Based
Child Development Home
Community preschool
Statewide Voluntary Preschool
Head Start
Number of children in attendance in care: / Infants: ______
Toddlers:______
Preschool:______
School Age:______
Is your site regulated? /  Yes by Department of Human Services
 Yes by ______
 No
What percentage of families served qualify for Child Care Assistance?
LEad Contact Information
Name of Lead
Title/Role
Phone Number
Email Address
How do you prefer we contact you?
How do you best like to learn?
Meal Program & Farm to early care and education activities
Does you program receive CACFP funding for meals? /  Yes
 No
How often do you serve fresh fruits or vegetables at your site? /  Rarely
 Monthly
 1-2 times per week
 3-4 times per week
 Every day

For each of the following 4 activities listed below, please indicate whether or not you have or are currently participating in the activity by checking the corresponding box.

Never / Sometimes / Often
1. Serving local foods at meals, snacks, or in taste tests
2. Grow an on-site or off-site edible garden that children are involved with (also includes container gardens or small herb gardens)
3. Conduct activities or educational experiences to teach children about food, nutrition, and/or farms. (Could include visits to farmer’s markets, farms, etc.)
4. Family engagement in any of the activities listed above

If you have participated in any of the above activities (question 5), please estimate for how long:

 < 1 year  1-2 years 3-4 years  5+ years

Additional Information
Please provide some additional information about your site
Suggested length for each question is 1 or 2 paragraphs. If completing and sending through the mail, feel free to use additional attachments rather than the space provided below.
1. Describe your daily food service operations in terms of where food is purchased, who prepares meals and snacks (full-time or part-time food service worker(s), lead teaching staff, teaching assistants, director, etc.) and how food is prepared.
______
2. Describe your program/setting, with reference to vulnerable populations served, if applicable.
______
3. Describe the approach used in lesson and curriculum planning.
______
4. Explain your interest and experience in farm to early care and education strategies. Have you tried activities in the past or will this be a new initiative for your program? Please include the overall vision for your change and specific goals.
______
5. What kind of technical assistance from Iowa AEYC and North East Iowa Food and Fitness that would be helpful in meeting your goals?
______
6. Optional. Include any additional information here about your program that you’d like to share, including web links or attachments related to your project.
______

Signatures

Please include signatures below for the

We have reviewed this application and attest to the information provided. If selected, we agree to implement the project as outlined in the above application. We understand that participation in the farm to early care and education learning collaboration is a requirement of this grant program. This may require online communication, conference calls, and in-person meetings.

Lead Date

Program owner/director/principal (if different than above) Date