Center for Regional Food Systems

10 Cents a Meal for School Kids and Farms (10 Cents) is a state-funded program that began as a pilot in 2016-17 as a way to realize the benefits of farm to school activities and supplement the limited budgets food service programs have available for fruits, vegetables, and legumes in school meals.

The pilot officially became a statewide program titled 10 Cents a Meal for Michigan’s Kids and Farms in the 2020-21 school year.

By providing school food service directors (FSDs) with match incentive grants to purchase healthy foods, the 10 Cents pilot aims to improve children’s daily nutrition and eating habits through the school setting and to invest in Michigan’s economy.

Prior evaluation had shown that the program encourages FSDs to serve students a wide variety of fruits and vegetables.

The evaluation presented here builds on previous 10 Cents evaluation efforts by assessing and documenting a range of potential program impacts. The findings are presented in the following series of summaries. 

Explore the summary files to learn about the impacts of the 10 Cents pilot!

• Nearly 200 Farms and Food Businesses Comprise the 10 Cents Food Supply Chain
• 10 Cents on the Menu: Fruits, Vegetables, and Legumes Served through the Year
• 10 Cents on the Menu: A Calendar Snapshot of Three 10 Cents School Districts
• What Foods Were Served
• School Food Service Directors Use 10 Cents Differently: Insights from Interviews
• Farm to School Experience Matters: Insights from an Analysis of Food Service Director Behavior
• Local Food Purchasing in a Pandemic: A Summary of the 2019-20 Grantee Survey
• Recommendations for Future Evaluation
• Technical Notes

A version with compiled summaries is also available. Click the green DOWNLOAD FILE button at the top or bottom of this page to explore the compiled summaries as one document.

Suggested Citation

Matts, C., Colasanti, K., & Trumbull, E. (2021) What a dime can do: An evaluation of the 10 Cents a Meal pilot. Michigan State University Center for Regional Food Systems. foodsystems.msu.edu/resources/what-a-dime-can-do-an-evaluation-of-the-10-cents-a-meal-pilot

This work was funded by the Michigan Health Endowment Fund. Ongoing 10 Cents evaluation is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.