2021 National School Lunch Program (NSLP) Equipment Assistance Grant (EAG)

Funding Description

These funds allow school food authorities (SFA) to purchase food service equipment to serve healthier meals that meet the updated meal pattern requirements, replace outdated and worn equipment, serve meals during disaster (pandemic or natural disaster), improve food safety, and to help support the establishment, maintenance, or expansion of the School Breakfast Program. It gives priority to those SFAs that have not received an equipment grant since 2017.

Eligibility

Eligible Applicants	Local educational agencies
Required Eligibility Criteria	Public school districts, county offices of education, directly funded charter schools, private schools, and residential child care institutions that participate in the NSLP or School Breakfast Program can apply for this grant. Any of the above qualifying local agencies previously approved for the NSLP, and would otherwise be operating the NSLP in School Year 2021-22, may apply for the EAG while using the flexibilities granted under the Seamless Summer Option. The Nutrition Services Division (NSD) will give priority to those sites that did not receive funds from the 2017, 2018, 2019, or 2020 NSLP equipment grants. The NSD may consider SFAs with excess net cash resources (NCR) to be ineligible to receive an equipment grant. In accordance with Title 7, Code of Federal Regulations, Section 210.14(b), an SFA shall limit its NCR to an amount that does not exceed three-month average expenditures for its food service account.
Other Eligibility Considerations	The CDE will award competitive grants of up to $100,000 per SFA. Each SFA may apply for no more than five sites. The NSD will give priority to those SFAs that have not received an EAG since 2017. The NSD will also give priority to those SFAs that can explicitly document how the equipment purchased will reflect the intent of the grant with specific emphasis on impacting nutrition quality, serving healthier meals, and meeting nutritional standards as well as how the SFA will sustain these improvements in the years to come.
Eligible Grade Level(s)	Not applicable
Eligible Age Level(s)	Not applicable

Funding

Legal Authority	2021 Agriculture Appropriations Act
Source / Type	Federal / Grant
State Fiscal Year	2021-22
SACS Resource / Revenue Codes	5314 / 8290
Total Available	$3,625,175
Recipient Amount	$100,000 per LEA
Match Requirement	No
Allocation Formula	Recipients will receive up to 90 percent of the funding at the time of award with the remaining 10 percent awarded upon approval of all invoices. The CDE will recover funds from agencies that do not submit invoices for approved budget items within the award time frame.

Important Dates

Date Application Available	October 26, 2021
Due Date	December 14, 2021
Expected Notification Date	March 1, 2022

Additional Information

Application	Request for Applications [http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r9/snpequip21rfa.asp]
Background	2021 NSLP Equipment Assistance Grant [http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sn/mbsnp052021.asp]
Fiscal	Unavailable
Funding Results	Results-21: NSLP Equipment Grants (CA Dept of Educ [http://www.cde.ca.gov/fg/fo/r9/documents/eagaward2021.xlsx]
Other	Unavailable

Contacts

Program	Danielle Rice, 916-323-2538, DRice@cde.ca.gov
Fiscal	Brian Gee, 916-445-4815, BGee@cde.ca.gov
Division	Nutrition Services Division, 916-322-3005 (phone), 916-445-5731 (fax)