2025-26 FFVP and FFVP TASTE Grant RFA Instructions

The California Department of Education (CDE) Nutrition Services Division (NSD), through the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) and the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm to School State Formula grant, will grant funds to eligible elementary school sites to provide students with a variety of free, fresh fruit and vegetable snacks. These snacks will be served during the school day as a supplement to, and not part of, the school breakfast and lunch programs. Grantees will also teach students about good nutrition. The FFVP encourages schools to partner with other entities in the community to support their efforts.

How to Apply for the California FFVP and FFVP TASTE Incentive Grants

Request for Application

The CDE FFVP and FFVP TASTE Incentive Grant Request for Applications (RFA) is an online application. The FFVP grant period is July 1 through June 30 of each school year, with optional FFVP TASTE Incentive activities from July 1, 2025 through March 31, 2026.

The CDE releases the FFVP Grant RFA on the CDE Available Funding web page in January of each school year, if funding is available.

All eligible school food authorities (SFA) must submit a separate online application for each elementary school interested in applying for the FFVP and FFVP TASTE Incentive grants. This includes both current FFVP grantees and new applicants.

Grant Application

The grant application package and instructions are available on the Search CDE Funding web page. After selecting the link, type FFVP in the keywords field and then click the Search CDE Funding button. This will bring up the links to FFVP RFAs for current and previous years.

Grant Eligibility

Eligible SFAs may receive an FFVP grant on behalf of the awarded elementary school sites. Examples of eligible SFAs include school districts, county offices of education, charter schools, private schools, or residential child care institutions operating the National School Lunch Program.

More information about the FFVP grant eligibility and program requirements are available in the Grant Overview tab on the CDE California FFVP web page. Applicants that do not meet the FFVP grant eligibility and program requirements will not be awarded and should not apply.

The FFVP TASTE Incentive award is only available to school year (SY) 2025-26 FFVP grantees. The award criteria for the FFVP TASTE Incentive require that the SFA must be selected as a grantee for, and participate in, the SY 2025-26 FFVP and has opted in to the FFVP TASTE Incentive funding. If the applicant is not awarded the FFVP grant or, if they were awarded the FFVP grant but did not opt in to the FFVP TASTE Incentive grant, they are not eligible for the FFVP TASTE Incentive funding. Further, if an awardee discontinues participation in the FFVP at any time, they are no longer eligible for the TASTE Incentive and must return funding.

General Assurances and Certifications

General assurances and certifications are requirements for applicants and grantees as a condition of receiving funds. Applicants do not need to sign and return the general assurances and certification with the application; instead, they must download them and keep them on file to be available for compliance reviews, complaint investigations, or audits.

Applicants that participate in the Consolidated Application should already have a copy of the general assurances and certifications on file and do not need to keep a separate copy. The general assurances and certifications can be accessed on the CDE Funding Forms web page.

Applicants and grantees, if funded, must, as a condition of receiving funds, agree to comply with the federal Uniform Administrative Requirements. For more information, visit the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations, Title 2, Part 200 web page .

Tips for Completing Applications

1. Gather all of the requested information before you submit your application. For ease of editing and formatting, draft your answers to the questions in a Word document and then cut and paste them into the online application.
   
   
2. Print a hard copy or PDF of the entire application from the first screen of the application before entering any responses.
   
   
3. Save each application, so you can return to it later. You can save the unique URL to the online application as a bookmark or add to Favorites in your web browser. (We recommend that you save the link by school site, if you are submitting more than one application.)

Before submitting the application online, print and review the application for completion, grammar, and accuracy. Print and save a hard copy of your responses for your records. You will not have access to your completed application after it is submitted. Be sure to submit your application after printing and saving a hard copy for your records.

Applicant Information

The CDE will use the SFA and school identification information provided in the application to verify that all of the grant criteria is met. Applicants must provide the SFA:

• Name
• Street Address
• Child Nutrition Information and Payment System (CNIPS) identification number
• Vendor number
• Unique Entity Identifier (UEI) number
• County number and name

This information can be obtained in the CNIPS, except for the UEI number. To locate and obtain your SFA’s UEI number, please visit the System for Award Management website . Please note that the UEI number has replaced the Data Universal Numbering System number.

The SFA must submit a completed RFA application online for each elementary school site applying to receive the FFVP grant. Please allow enough time to collect this information for each elementary school site before beginning the application. The applicant must provide school site identification information including:

• Name
• CNIPS site number
• Grade levels

The school site identification information also includes collecting your free and reduced-price (F/RP) meal eligibility method and F/RP meal percentage:

• For Standard Counting and Claiming: total enrollment from October of the previous school year and total number of students eligible for free meals and total number of students eligible for reduced-price meals
  
  or
  
  
• For Provision 1, 2, or 3: total enrollment from October of the previous school year, the school year in which the provision base year was established, and the F/RP meal percentage for the base year
  
  or
  
  
• For Community Eligibility Provision: total enrollment from October of the previous school year and Identified Student Percentage

School site identification information is available in CNIPS. If you do not have access to CNIPS, please contact your district school nutrition programs operator or claims administrator.

School Grant Team Support

To qualify for an FFVP grant, the USDA requires that each elementary school must have the documented support of the district superintendent, school principal, and school food service manager or director. In addition, each grant team support form must identify the primary grant contact and the CNIPS claims administrator.

By completing the application, each member of the grant team is signifying that they agree to the general assurances and certifications (including drug-free workplace, lobbying, debarment, and suspension), and terms of this program for all site applications identified with this SFA. The school support team includes:

• District Superintendent (or designee)
• School Principal
• Food Service Director or Manager (or designee)
• CNIPS Claims Administrator

Acknowledgments

All sites must agree to meet the requirements as stated in the FFVP Guidelines on the CDE FFVP web page and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) FFVP: Handbook for Schools (PDF).

For all site applications, SFAs must agree to the following acknowledgments and terms; each site will:

• Offer the FFVP snack a minimum of three times per week
  
  
• Provide nutrition education at least once per week
  
  
• Develop an FFVP implementation plan for each school site to have on file that includes:
  
  
  • Who will participate in the preparation, distribution, and service of the FFVP snack to students
    
    
  • Location where students will receive the FFVP snack
    
    
  • Frequency per week of the FFVP snack offerings
    
    
  • Time of the FFVP snack offerings (must be during the school day and outside of meal program time)
    
    
  • Method of FFVP snack delivery to students
    
    
  • How staff will provide nutrition education at least once per week, including the method, frequency, and curricula or general content for nutrition education
    
    
  • What school site partnership activities (current or planned) will assist the elementary school to implement the FFVP with internal or external partners, including organizations that will help with fruit and vegetable acquisition, handling, promotion, and distribution; nutrition education; or other activities that contribute to the goals of the FFVP

TASTE Incentive Opt-In (One-time additional funding for School Year 2025–26)

One-time separate and additional federal funding in the approximate amount of $1.8 million is available for SY 2025-26 FFVP awardees. This funding is called the FFVP Try Agriculture Samples with Tastes and Education (TASTE) Incentive grant. While the amount of each FFVP TASTE Incentive award will vary based on student enrollment, it is estimated to be an additional ten percent of an agency's total FFVP award. Applicants will have the opportunity to accept or refuse an FFVP TASTE grant award once they are notified of the funding amount. The option to participate in the FFVP TASTE Incentive funding is incorporated into the SY 2025-26 FFVP grant application.

TASTE Incentive grant participants must agree to:

1. Offer students at FFVP-awarded school sites at least three additional taste-tests of local (within 150 miles) and certified organic and/or sustainably grown fruits and vegetables.
   
   
2. Establish at least two new purchasing connections, per school food authority (SFA), with local, small to medium-sized farms, food hubs, cooperatives, or school farms within 150 miles that are certified organic and/or that use sustainable farming practices.
   
   
   • To cultivate equity, where possible, give preference to supporting small and medium sized producers and those representing historically disadvantaged populations which include Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), women, and veterans.
     
     
     • Note that accommodations may be made for purchases greater than 150 miles, with prior approval from the California Department of Education (CDE).

TASTE Incentive grant funds may also be used to:

3. Purchase nutrition and/or agricultural-based education materials for use in awarded sites.
   
   
   • These materials may be used to support nutrition education activities required as a part of the FFVP.

For more information about the TASTE Incentive, please visit the CDE’s FFVP web page and select the TASTE Incentive tab.

For questions regarding the TASTE Incentive, please contact the NSD Farm to School Team at Farm2School@cde.ca.gov. 

Submission

Grant applications must be completed and submitted online and are due by 4 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on Thursday, March 20, 2025. The CDE will not consider or accept fax, mail, email, hard copy applications, or partial submissions.

Within two hours of submitting the application, the CDE will send a confirmation email to all of the contacts included in the School Support Team Form, with the exception of the Superintendent.