The Plant Powered Youth Fellowship is a program of the Plant Powered School Meals Coalition ran by Chilis on Wheels and Friends of the Earth.
Founded in 2022, the Plant Powered Youth Fellowship (formerly known as the Plant Powered Youth Steering Committee | YSC) selects 14 students from across the country each year to advocate for plant-based options in K–12 schools through movement building, policy advocacy, and leadership development.
Key Accomplishments
2024
- Students organized 41 meetings in Washington, D.C. with their Members of Congress and key Congressional committees to:
- Support the Plant Powered School Meals Pilot Act, formerly known as the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act;
- Support the EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act (Enabling Farmer, Food worker, Environmental, and Climate Targets through Innovative, Values-aligned, and Equitable Food Procurement Act); and
- Oppose the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act.
- Students met with officials from the US Department of Agriculture, White House, and Environmental Protection Agency to urge support for more plant-based meals and non-dairy milk in K-12 schools.
- Sent a letter to USDA urging the agency to do all within its power to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from school food by increasing the accessibility of plant-based foods.
- Completed a wide range of personal projects including:
- Local campaigns to add plant-based options to school menus.
- Developing and disseminating educational materials about plant-based school meals.
2023
- Initiated a national comment campaign to collect public comments from students, organizations, schools, caregivers, and food service workers in favor of new child nutrition meal patterns that facilitate more plant-based options and plant-forward school menus, which led to USDA adopting several recommendations.
- Coordinated the first-ever youth-led plant-based school food D.C. Fly-In. Students organized 34 Capitol Hill meetings with Congressional staffers where students asked their elected officials to:
- Support the Plant Powered School Meals Pilot Act, formerly known as the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act.
- Support the EFFECTIVE Food Procurement Act (Enabling Farmer, Food worker, Environmental, and Climate Targets through Innovative, Values-aligned, and Equitable Food Procurement Act).
- Support the Farm Systems Reform Act.
- Oppose the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act.
- Oppose the EATS Act (Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression Act).
- Students met with federal agencies to urge support for more plant-based meals and milks in K-12 schools. Members met with Congressman Jamaal Bowman to thank him for introducing the Healthy Future Students and Earth Act.
- Sent a letter to USDA urging the agency to do all within their power to help school districts meet the growing demand for plant-based school foods.
- Completed a wide range of personal projects.
Learn more from our blog.
2022
- Organized a listening session with USDA officials to share their stories and make the case for including plant-based foods in schools.
- Developed a petition to collect youth, teacher, and parent testimonies in favor of provisions they helped secure in a House child nutrition bill that would expand plant-based school meals and non-dairy milk options.
- Attended the White House Conference on Hunger, Health, and Nutrition and initiated a letter to the White House about the importance of centering youth voices.
- Met with 30+ Capitol Hill offices in support of policies to expand access to plant-based school food.
- Published blogs and op-eds about their experiences advocating for plant-based school food.
- Campaigned for new plant-based options in their own school districts.
- Created a Healthy Future Students and Earth Act video challenge.
