About The Alliance
MISSION Leveraging our collective voice to transform school meals VISION To be the leading change agent for advancing high-quality school meals that foster student achievement.
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The Urban School Food Alliance (The Alliance) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2012 by school nutrition professionals from the nation’s largest urban districts (50,000 students enrolled or more). What began with six founding members—New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami-Dade, Dallas, and Orange County (Orlando)—has grown into a powerful coalition of 19 major urban school districts serving 3.8 million students across 6,889 schools. Unlike buying groups, The Alliance does not purchase food or supplies on behalf of its members. Instead, we unite district leaders to share expertise, develop shared standards and best practices, advocate for supportive policies, and harness our collective voice and purchasing power of $1.35 billion to drive meaningful change. This collaborative model allows us to improve food quality, increase access to nutritious meals, advance sustainability efforts, and lower costs—all while maintaining each district’s independence. For more than a decade, our members have worked together to change the landscape of child nutrition. Their achievements include helping school districts adopt an antibiotic-free
standard for poultry—even before many of the nation’s leading restaurants—and removing millions of polystyrene trays and plastic cutlery from landfills every year by implementing sustainable practices. The Alliance has advanced local sourcing efforts by hosting webinars for producers across the country and delivering basic training on local value-based procurement to hundreds of producers and school district professionals. Additionally, our website offers accessible buying-local resources, enabling member districts to source locally more frequently while sharing effective best practices. The Alliance leverages this expertise and experience to share evidence-informed practices, make high-quality ingredients available and affordable, and advocate for policies that support school meal programs and the students they serve. Many of the children in our districts come from families facing food insecurity and qualify for free or reduced- price meals. By working together, we are able to raise the bar on what school meals can be—healthier, more sustainable, and more delicious—while creating ripple effects that benefit districts of all sizes nationwide.
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Collective Power for Healthier School Meals: Case for Support
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