Arizona Tribune - New Report Shows Chef Ann Foundation's Healthy School Food Pathway Program is Strengthening California’s School Food Workforce

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA / ACCESS Newswire / April 29, 2025 / The Chef Ann Foundation, in partnership with Food Insight Group (FIG), has released a Midpoint Evaluation Report for the Healthy School Food Pathway (HSFP) program - a groundbreaking workforce development initiative designed to support aspiring and existing school food professionals in gaining the skills they need to create and manage successful K-12 scratch-cook meal operations. The report highlights the program's growing impact on California's school food workforce, demonstrating how strategic investment in training and career development is helping schools serve healthier meals while advancing the state's broader goals in public health, agriculture, and workforce readiness.

Launched in 2022, HSFP was designed to address longstanding challenges across public school nutrition departments-particularly underinvestment in the workforce - by providing structured, sequential career development opportunities. The three-tiered program includes a paid, seven-week Pre-Apprenticeship focused on foundational skills; a paid, nine-month Apprenticeship offering hands-on culinary experience; and a 13-month Fellowship emphasizing leadership development and advanced, scratch cooking-focused school food operations.

The Midpoint Evaluation Report set out to understand what supports or hinders participation in the HSFP program, track changes in participants' knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward school food careers, follow career trajectories of participants, and assess the program's impact on host districts.

Drawing on feedback from over 230 participants, alumni, and district leaders from 2022-2024, the evaluation noted strong, positive results:

• 77% of Pre-Apprentices, 71% of Apprentices, and 93% of Fellows reported using the knowledge and skills they learned regularly in their school kitchens.

• 93% of Pre-Apprentices, 100% of Apprentices, and 100% of Fellows reported HSFP had substantial impacts on their careers, with 100% of Apprentices and Fellows continuing to work in the district where they completed the program.

Participating districts also noted positive program results:

• 94% reported improved leadership development

• 90% reported improved culinary skills

• 89% reported improved technical skills and knowledge

• 85% reported improved morale and engagement

• 74% reported improved staff capacity

• 43% reported an increase of new hiring or promotion of staff

"This report confirms what we've long believed - when you invest in the people behind school meals, you transform entire systems," said Mara Fleishman, CEO of Chef Ann Foundation. "School food service is uniquely complex. It operates under strict federal nutrition standards, local regulations, and often without stable funding, yet we've historically overlooked the professionals running it. The Healthy School Food Pathway program is addressing that gap head-on, building a workforce with the training and skills needed to deliver on California's bold future vision."

The Healthy School Food Pathway program is aligned with California's historic $2.2 billion investment to transform school food into a driver of public health, economic vitality, and educational equity. With more than 800 participants and 99 California host districts engaged to date, HSFP is proving to be a powerful strategy for building and sustaining a skilled, mission-driven school food workforce across the state.

Read the full report HERE.

SOURCE: Chef Ann Foundation

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

N.Mitchell--AT