$160 Million Will Bring Locally Sourced School Meals to California This Fall
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Office of Kat Taylor and School Nutrition Leaders champion free school meals, speaks at international food conferences this fall
SAN FRANCISCO (Aug. 14, 2025)— As nearly six million California children return to the classroom this month, a new $160 million investment will help bring better, locally sourced meals to schools. Part of California’s recently passed $1.93 billion School Meals for All (SMFA) budget for 2025-26 budget included the innovative Kitchen Infrastructure and Training (KIT) program, which supports school nutrition professionals with training and equipment to serve more freshly prepared, locally sourced school meals. The funding for the KIT program was secured, in part, by the School Meals for All Coalition partners, including the Office of Kat Taylor, a foundational SMFA co-sponsor.
“Children returning to school this year will not only continue to get two meals a day, regardless of income, but they will now have access to even more locally sourced, freshly prepared meals,” said Kat Taylor, co-founder of TomKat Ranch and co-sponsor of the School Meals for All initiative. The Office of Kat Taylor, as part of the SFMA Coalition, comprised of over 200 organizations, supported the push to provide free meals for California’s children by Governor Gavin Newsom, First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom, and other legislative leaders like former Senator Nancy Skinner, Senator John Laird, and Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel. “Much like textbooks, pens, and computers, food is essential for children to learn and become successful adults. The Kitchen Infrastructure and Training Program is essential to ensuring students have access to nutritious, freshly-prepared meals that support improved educational outcomes.”
“As classrooms across the country fill up with young learners, California is making sure its students are filled up, too: with the nourishing, fresh foods they need to learn and grow,” said Curt Ellis, Co-Founder and CEO, FoodCorps. “We are grateful for the efforts of the Office of Kat Taylor and the SFMA coalition in helping to bring freshly-prepared school meals to children.”
SMFA ensures that all California children have access to two nutritious meals every day at school, regardless of family income. The KIT Program specifically supports training for staff and school districts to meet the demand for free meals by upgrading kitchen production, serving infrastructure, and purchasing equipment. KIT funding also gives schools the flexibility to purchase more locally sourced, California-grown food for use in meals.
“We’re deeply thankful to the Office of Kat Taylor for helping bring school meals to children,” said Chris Helfrich, CEO, Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. “Her commitment to California’s kids reflects a genuine care for the well-being of others. We’re proud to have worked alongside Kat and her team for the past five-plus years and look forward to her office’s continued efforts to champion and uplift all children.”
The efforts of the SFMA coalition and California’s leadership, have sparked a national movement, inspiring eight other states to adopt permanent universal school meals policies, and prompting similar efforts in over 25 states. Central to sustaining this progress in California’s investment in Kitchen Infrastructure and Training programs, which equip schools to prepare fresh, nutritious meals. These investments transform school cafeterias, but also ensure that children have access to healthy meals, laying the foundation for lifelong wellness. Universal school meals policies have been proven to decrease the amount families spend on groceries, allowing more money for other essential needs like clothing, utilities, and childcare.
Taylor will speak at Terra Madre Americas in September about how others can advocate for nutritious school meals. The three-day event in Sacramento celebrates the Slow Food movement and the diverse food cultures of the Americas that are represented across California. Taylor will also speak at the CA Agriculture in the Classroom Conference where educators, administrators and volunteers will share best practices for incorporating food and fiber into both school meals and curriculum. SMFA intersects with Taylor’s broader mission to advance regenerative agriculture. In 2008, the couple founded TomKat Ranch—an 1,800-acre cattle ranch in the San Francisco Bay Area dedicated to sustainable food systems.
The SFMA initiative was designed to bridge a critical hunger gap for California families. Taylor continues to champion policies and legislation that support California schools in serving freshly-prepared, California-grown meals to advance the health and wellness of all children.
About the Office of Kat Taylor
Kat Taylor leads a variety of social enterprises, public benefit and philanthropic ventures. She is the co-founder and Board co-chair of Beneficial State Bank, a Community Development Financial Institution, whose mission is to bring beneficial banking to under-resourced communities in an economically and environmentally sustainable manner. Taylor is also the co-owner of TomKat Ranch, a cattle ranch that uses ecologically sound practices and research to demonstrate, inspire, and proliferate the adoption of regenerative agriculture. Taylor serves, and has served, on many nonprofit boards, including CuriOdyssey, Ecotrust, Good Samaritan Family Resource Center, the Harvard Board of Overseers, Insight Prison Project, KQED, ProPublica, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. In 2025, Kat Taylor was named to the Forbes 50 Over 50 List for Investment and Most Influential Women in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Times.