CDE Grant Application

2026–27 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program Grant

This application is for the California Department of Education (CDE) 2026–27 Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) grant.

Program Administration:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) administers the FFVP at the federal level.
The CDE Nutrition Services Division (NSD) administers the FFVP in California.

Grant Period and Funding:

Grant Period: July 1, 2026–June 30, 2027 (School Year [SY] 2026–27).
California's FFVP Funding for SY 2026–27: Expected to total $16 million.
Grants will be awarded on a reimbursement basis to school food authorities (SFA) operating elementary schools, as long as funds are available.
This award is federally funded and is made contingent upon the availability of funds.

Eligibility and Prioritization:

As required by federal law, schools are selected based on application criteria and the percentage of students eligible for free and reduced-price (F/RP) meals.
Priority is given to elementary schools with the highest relative F/RP percentages, to the maximum extent practicable.

Note: For the last nine years, the percentage of enrolled students eligible for F/RP meals at awarded elementary schools has been 86% or higher.

Grant Awards:

Application Process:

All eligible SFAs, which includes both current FFVP grantees (2025–26) and new applicants, must submit a separate online application for each elementary school interested in applying for the 2026–27 FFVP grant.
Submit one application per school site.
The application must be completed online.
This online grant application should take approximately 30 minutes to complete. All questions must be answered.
The CDE NSD will not consider or accept email, fax, mail, hard copy applications, or partial submissions as a complete submission.
The Submit button must be selected for your application to be transmitted to the CDE to be accepted as a complete submission.

Preparation Steps:
Before applying:

Determine the total number of elementary school sites your SFA plans to submit an application for.
Verify with the district superintendent that your SFA has administrative jurisdiction over the school site(s) to avoid disqualification.
Read and review the USDA's FFVP: A Handbook for Schools, the California FFVP Guidelines, and the CDE FFVP Grant Request for Applications (RFA) web page.

Application Review and Confirmation:

Once you complete your application, you may select the Print Responses button on the last page of the application and save your responses as a PDF copy to your desktop.
Select the Submit button once. After you select the Submit button, you will not be able to make any corrections, and your application will be transmitted to the CDE.
After submission, you will be redirected to the CDE FFVP Grant RFA web page.
All of the contacts included in this application will receive an email confirmation from the CDE (excluding the district superintendent).
If you do not receive an email confirmation within two hours of submission, verify and check the accuracy of the contact information you have provided and resubmit if needed.

Assistance and Support:

For assistance, to check if your application was submitted, or if corrections are needed to your application after submittal, contact the CDE FFVP Team by email at FFVP@cde.ca.gov.

To continue, select the Next button at the bottom of this screen.