NEW YORK At a time when boosting health and immunity are at the forefront of conversations, the more than 1.1 million students served by the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) will benefit from a recent$1 milliongrant to accelerate healthier menus in schools, free of seven categories of undesirable ingredients, called The Harmful 7.

The five-year grant is funded by theLife Time Foundationand will be facilitated by the Fund for Public Schools, the NYC DOEs non-profit partner focused on scaling outcome-driven initiatives and responding to emerging needs. This partnership will accelerate scratch cooking techniques, and the preparation of clean, wholesome and simply-prepared foods within the districts more than 1,800 schools, while also working to eliminate the Harmful 7 categories of ingredients in all of the Districts schools. The New York City Department of Education already prohibits many of these items from their food supply and was a pioneer in securing antibiotic free meats for the district. In partnership with The Life Time Foundation, the NYC DOE will work together to expand the great work already started. The Harmful 7 includes:

In a year with great challenges and instability presented by the spread of COVID-19, the New York City Department of Education has made food security a top priority, making free meals available daily for all NYC children. Since the first day that schools were closed, the Office of Food and Nutrition Services provided meal service at more than 450 food hub sites in the city. The OFNS team never stopped ensuring that students and families had access to healthy and nutritious food.

As evidenced during the emergency feeding operation sinceMarch 2020, the New York City Department of Education is deeply committed to ensuring that students have access to the best possible meal. This includes meeting all USDA and NYC food standards guidelines and prohibiting additives that are commonly found in our food supply today. This long standing commitment to high quality food will continue to accelerate through this partnership.

The Life Time Foundations Registered Dietitian,Megan Flynn, MPH, RD will team up with the Office of Food and Nutrition Services by providing ongoing label support to identify all products containing the Harmful 7 and recommend changes as needed, with the goal of increasing fresh food offerings and scratch cooking practices.

We are thrilled for the opportunity to collaborate with the New York City Department of Education,Kimo Seymour, Senior Vice President of Media and Events at Life Time, says. We both believe access to healthy, nourishing meals is more important than ever during this crucial time in our country. Its our honor to join their efforts to increase scratch cooking practices and keep highly processed foods out of school meals, so students can reach their full potential.

The$1 milliongrant will be dedicated to strategic planning support, public relations consultation, equipment and other financial needs related to implementation of changes aligned with the goals of this partnership.

The Life Time Foundation is a public charity started byLife Time, the nations premier healthy lifestyle brand with more than 150 athletic clubs acrossNorth America, including Life Time Sky and four plannedNew York Citydestinations. As ofAugust 2020, the Life Time Foundation partners with 25 school districts across the country, which represent 242 million meals served to 1.5 million students per year.

About Life Time FoundationAs a public charity created by Life Time, the Life Time Foundation is committed to helping children grow up strong, smart and loved. We believe that for children to reach their full potential, they must have access to nourishing meals. We partner with schools to eliminate foods containing highly processed and artificial foods in favor of wholesome, real food alternatives. Unlike many other charitable organizations in which a portion of donations is consumed by administrative costs, 100% of every dollar donated to the Life Time Foundation directly supports its mission because all administrative costs are contributed by Life Time, Inc. For more information, visitwww.ltfoundation.org.

About the New York City Department of EducationThe New York City Department of Education is the department of the government ofNew York Citythat manages the citys public school system. The City School District of theCity of New Yorkis the largest school system inthe United States, with over 1.1 million students taught in more than 1,800 separate buildings.

About the Fund for Public SchoolsSince 1982, The Fund has secured unprecedented investment from foundations, businesses, and individuals, raising more than$532 millionfor the Citys approximately 1,800 schools and 1.1 million students. By partnering directly with the NYC Department of Education, The Fund supports some of the most high-impact programs in3K-12 education at the largest school district in the country by piloting innovative projects; accelerating promising, outcome-driven initiatives; and responding strategically to emerging needs acrossNew York Citypublic schools.To learn more, visitwww.fundforpublicschools.org.

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New York City Department of Education Receives $ 1M Grant from Life Time Foundation to Accelerate Efforts to Increase Fresh Foods - PerishableNews