Rochester, Minnesota has long been known as “America’s City for Health.” It’s a place where diagnosing, treating and healing have been at the core of its identity, thanks to some of the world’s best healthcare.

Since becoming Rochester’s Mayor in 2019, I’ve focused on building upon that legacy by promoting wellness in every part of our community. That means looking beyond medicine to the daily factors that impact our health, like access to nutritious food, opportunities for movement and partnerships that support families where they are.

In August 2024, I became aware of a concerning issue facing Rochester Public Schools. The district’s participation in the federal Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program (FFVP), which provides healthy snacks to students in our lower-income “Community Schools,” would not be funded until the third week of school. This gap meant that during the first few weeks of the academic year, many students would be without regular snacks–putting them at risk of hunger during a critical time for learning and adjustment.

While school staff and community members worked quickly to fill the gap, my office also took action. We started purchasing healthy snacks and partnered with a local orchard to provide apples to students in two of our elementary schools. Area nonprofits also stepped up to contribute funding, making it a community-wide response. Together, we were able to ease a short-term challenge in Rochester. But the core issue remained. Each year, this delay in FFVP funding could leave students without reliable access to healthy food.

Rather than accept this as an annual challenge, we looked for a longer-term solution. Working through the Olmsted County Food Coalition, a regional partnership focused on food access, we identified a new opportunity. Southeast Minnesota Food Rescue, a local organization focused on reducing food waste and improving nutrition equity, stepped forward to help. They applied for and received a US$5,000 grant from the City of Rochester’s Social Equity Fund and launched a new initiative called Equity Eats.

Read the full article about promoting community health by Kim Norton at Food Tank.