A new federal grant program could send up to $2.5 million to Steinbrenner High School in Lutz to overhaul cafeteria food that families currently pay for out of pocket.
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody announced the program, called DEPEND, on Wednesday, Aug. 26, at Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary School in Tampa. DEPEND stands for Defining Evidence for Programs to Ensure Nutrition for Development.
The competitive grants, run by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will give individual schools between $75,000 and $2.5 million on average as a one-time investment, WFLA reported. The exact amount depends on a school's proposal. Individual schools, entire districts and communities are all eligible to apply.
Kennedy said the grants will "help schools transition … to more nutritious, more nutrient-dense food and help them do that within their existing budgets."
The money targets four categories: Food Purchasing & Supply; Workforce & Food Production; Student Demand & Meal Economics; and Transforming Operations & Infrastructure.
Hillsborough County Public Schools is the seventh-largest district in the nation, Kennedy said at the announcement. The district operates 250 schools, according to district records.
What this means for Steinbrenner families
Steinbrenner High School does not participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), the federal program that provides free meals at qualifying campuses. Steinbrenner families pay for school meals. That makes grant-funded improvements to meal quality especially relevant for those households.
Tampa Bay Boulevard Elementary, where the announcement took place, does participate in the free-meals program.
How to apply
Application details will be posted in mid-September at hhs.gov/real-food-in-schools, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Schools can register on the site now.
The DEPEND announcement followed a broader federal push announced Monday, Aug. 24, called "Harvest to Hallways." That initiative includes up to $70 million in school cafeteria infrastructure investment, up to $25 million in additional Farm to School Grants for fiscal year 2026, and a $30 million HHS investment in school meal nutrition research.
Hillsborough County Public Schools Superintendent Van Ayres and Steinbrenner High School administration have not publicly commented on the grant opportunity.
