SAN FRANCISCO — A coalition of nonprofits, educators, and corporate partners has launched a major initiative to support nutrition and physical activity for students in under-resourced Bay Area schools, timed to coincide with the lead-up to Super Bowl LX.
GENYOUth, a national nonprofit focused on student wellness, announced the launch of “Super Schools,” a community-based program that will provide grants for nutrition equipment and NFL FLAG-In-School kits to 60 schools across the region. The initiative aims to improve access to 9 million school meals annually and expand physical activity opportunities for more than 33,000 students.
The program kicked off at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Academic Middle School in San Francisco with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and a flag football clinic led by former San Francisco 49ers defensive end Dennis Brown.
“One in five children in the Bay Area lives in poverty,” said GENYOUth CEO Ann Marie Krautheim. “School nutrition and physical activity programs are lifelines — vital to helping students grow, learn, and thrive.”
The initiative is backed by the San Francisco Unified School District, the Bay Area Host Committee, the Dairy Council of California, and corporate sponsors including Amazon Access, Domino’s, the NFL Foundation, PepsiCo, and the PepsiCo Foundation.
Superintendent Dr. Maria Su praised the collaboration. “Community partnerships remove barriers and ensure our students get access to proper nutrition and physical activity — critical for their health, focus, and academic success,” she said.
The program includes mobile meal carts, insulated milk coolers, and point-of-sale systems tailored to each school’s needs. The NFL FLAG kits promote inclusive physical activity through flag football, encouraging lifelong habits of movement and play.
Grants are now open for application, with awards expected in the months leading up to Super Bowl LX and the Taste of the NFL event on Feb. 7, 2025. Proceeds from the event will benefit schools nationwide, continuing GENYOUth’s mission to end student hunger.
For more information, visit GENYOUthNow.org or TasteoftheNFL.com.