The federal child nutrition programs provide critical funding for meals and snacks in afterschool programs. The federally-subsidized meals and snacks attract children to out-of-school-time programs, where they can be active, engaged and safe while their parents are at work. The food also helps keep hunger at bay so children can fully participate in the activities going on at the program.
Providing healthy meals and snacks is particularly important given the rapidly increasing prevalence of childhood obesity in the U.S. Since 1980 the number of young people who are overweight has more than tripled. By providing healthy food, nutrition programs can play a critical role in preventing obesity and improving overall health.
The National School Lunch Program
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The Child and Adult Care Food Program
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By the time children arrive at their afterschool program, lunch is a distant memory. Their growing bodies need food in between lunch and dinner just to get through the afternoon. Without it, they feel run down, their attention span shortens, their ability to learn diminishes, and they have difficulty fully participating in afterschool activities.
Healthy snacks allow children to be fully engaged in the educational and enrichment activities at the afterschool program. Food also helps attract children to afterschool programs, especially older children who have more of a say in determining whether or not they participate.
The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) provides federal funds to afterschool programs to serve meals to children age 12 and under during the school year. The meals can be served at any time during the afterschool program, either at a traditional dinner time or immediately when the students arrive after school depending on the length of the afterschool program. An afterschool snack can also be served in addition to the meal.
Just as with afterschool snacks, to qualify for meals, afterschool programs must offer educational or enrichment activities. Because of this requirement, athletic programs that compete in leagues and do not have other activities do not qualify to serve meals.
A handful of states — Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin. and the District of Columbia — have a program, available through CACFP, that allows afterschool programs to provide meals to children 18 and under (instead of only 12 and under) with less paperwork and red tape. Download the fact sheet Implementing the Afterschool Meal Program (pdf) to learn more about this exciting new meal program.
All meals served through the Child and Adult Care Food Program must meet USDA nutritional guidelines and include all of the following:
A meals can be hot or cold and as simple as a ham sandwich, cucumber slices, apple, and a carton of low-fat milk.
The state child nutrition agency can provide afterschool programs with additional information about the nutrition guidelines and help them plan menus that meet the USDA requirements. Also, check out these model meal menus:
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