With school districts across the country offering free meals to all students through the summer nutrition programs, and many children attending school remotely, many schools have found it more difficult to collect school meals applications. These forms often are used for more than just certifying students for free or reduced-price school meals; they also help with linking families to other benefits (e.g., waiving testing fees) and distributing some types of education funding. Even though students are able to receive free meals through the summer nutrition programs until the end of the school year, submitting school meals applications remains crucial to ensuring that students and their families are able to access these key benefits, and for this to happen, schools must continually encourage families to submit applications.
FRAC has developed this toolkit to share outreach strategies and communication resources to help school districts and community partners ensure families return school meals applications.
FRAC also has developed a guide, SNAP Outreach: A Win-Win for School Districts and Families, on how schools can conduct SNAP outreach to help connect more school-age children with the nutrition resources they need.