February 19, 2019

National School Breakfast Week (NSBW) is a weeklong celebration of the nation’s School Breakfast Program, which provides more than 14.6 million children — five out of six of them low-income — a nutritious morning meal each day. This year’s NSBW takes place March 4–8, 2019, which means it is time for schools to start planning NSBW celebrations to raise awareness about the benefits of participating in the School Breakfast Program. School breakfast plays a vital role in supporting children’s health and academic achievement: participation is linked to higher academic achievement and better test scores, improved dietary intake, decreased absenteeism and tardiness, and fewer behavioral referrals.

Celebration activities during NSBW can raise awareness among families about the healthy breakfasts served at school, increase student participation, offer a platform to share successful implementation strategies, and attract media coverage on successful school breakfast programs.

In order to plan and promote your school’s breakfast program for NSBW 2019, consider these tips and resources:

  1. Promote your program using this year’s theme. The School Nutrition Association’s (SNA) 2019 NSBW toolkit provides detailed information on how to use this year’s NSBW theme — “Start Your Engines With School Breakfast.” SNA’s toolkit includes ideas on planning a successful campaign, breakfast-related activities for students, and marketing tips for promoting NSBW.
  2. Check out FRAC’s additional NSBW 2019 resources. See and share where your state ranks in national school breakfast participation rates with FRAC’s annual School Breakfast Scorecard and corresponding interactive map, and learn more about the research highlighting the importance of school breakfast participation.
  3. Implement breakfast after the bell. With the week’s focus on school breakfast, why not use NSBW 2019 to start up a breakfast after bell program in your schools? Check out the Partners for Breakfast in the Classroom’s step-by-step guide on working with school staff to implement a breakfast after the bell program.
  4. Start conversations on community eligibility. NSBW 2019 is also a perfect time to highlight the importance of increasing the reach of school breakfast by offering meals at no charge to all students through the Community Eligibility Provision. Register for FRAC’s community eligibility webinars to get answers to your questions about implementation.
  5. Get vocal on social. Use social media to show off your school’s breakfast program. Check out FRAC’s sample posts, tweets, and infographics that you can use to promote your program during NSBW 2019.

 

Start planning today and be a part of the #NSBW19 fun!