Resource Library

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) serves as the first line of defense against hunger. The Trump administration’s proposed rule – Revision of Categorical Eligibility in SNAP – would take away SNAP’s critical food assistance from 3 million people who are struggling to make ends meet, and could prevent 500,000 children from receiving healthy school meals.

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The Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) urges Congress to enact legislation that supports and strengthens program access and participation by underserved children and communities; ensures nutrition quality; and simplifies program administration and operation. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of the federal child nutrition programs, and a number of policy improvements that were made during COVID-19 should be implemented permanently by Congress. Legislation should also maintain and build upon the critical gains made in the last child nutrition reauthorization. In order to achieve these goals, FRAC asks Congress to make the following improvements to the child nutrition programs.

The Summer Meals Act of 2021 (S. 1170 / H.R. 783), introduced by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Representatives Don Young (R-AK) and Rick Larsen (D-WA), would increase the reach of the Summer Nutrition Programs. The Summer Nutrition Programs help close the summer nutrition gap and support educational and enrichment programs that keep children learning, engaged, and safe when school is out.

The Stop Child Summer Hunger Act of 2019 (S. 1941 / H.R. 3378), introduced by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Susan Davis (D-CA), would provide low-income families with children a Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) card to purchase food. This bill provides additional support for families with children during the summer months and does not replace the existing Summer Nutrition Programs.

Community roundtable discussions are effective and valuable tools to connect local advocates and stakeholders with their Members of Congress during congressional recesses and whenever Members are home. Combining a community roundtable with a site visit offers a unique way for Members to see firsthand the importance of programs, like summer meals, followed by a roundtable discussion that provides a diverse group of advocates and stakeholders a forum to engage.

The upcoming Child Nutrition Reauthorization offers Congress the opportunity to address school meals debt, which is a common problem for school districts across the country. School meals debt can occur when students who are not certified to receive free school meals arrive in the cafeteria without cash in hand or in their school meals account to pay for their meals or for the “reduced-price” copayment.

Interactive maps and tables providing state-by-state data on participation in breakfast and lunch service through the Summer Nutrition Programs.

This primer features information on how to support opportunities to register people to vote through public assistance agencies.

The Summer Nutrition Programs play a critical role in closing the summer nutrition gap that exists for low-income families when the school year — and access to school breakfast and lunch — ends.

To make sure you have everything you need to show policymakers that there are too many children in your state missing out on free summer meals, FRAC has developed a communications toolkit for states.

This report measures the reach of the Summer Nutrition Programs in July 2018, nationally and in each state. A companion piece, FRAC’s Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Breakfast Status Report, focuses on summer breakfast participation.

This report measures the reach of breakfast through the Summer Nutrition Programs in July 2018, nationally and in each state. It is a companion piece to FRAC’s Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report, which focuses on summer lunch participation.

Increasing participation in the Afterschool Meal Program requires proactive planning and partnership. Developing a strong and cohesive outreach plan is an important way to increase participation, and the summer months are the perfect time to recruit afterschool sites, ensure existing sites will be returning, engage new partners, and increase awareness. Detailed below are things to consider when developing an afterschool meals outreach plan, as well as best practices shared by Florida Impact, Children’s Hunger Alliance, and the City of Seattle.

Each year, the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC) analyzes participation data in the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). FRAC uses U.S. Department of Agriculture data to develop a picture of participation trends in the U.S as a whole, each of the 50 states, and the District of Columbia. This report discusses changes in the number of CACFP child care centers and family child care homes over the past 20 years from fiscal year (FY) 1998 to 2018, the more recent changes from FY 2017 to FY 2018, and the overall increase in average daily attendance.

This annual analysis shows Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) participation data for child care centers and family child care homes for the U.S. and for each state and the District of Columbia. This report includes a series of graphs and tables that show key findings for fiscal year 2018.

The Summer Nutrition Programs have struggled to meet the need, serving just one child summer lunch for every seven low-income children who participated in school lunch during the regular school year. They are important programs, but their reach is falling far too short of meeting the need.