Resource Library

Governors can play a critical role in establishing and strengthening statewide summer meal expansion efforts. This guide is designed to provide governors and their staff an understanding of the Summer Nutrition Programs; examples of short-term and long-term actions that states can take to connect more families to summer meal sites; and best practices for successful implementation.

This annual analysis looks at school breakfast participation and policies in 75 large school districts across the country to evaluate successful practices in reaching more low-income children with school breakfast. It is a companion report to the School Breakfast Scorecard.

This annual report analyzes participation in the School Breakfast Program among low-income children nationally and in each state and the District of Columbia for the 2017–2018 school year. The report also features best practices for increasing participation in the program, including breakfast after the bell models and community eligibility. Also see: School Breakfast: Making it Work in Large School Districts.

Now is the time to plan for the logistical operations of your sponsorship for the Summer Nutrition Programs. Consider the factors impacting your site staff and their trainings, the meals you will be serving, and the programming and activities you will be offering the children who come to your sites.

Selected resources from states and organizations on the government shutdown and federal nutrition programs.

Download this document which features these six steps to help engage hospitals on summer meals: 1. Check out a Hospital’s Community Needs Assessment; 2. Contact the Hospital to Discuss Summer Meals; 3. Be a Voice in the Hospital’s Planning; 4. Host a Community Forum; 5. Connect a Hospital with an existing Sponsor and/or Site;
6. Recruit Hospitals to Help with Outreach.

Hospitals across the United States are helping fill the nutrition gap during the summer by offering meals to children through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), which provides federal funding for meals and snacks served to low-income children 18 years old and younger when school is not in session. By participating in SFSP, hospitals have an opportunity to help improve child health and combat child hunger.

Community eligibility has become a popular option among eligible schools due to the many benefits it brings to the school nutrition program and the entire school community. In the 2016–2017 school year, more
than 20,000 high-needs schools with an enrollment of nearly 10 million students had adopted community eligibility.

Direct certification, an electronic datamatching process, is an important tool for ensuring that low-income children receive free breakfast and lunch without barriers.

Making breakfast part of the school day and offering breakfast for free to all students allow schools to overcome the common barriers to school breakfast participation.

This table highlights the impact of school breakfast legislation by state.

Remember this December that hunger is solvable with the federal nutrition programs. Download and share these graphics to help spread the word!

Use this video and these infographics on social media to support National Comment Day, November 19, 2018.

Many school districts and a number of state policies include providing a reimbursable school lunch to students regardless of their ability to pay. These districts can take important steps to reduce or eliminate the school meal debt that this approach can incur. Strategies include offering school breakfast, school lunch or breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students when it is financially viable; taking steps to ensure that all students who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals are certified to receive them; implementing USDA policies that can help reduce school meal debt; and responding quickly when students begin to accrue debt.

This interactive map, produced in collaboration with the AARP Foundation, shows the share of all households with seniors (60+) in each state that participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the state, metropolitan, small town, and rural levels.