Resource Library

This brief reviews the many benefits of the school meals programs, and summarizes the latest research on recent policy changes and innovative strategies that are increasing program access and improving student outcomes.

The School Hunger Elimination Act of 2019 (S. 2752), introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), would make a number of improvements to the School Nutrition Programs, including increasing the number of low-income children who are directly certified to receive free school meals and bolstering community eligibility.

This brief will review food insecurity rates and risk factors among older adults; the connections between food insecurity and health among older adults; and the effectiveness of the federal nutrition programs in alleviating food insecurity and supporting health for this population.

ResearchWire is a quarterly newsletter focused on the latest research, reports, and resources from government agencies, academic researchers, think tanks, and elsewhere on food insecurity, poverty, the federal nutrition programs, and health.

This report reviews the varying practices included in 50 school districts’ unpaid meals policies, and highlights the need for a national approach to end school meals debt.

he Universal School Meals Program Act of 2021 (S. 1530 / H.R. 3115), introduced by Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representatives Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Gwen Moore (D-WI), would ensure that every child has access to free nutritious meals at school, after school, during the summer, and at child care through the child nutrition programs. These critical programs reduce childhood hunger, decrease childhood overweight and obesity, improve child nutrition and wellness, enhance child development and school readiness, and support academic achievement.

The Caregivers Access and Responsible Expansion (CARE) for Kids Act of 2019, introduced by Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), will help support children who are being raised by grandparents or relatives other than their parents by ensuring automatic access to free school meals.

The Summer EBT program can reduce summer hunger by providing additional resources to purchase food during the summer months for families whose children are certified to receive free or reduced-price school meals during the school year. Summer EBT is a complement to the Summer Nutrition Programs and can help reduce food insecurity for low-income families, particularly in areas with limited access to summer meals.

Most school districts can take additional steps to increase the number of students they certify to receive free school meals without submitting a school meal application. This improves the financial viability of implementing community eligibility, reduces administrative work for the district, and ensures that the most vulnerable students are able to receive free school breakfast and lunch.

FRAC has developed a communications toolkit to help spread the word about the promising growth in afterschool nutrition participation. The toolkit includes our new report, our national news release, a sample news release, sample social media, and graphics.

USDA’s proposed rule on SNAP Standardization of State Heating and Cooling Standard Utility Allowances (SUAs) would cut program benefits by a total of $4.5 billion over five years. Use these graphics to spread the word on how this cut would result from changes in how states take households’ utility costs into account in determining the amount of SNAP benefits for which they qualify.

This guide provides strategies to boost school meals consumption. School districts can follow the practices implemented by their peers and highlighted throughout this report to help maximize student participation and consumption in school meals.

FRAC’s report on participation data in the Afterschool Nutrition Programs measures how many children had access to afterschool suppers and snacks in October 2018, nationally and in each state. The Afterschool Supper Program served 1.3 million children on an average weekday in October 2018, an increase of 10.4 percent, or 126,393 children, from October 2017.

States can elect to stagger issuance of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits throughout the month, instead of issuing SNAP benefits for all SNAP households on the same day or couple of days of the month. Benefits are still issued once a month for each household, but not all households receive their benefits on the first day or couple of days of the month.

States can adopt a simplified method of estimating self-employment costs that are deducted from earned income in the SNAP benefit calculation. Most states establish a flat deduction of gross income, typically between 40 percent and 50 percent.