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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

    From the 2017–2018 school year to the 2018–2019 school year, participation in the Community Eligibility Provision grew by 14 percent. Over 13.6 million children in 28,614 schools and 4,698 school districts are participating and have access to breakfast and lunch at no charge each school day through community eligibility. This report provides an analysis of community eligibility implementation – nationally and for each state and the District of Columbia.

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  • Report

    Poverty and food insecurity have detrimental impacts on infant, child, and maternal health and well-being in both the short and long terms. One critical strategy to address these issues is connecting vulnerable families to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). Decades of research have demonstrated the effectiveness of WIC in reducing food insecurity, and improving health, nutrition, development, and well-being.

    WIC is a Critical Economic, Nutrition, and Health Support for Children and Families provides background information on WIC; briefly summarizes the harmful impacts of poverty and food insecurity; and highlights research demonstrating the effective role of WIC in improving food and economic security, dietary intake, weight outcomes, health, and learning.

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  • Report

    The WIC food packages were revised in 2007 to align the authorized food with the latest nutrition science and guidance. The majority of WIC participants are satisfied with the revised food packages in terms of the new foods offered and changes in the amounts of food. As summarized in this brief, Impact of the Revised WIC Food Packages on Nutrition Outcomes and the Retail Food Environment, research shows that the revised WIC food packages have favorable impacts on dietary intake, breastfeeding outcomes, and obesity rates. In addition, also as summarized in this brief, studies suggest an important role for WIC in improving neighborhood food environments, which benefits both WIC participants and non-participants.

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  • Report

    Making WIC Work Better features a comprehensive set of recommendations to overcome the barriers that have led to a downward trend in participation in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

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  • Report

    The monthly benefits provided by SNAP enhance the foodpurchasing power of eligible low-income individuals and families. However, as described by many studies, including one by the Institute of Medicine, the greatest shortcoming of SNAP is that benefits for most households are not enough to get through the entire month without hunger or being forced to sacrifice nutrition quality. This limitation persists even in the face of overwhelming evidence on the gains from more adequate monthly SNAP benefits.

    This paper briefly analyzes why SNAP benefits are inadequate, reviews the body of research showing positive effects from more adequate SNAP benefits, and concludes with some of the key policy solutions that can improve benefit adequacy.

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  • Report

    On Monday, February 12, President Trump released his fiscal year (FY) 2019 budget proposal. One key component: devastating proposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) that reflect a total disregard of the critical role SNAP plays as a first line of defense against hunger and poverty for tens of millions of Americans. See a statement by FRAC’s president on the cuts. This report is a summary of the proposed reductions to SNAP and an overview of how other critical nutrition and social safety net programs fare in the president’s budget.

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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

    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.

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  • Report

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

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  • Report

    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.

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