Ten years ago this week, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (HHFKA) was signed into law. This landmark legislation reauthorized the child nutrition programs and made significant investments in the child nutrition programs to expand access and improve nutrition quality. FRAC led advocacy efforts and worked closely with our local, state, and national partners to enact a strong child nutrition reauthorization.
During the holidays and all year long, millions of individuals and families who struggle against hunger are able to access healthy food with support from the federal nutrition programs. This year, the federal nutrition programs have played a critical role in ensuring people can continue to put food on the table during the twin COVID-19 public health and economic crises.
To celebrate the nation’s nutrition safety net, FRAC has created a seven-part “Remember This December” series that will highlight the impact of seven important federal nutrition programs.
This is the first installment of the series, which focuses on afterschool meals.
FRAC’s report, Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation, released this week, finds that over 1.4 million children received a supper through the Afterschool Nutrition Programs in October 2019, an increase of 6.5 percent, or 86,900 children, from October 2018. Almost 48,000 afterschool programs across the country provided a supper, a snack, or both through the Afterschool Nutrition Programs in October 2019, an important indicator of access to afterschool nutrition.
