08/17/2022
Thank you to the many school districts and community organizations serving summer meals to ensure kids are well-fed during the break from school, and ready to learn when they return in the fall. In these last weeks of summer, we encourage sponsors, sites, and community partners to continue robust outreach, and to share your stories and photos of best practices with us, so we can amplify your success and grow summer meals in the years to come.
As you prepare for the school year, the following resources and strategies can help you navigate the return to standard operations, communicate with families, and improve the reach of your programs.
๐๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ง๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ค “๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ฃ๐จ”
After two school years, school meal applications and direct certification are back on the table this year. To support the transition, review our top resources here:
๐๐ช๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐บ ๐๐ช๐ฅ๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ด: ๐๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ป๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ
With the return to standard F/RP school meal applications, direct certification should always be the first step in establishing student economic need. Strong direct certification reduces the administrative burden on both schools and families, since it cuts down the number of applications to submit, collect, and process in order to feed students at no cost. Upgrade your direct certification strategies with our tipsheet.
๐๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด: ๐๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ช๐ต
Federal waivers that allowed free school meals for all students ended in June 2022, which means schools must shift back to collecting school meal applications. Hunger Solutions New York and No Kid Hungry New York designed a toolkit to support this process. Watch our short tour of resources to learn how your school can effectively:
โข Encourage families to submit a F/RP school meal application.
โข Communicate the benefits of submitting household income information through a F/RP school meal application.
โข Improve the return rate of F/RP school meal applications.
๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด: ๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ณ๐บโ๐ด ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ณ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ-๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ
No Kid Hungryโs Center on Best Practices will be hosting a webinar โStrategies for Collecting Free and Reduced-Price Meal Applications: Leveraging Outreach and Promotionโ on ๐ง๐ต๐๐ฟ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐, ๐๐๐ด๐๐๐ ๐ญ๐ด๐๐ต ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฎ-๐ฏ๐ฝ๐บ.
Webinar Description: The importance of Free & Reduced Price Meal Applications cannot be understated this school year. Join us to learn about tips and tools to inform families about the application, and hear from school nutrition directors who are using their creativity and connections to reach families. Register here.
๐ข๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐๐ต
School breakfast and afterschool meals are proven strategies that improve access to nutrition while generating additional revenue for school nutrition programs. Learn how to leverage these important programs to grow your school meal program this year.
๐๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ: ๐๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ
School Breakfast reduces hunger and sets students on a trajectory toward success in the classroom and beyond. Students who eat school breakfast are more likely to attend school, be better learners, and are more willing to participate in the classroom.
๐๐น๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ด: ๐๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ
Traditional breakfastโserved in the cafeteria before the school day beginsโoften has low participation due to factors ranging from tight schedules to concerns about stigma. Breakfast After the Bell (BAB) addresses these barriers to make the morning meal more accessible. Our BAB factsheet an help schools choose which BAB model is right for their program.
๐๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ: ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ช๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ง๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ
Under the Breakfast After the Bell (BAB) legislation, high-poverty public schools โ defined as schools with 70% or more students who qualify for free or reduced-price school meals โ are required to provide BAB. That said, any interested school can opt into serving breakfast after the school day begins.
For additional school breakfast resources, check out No Kid Hungryโs Center on Best Practices resources.
๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ: ๐๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฅ๐ดโ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญโ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ด
With many schools planning to start or expand afterschool programming this school year, itโs a great time to consider serving afterschool meals. Eligible schools can receive reimbursement โ currently $4.03/meal or $1.18/snack โ through the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). While schools can already serve afterschool snacks through NSLP, CACFP provides an opportunity for complete meals, which provide greater nutrition for students and a higher reimbursement for your meal programs. We can help you learn more and get started
๐๐ผ๐ถ๐ป ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐๐ต๐ ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ต๐ผ๐ผ๐น ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐น๐น ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ป
Hunger Solutions New York has launched a statewide policy campaign for Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids. We invite you to join us as we work to ensure that all students across New York State have access to school meals at no cost. Hereโs how you can engage:
โข Join the campaign. Learn more about this campaign and the various ways to get involved with the coalition here.
โข Share your story. We want to know why free school meals for all is important to you! Submit your information and Hunger Solutions New York will reach out.
