No Kid Hungry is committed to ensuring that program sponsors, community organizations, and advocates have the resources and tools they need to ensure all kids have the food they need to thrive. We’ve highlighted several current resources below.
To access our full national resource library, visit our Center for Best Practices website.
Did you know that No Kid Hungry also hosts webinars on various topics around child nutrition? Click here to access webinars (both upcoming and recordings)!
The Importance of School Meals
School meals are an important source of nutrition that support children’s health, development, and learning. They provide the most nutritious food consumed by children on a given day, and research has found that school meal participation is linked to improved diets, food security, and physical and mental health. School meals can also contribute to a host of positive educational outcomes, including improved attendance, behavior, and academic performance, and decreased absenteeism and tardiness.
This resource traces the path of the funding that supports school breakfast and lunch from Congress to cafeteria. It also answers common questions that advocates and elected officials have about how the programs work.
Universal Free Meals: Comparing Funding Options to Create Hunger-Free Schools
Every student deserves access to healthy food every day, and providing universal free school meals is a great way to make that happen. This resource will help you compare three options for providing universal free school meals: the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), Provision 2, and non-pricing.
This online guide from No Kid Hungry features ready-to-use activities and tools to help make school meal programs more student-centered. Within it are assets like a survey question library, QR code generator, customizable logos and more to help you engage students and caregivers.
Strategies for Finding Success with CEP
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) ensures that all students can participate in school breakfast and lunch at no cost to them, and CEP can also benefit school nutrition finances. This resource outlines strategies designed to help you maximize the benefits of CEP by increasing your Identified Student Percentage (ISP), managing program costs, generating revenue with savvy business practices, and improving meal participation rates.
For those thinking about starting a mobile program, this toolkit is designed to support summer meals program sponsors in the development and implementation of a successful mobile meals delivery and service solution in their communities.
Ending Child Hunger: A Mayor’s Checklist
Use this checklist to learn about the actions you can take as a mayor to end childhood hunger.
FAQs by Educators about School Breakfast
This resource answers those frequently asked questions that School Nutrition Directors and Principals get from educators regarding Breakfast After the Bell.
Breakfast After the Bell Myths
Learn about Breakfast After the Bell (BAB) myths, and the facts that disprove them. For example, learn how, despite the misconception, BAB does not cause mess or reduce instructional time.
Innovative Breakfast Delivery Options
The most effective ways to boost school breakfast participation are by using Breakfast After the Bell models. Learn how each Breakfast After the Bell model is structured, and the percentage increase your school breakfast program can experience by adopting these models.
Breakfast after the Bell: Pre-Implementation Checklist
Our Pre-Implementation Checklist outlines several steps that can help schools prepare for a Breakfast After the Bell program, such as of providing trainings to key stakeholders, developing an implementation plan, and connecting with other schools to share best practices.
Breakfast after the Bell: Equipment Tips
Determining the equipment needs of your Breakfast After the Bell program can be a daunting process. Let this resource help guide you in choosing what equipment would be useful for whichever Breakfast After the Bell model you choose.
School Breakfast: Healthier Than You Think
For a lot of children in the state of Florida, there isn’t much food waiting for them at home in the evening. The meal they get from their afterschool meals program might be all they’ll have to eat that night. These programs are helping kids from low-income families across America do better in school, stay safe and out of trouble, and – most critically – get the food they need.
Understanding Afterschool Snacks and Meals
Two child nutrition programs provide support for kids in afterschool settings: the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Both are administered federally by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), and both are run by the same agency in most states.
How Afterschool Meals Reach Kids
This resource traces the path of the funding that supports afterschool meals from Congress to kids’ plates. It also answers common questions about how the program works.
The Umbrella Model Increases Participation in Afterschool Meals
This quick overview and tips will show you how to implement the Umbrella Model in your school
Summer Food Service Program Overview
The intent of the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) is to serve nutritious meals to youth age 18 and under at no charge during the summer months when school is not in session. The program is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and administered at the state level by relevant agencies.
Summer Hunger is Too Expensive to Ignore
In 2015, Share Our Strength collaborated with Deloitte to develop the Summer Nutrition Program Impact Analysis. The study found that if all children receiving free or reduced-price school meals were able to access nutritious meals during the summer:
Launching a Mobile Meals Program
While we’ve made progress in reaching low-income children with food during the summer months, getting kids to summer meals sites can sometimes be challenging. This section can help you determine if the mobile meals model is right for your community, as well as guide you in implementing a new mobile program or improving an existing one.
Ready-to-use and customizable materials—in both English and Spanish—to help you quickly and easily communicate with families about summer meals.