{"id":12583,"date":"2023-09-06T15:57:14","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T15:57:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/?p=12583"},"modified":"2025-04-09T18:43:54","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T18:43:54","slug":"back-to-school-with-no-kid-hungry-tennessee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/2023\/09\/06\/back-to-school-with-no-kid-hungry-tennessee\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to School with No Kid Hungry Tennessee"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"12583\" class=\"elementor elementor-12583\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-411fbd7 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"411fbd7\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-d5f1a50\" data-id=\"d5f1a50\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-30e0514 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"30e0514\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All across Tennessee, kids are headed back to school. Unfortunately, thousands of those students will re-enter the classroom struggling with hunger, making it harder to start the school year ready to learn. School meal programs play a crucial role in ensuring Tennessee\u2019s<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">students get three meals a day and have the nutrition they need to thrive in and out of the classroom.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unlike during the pandemic, many Tennessee families must submit an application form to their school to determine if their kids are eligible for free or reduced price meals. School meals are a healthy, convenient option for busy families and they can also go a long way in helping make ends meet.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Beyond ensuring kids get school meals, school meals applications may qualify families for additional benefits, like discounted exam fees and college applications, extracurriculars, scholarship opportunities, and even home wifi. They can also help your child\u2019s school secure additional classroom resources that will support all students\u2019 education.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Some schools or districts may participate in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows schools to offer no-cost meals to all of their students. You can check if your school participates in CEP through the Food Research Action Center\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/frac.org\/research\/resource-library\/community-eligibility-cep-database#:~:text=Search%20FRAC's%20CEP%20database%20to,schools%20are%20participating%20in%20CEP.\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CEP Database<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. If your school participates in CEP, they might collect Alternative Income Forms, which help collect student information for programs and funding sources.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">School nutrition teams are excited to welcome kids back to the cafeteria, but they too are contending with the increased cost of food, which has made it more expensive to feed kids. School nutrition departments are reimbursed for each meal that they serve, so when more kids participate in the school meals, it helps strengthen the programs in Tennessee<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">for all students.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Here are two ways you can help:<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">If you have school aged kids, be sure you go to your school district\u2019s website to fill out the school meal application or get a paper form from your school.<\/span><\/li><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Spread the word! This <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/express.adobe.com\/page\/1IPGBCsq9UO89\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">free toolkit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> provides template materials to get the word out about school meal applications, including social media graphics and posts, newsletter blurbs and more, in both English and Spanish.<\/span><\/li><\/ul><p>\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c911e30 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"c911e30\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/2-2-1024x683.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-image-12585\" alt=\"Two chidren sit at a classroom table with sandwiches and milk cartons. One of them, a little girl with braids, holdsa pencil and smiles at the camera. The other child, a young boy, looks at the girl and smiles.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/2-2-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/2-2-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/2-2-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/2-2-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2023\/09\/2-2-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-a18e660 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"a18e660\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3787bd9\" data-id=\"3787bd9\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4f5a2fb elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4f5a2fb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">No Kid Hungry\u2019s Center for Best Practices has resources that can help you and your district or organization transition smoothly back to school and make sure meals are reaching students.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/express.adobe.com\/page\/wEEqmTwGwxrRS\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) Communications Toolkit<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Making sure your students, families, teachers, community, and staff know about your district\u2019s transition to Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is critical to its success. This toolkit provides school nutrition departments with strategies and tips to effectively communicate about CEP and the availability of free school meals for all students. The toolkit also has downloadable and customizable social media graphics, banners, posters and more for you to use to spread the word about free school meals for all students in your district. If your state requires alternative income forms, check out No Kid Hungry\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/alternative-income-forms-understanding-what-they-are-why-theyre-important-how-theyre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Alternative Income Forms: What They Are, Why They\u2019re Important, and How They\u2019re Collected<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/document\/d\/1We2G4t-4XUM_C9ZtIZy4930abwKD8AMNVLUurHTgWZo\/edit\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">School Meals Marketing Toolkit<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Marketing is one of the most effective tools for increasing participation in school meals. This toolkit was created to help you get the word out to students and families about school meals. It includes both ready to use and customizable social media assets to help you quickly and easily communicate with students and families. No social media? No problem! The graphics and sample language can also be used in newsletters, on flyers, or in emails.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/webinars\/year-round-meals-tips-transitioning-summer-afterschool-meals\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Year-Round Meals: Tips for Transitioning from Summer to Afterschool Meals<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The summer is nearing a close but meals don\u2019t have to! Learn how your organization can use the CACFP At-risk Afterschool Meals Program to serve meals after school, on weekends, and over holiday breaks. You will hear from two experts on how they seamlessly transition from serving summer to afterschool meals. You will also hear tips on maintaining sites and streamlining operations for the two programs. Speakers include Maggie Lynch, Director of Nutrition Services at the MetroWest YMCA and Andrea Garcia Schoelzel, Health Initiatives Administrator at the City and County of Denver&#8217;s Office of Children&#8217;s Affairs.<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/bestpractices.nokidhungry.org\/resource\/afterschool-meals-and-summer-meals-comparison-chart\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Afterschool Meals and Summer Meals Comparison Chart<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Navigate the transition between Summer and Afterschool Meals with this helpful side-by-side comparison of requirements. This chart highlights key differences and similarities in the CACFP At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program and the Summer Food Service Program.<\/span><\/p><ul><li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.schoolmealsdesign.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">School Meals Design Guide<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Visit our School Meals Design Guide website to access tools that school food and nutrition teams can use to make meal programs more student-centered.<\/span><\/p><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After all, when it comes to school supplies, nutritious school meals are as important to students\u2019 learning as notebooks and pencils.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All across Tennessee, kids are headed back to school. Unfortunately, thousands of those students will re-enter the classroom struggling with hunger, making it harder to start the school year ready&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-blog"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Back to School with No Kid Hungry Tennessee - TENNESSEE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/state.nokidhungry.org\/tennessee\/2023\/09\/06\/back-to-school-with-no-kid-hungry-tennessee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Back to School with No Kid Hungry Tennessee - TENNESSEE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All across Tennessee, kids are headed back to school. 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