With only one afterschool meal or snack served for every eight free or reduced-price school lunches, there is a huge gap that both non-profit organizations and schools can step in to fill.
With as many as one in six children struggling with hunger as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, many families feel financially stretched providing nutritious food for their kids to eat after school. The CACFP At-Risk Afterschool Meals Program and NSLP Afterschool Snack Program allow educational and enrichment programs to provide kids with the nutrition they need to stay full and focused after the final bell rings.
Although afterschool snacks have been available since the late 1990s, the At-Risk Afterschool Meals component of the CACFP has only been available nationwide since December 2010. As described in Celebrating Ten Years of Afterschool Meals, the number of afterschool meals served through the CACFP grew by more than 600 percent between its first year of nationwide rollout and 2019. In FY 2019, there were more than 212 million afterschool meals served. There were also nearly 240 million afterschool snacks served through CACFP and NSLP.
Despite enormous growth, there is still a big gap: for every one hundred school lunches provided to kids in need across the country, there were just 12 snacks or meals served. Program implementation varies widely from state to state in both overall reach and reliance on snacks over meals. In some states, there are just one or two afterschool suppers served for every thousand subsidized lunches, suggesting a significant opportunity to reach more kids facing hunger. Schools, community centers, and other locations that offer afterschool programming as well as sponsoring organizations that can support nutrition programs are potential partners to help fill that gap.
Schools have the facilities, equipment, staff, and skills needed to prepare and serve food. With extracurricular activities already occurring at many schools, and afterschool meal or snack is a natural fit. If at least half of the students at the school are eligible for free or reduced-price meals, or if the school is within the attendance boundary of a public school that meets the threshold, then it can serve meals and/or snacks free of charge to children and teens.
Parents, advocates and educators can expand afterschool meals and snacks at schools by:
The tools below can provide additional support to schools and school districts interested in adding the CACFP Afterschool Meals Program. You can contact your CACFP state agency to learn more about the program and the application process.
Numerous organizations provide educational or enrichment programs in safe trusted locations throughout the community. Common examples include the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, faith-based organizations, libraries and recreation centers. Many of them may already serve snacks or meals but not realize that they can receive funding to help offset the cost. Others may not have the capacity to prepare meals but could serve food provided by another organization or vendor.
Families often turn to faith-based organizations and places of worship when they need assistance making ends meet. These organizations can play a crucial role in connecting children with meals when they’re not in school. If the organization or place of worship offers enrichment programming, it could be a candidate to offer meals or snacks. Religious instruction is a permissible enrichment activity as long as children are not required to participate in order to receive a meal or snack.
As with school sites, afterschool programs in the community must be located within the attendance boundary of a public school where at least half of the children are eligible for free or reduced-price meals in order to provide meals and snacks free of charge to all children through the CACFP Afterschool Meals Program. Review this handout to see if serving meals through the CACFP Afterschool Meals Program "make cents" for your organization and then listen to this video and read these FAQs. These detail the next steps on getting started.
The Afterschool Alliance can help you to learn about afterschool activities and enrichment, connect with a network of afterschool program providers in your state, and identify programs in your area. The government clearinghouse youth.gov can also help you to locate programs or find resources to support them.
Some afterschool programs may not be ready or willing to take on the full responsibility of running an afterschool nutrition program. This could be due to a variety of factors, such as lack of staff capacity, experience with meal preparation, or familiarity with federal requirements. A sponsoring organization can help to alleviate many of these concerns, so connecting afterschool enrichment programs with sponsors is a great way to expand access.
Use this handout to show how serving suppers through the CACFP Afterschool Meals Program can "make cents" for sponsoring organizations.
Strong and efficient organizations can serve more meals or support more sites; tastier meals can attract more kids to programs; effective and adequately funded programs can draw more kids to the meals and snacks; well-nourished kids can focus better on school and their extracurricular activities; and serving more meals leads to more funding to support sites and sponsors. There are often technical or financial resources available to help organizations start afterschool meals programs.
