Deadline fast approaching for food program start-up and expansion grants
HAWTHORNE — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today urged local educational agencies to apply for available School Breakfast Program and Summer Food Service Program Start-up or Expansion grants. The deadline to apply for the competitive grants is Friday, January 15, 2010.
"We have long known that it is harder for hungry children to learn in school, and that they are more often tardy or absent compared to well-nourished children," said O'Connell. "Thirteen million low-income people in California don't know where their next nutritious meal will come from. This is alarming and underscores the dire need for child nutrition programs to prevent hunger and help students to succeed in school."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently released data reporting tragically high levels of food insecurity and hunger across the country. In California, almost three million low-income adults are food insecure and an additional 10 million people, including children, live in these food-insecure households.
Research published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association in 2005 found that students who routinely ate a nourishing breakfast performed better in school and have lower rates of absenteeism and less tardiness. Another study published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine in 1998 found that students who ate school breakfast at least four days per week had math grades that averaged almost a whole letter grade higher than the grades of students who rarely ate school breakfast.
Because of this research, O'Connell is urging school districts, particularly those with schools in Program Improvement, to participate in the School Breakfast Program. Program Improvement is a federal intervention plan to improve student academic achievement in mathematics and English-language arts.
The School Breakfast Program is underused in California. Even though more than 9,800 public school sites participate in the National School Lunch Program, about 16 percent of them do not participate in the School Breakfast Program. Currently, 3.2 million students – that's more than half of the state's public school student population – are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. Yet only about 908,000, or 28 percent of these students, participate in School Breakfast Programs.
Examples of how schools may use grant funding for a School Breakfast Program include:
- "Universal Classroom Breakfast:" Students eat breakfast in the classroom.
- "Grab-and-Go:" Students receive breakfast from mobile carts as they arrive at school.
- "Breakfast to Go:" Students pick up a bagged breakfast from the cafeteria and bring it to the classroom.
- "Second Chance Breakfast:" Breakfast is offered some time after first period, most often during recess or a passing period.
"We are strongly encouraging schools to find ways to provide breakfast outside of the cafeteria, such as in the classroom, because the evidence is clear that these innovate approaches dramatically increase the number of students who eat breakfast," added O'Connell.
Schools should note that if students eat breakfast in the classroom while educational activities occur, the time counts toward fulfilling the school's instructional minutes. Also, schools may under certain circumstances use federal Title I funding to expand breakfast programs, and use automated point-of-sale systems to eliminate the stigma children may feel when participating in school meal programs.
The School Breakfast Program and Summer Food Service Program Start-up and Expansion Grants may award up to $15,000 per site for nonrecurring expenses incurred in initiating or expanding such programs. Additional points will be awarded in the competitive grant process to districts with schools in Program Improvement where at least half of students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals. For more information please visit Funding Profile (ID 1781): School Breakfast Program and Summer Food Service Program Start-up or Expansion.
Related Content
- School Breakfast - Information about applying for and administering the School Breakfast Program (SBP).