Pandemic Meal Service – By the Numbers
Districts
Reporting
Million
Total Meals Served
Million
Meals Served to Children
Million
Adult Meals Served
COVID-19
The Urban School Food Alliance remains focused on helping to ensure students have reliable and consistent access to nutritious meals, and we are supporting our member districts as they transition their regular operations to meet the needs of this time of crisis. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds in our country, we are also committed to supporting our broader community and those who are helping to connect kids and their families to the food they need. We are sharing these resources with the hope that they will be helpful to community organizations and schools across the country. New resources will be added to this page as they become available.
School Nutrition
Resources
- USDA | USDA FNS Response to COVID-19
- School Nutrition Association | SNA Member Resources: Coronavirus Disease
- No Kid Hungry | COVID-19 Child Nutrition Resources
- Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy | Serving Students During the Coronavirus: Best Practices
- Urban School Food Alliance | COVID-19 Response Best Practices For Meal Service
- Urban Institute | Strategies and Challenges in Feeding Out-of-School Students
- Kaiser Permanente | Playbook for School Reopening
- Friends of the Earth | Healthier school food is key to fighting COVID-19 and systemic racism
- Urban School Food Alliance | Universal free meals explanation and benefits
Community
Resources
- UnidosUS | Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources (English and Spanish)
- UnidosUS | Explaining COVID-19 Relief for Latino Families (English and Spanish)
- Rockefeller Foundation | Coronavirus and Food Access: Four Questions Every Community Needs to Answer
- CDC | Schools, Workplaces & Community Locations (Multiple Languages)
- GovTech | A Resource Guide to Coronavirus for Government Leaders
- Pilot Light | Family Meals
Coronavirus:
In the News
Urban School Food Alliance Requests Full Year Waivers
Dear Mr. Secretary: The Urban School Food Alliance, representing many of the largest school food authorities in the nation, sincerely appreciates the action you took on August 31 to extend several school food program waivers through December 31, 2020. The Alliance...
Urban School Food Alliance says “Please, sir, I want some more.”
“Please, sir, I want some more.” A phrase made famous by the title character of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist may soon apply to millions of children across America when the emergency waivers for school meal flexibilities expire. Despite support from the Urban School...
Urban School Food Alliance Applauds the Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2020 – Today, the Pandemic Child Hunger Prevention Act was introduced in response to the growing issue of food insecurity among school children. Because of COVID-19, an increasing number of households are facing various disruptions including high...
POLITICO: ‘It’s insane’: Millions of kids could lose access to free meals if this program expires
Families haven’t had to prove their income in recent months, but the Trump administration hasn’t extended that flexibility. The Trump administration is resisting calls to make it easy for tens of millions of students to get free meals at school this year, even as...
Urban School Food Alliance & National Farm to School Network: We Need to Rebuild Our Food System. Schools Can Lead.
NEW YORK, July 21, 2020 – The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the important role schools play in our food systems, as a source of food for students, an employer of essential food service workers and a market for food producers. The pandemic also exposed the deep,...
USA TODAY: School lunch programs are losing millions feeding hungry kids; they could be broke by fall
The line of cars usually begins to form well before 11 a.m. outside Sharon Elementary school in Newburgh, Indiana, a town of less than 4,000 people along the Ohio River. Stella Antey, an 8-year-old second-grader, has sat in one of those cars with her older sister,...
TODAY: How school kitchens have become emergency food hubs during the pandemic
Katie Wilson, executive director of the Urban School Food Alliance, tells TODAY’s Al Roker how school districts are spending millions to feed people during the pandemic...
Urban School Food Alliance launches Student Emergency Food Access Fund with support from The Rockefeller Foundation and No Kid Hungry
Thursday, April 30th – Today, Urban School Food Alliance (“Alliance”) announced that it has received grants to jump-start its Student Emergency Food Access Fund and invited other funders to join in supporting 12 of the largest districts in the country in distributing...
Join the Conversation
The latest news and headlines from Urban School Food Alliance
School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin Creates Katie Wilson Lifetime Achievement Award
Jul 7, 2021
At the 2021 Annual Conference in June, the School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin (SNA-WI) recognized Urban...
USFA Member Testifies Before House Education and Labor Subcommittee
Jun 11, 2021
Urban School Food Alliance Member and Treasurer, Crystal Cooper, Executive Director of the Chicago Public School...
School Nutrition Issues and Policy Priorities for 2021
Mar 30, 2021
1. Universal Free School Meals for All ✅ Momentum with House Educations and Labor Committee Chairman Bobby Scott....
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