Hunger Free Students

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School Meals

• Increase Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Participation
• School Breakfast
• Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)
• SNAP Checkbox

After-School Nutrition Programs

Summer Meals

Hunger Free Students exists to end student (preschool through high school) hunger in Colorado through training and school partnerships.

Our Goals:

• Increase enrollment and participation in child nutrition programs (school meals, summer meals, and after-school meals and snacks)
• Train schools and other program sponsors on outreach, promotion, and program implementation
• Increase student enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)

Below you’ll find resources (outreach materials and toolkits) for schools and other youth-serving community organizations.

If you have any questions or are interested in partnering with Hunger Free Students, please email info@hungerfreecolorado.org.

Program & Educational Materials

School Meals

The National School Breakfast and Lunch Programs help ensure children are well nourished and ready to learn. These federally-funded programs serve students in public and nonprofit private schools, and residential child-care institutions. 

School meals are important to well-being, health and educational support for children. Ensuring all children eat a healthy breakfast and lunch each day can dramatically alleviate hunger and support students’ health and academic achievement. School meal programs are federally funded nutrition programs that provide reimbursement to schools that serve breakfast and lunch to students.

We help schools:

• Offer best practices for increasing participation
• Implement universal free school meals through the federal programs available to schools in high-need areas
• Market the importance of program participation to students and families 

Increase Free and Reduced-Price Lunch Participation

School meals are essential to fighting childhood hunger and helping schools qualify for additional services. In Colorado, Free and Reduced-Price Meal participation rates determine Title I funding, eligibility for the Summer Food Service Program, and CDE grant programs and eligibility for the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program.

School Breakfast

Participation in School Breakfast helps children start off their day in a nutritious way and leads to better focus in the classroom and fewer trips to the nurse’s office. Learn why you should increase school breakfast participation.

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP)

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a program that allows schools/sponsors with high rates of directly certified students (through programs like SNAP) an alternative method for claiming and getting reimbursement for student meals. CEP allows these schools and districts to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household applications. 

CEP promotes equity by eliminating the out-of-pocket cost of school meals for all students making school meals a universal benefit, like desks and textbooks. If a school has a direct certification rate of 40% or higher (ideally close to 62.5 percent or higher, if possible) head over to the Colorado Department of Education’s Community Eligibility Provision page for resources including: the CEP Planning and Implementation Guide, an Implementation Webinar, FAQs and more.

How it helps your school:

• Helps lower school lunch debt
• Ensures students have the food they need to thrive
• Reduces administrative burden 

SNAP Checkbox

It’s hard to ensure that students are receiving the food they need to fuel their studies, but there’s a simple way your school can help. Include a checkbox on the Free and Reduced-Price Lunch form that prompts a referral to our Food Resource Hotline. Our food resource navigators will contact families and help them apply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and connect them to nearby food resources. Students participating in SNAP are automatically certified for free school meals.

After-School Nutrition Programs

The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) is a federal nutrition program that provides reimbursement for nutritious meals and snacks served to children enrolled in after-school programs. Schools, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, for-profit organizations and local governments (located in low-income communities) are eligible to receive reimbursement for meals and snacks served to children.

To learn more, contact the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment Child and Adult Care Food Program (CDPHE-CACFP). Call (303) 692-2330 to receive an application packet.

Summer Meals Program

The Summer Food Service Program, also known as Summer Meals, is a federally funded, child nutrition program established to ensure that youth 18 and under, can access nutritious meals when school is out for summer break. Sites are operated by diverse partners, including schools, private nonprofits, food banks, faith-based organizations, local government agencies and others. Hunger Free Colorado can help establish or expand summer meal sites, as well as conduct outreach and customized assistance to schools and community groups so they can offer meals within their communities.