In Fall 2022, the Carolina Hunger Initiative managed another round of grants for school nutrition programs, supported by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina. These grants focused on “big ideas” to increase meal participation in Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) schools.
This built on a previous, three-year funding partnership with Blue Cross NC awarded grants statewide to schools and community organizations that provide critical meals for kids who need them.
The first year of the grant focused on separate breakfast, after school, and summer month programs. Subsequent years have focused on emergency funding to support school nutrition programs in general during COVID-19 school closures and the return to in-person learning. In total, 52 school districts and community organizations received funding. The most recent grants were awarded at the end of 2021, for work being done through the end of school year 2021-22.
The NC Alliance for Health and Share Our Strength have helped corrdinate separate years of the grant process with the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
Impacts include:
- School districts have funded new equipment to help deliver meals directly to children participating in remote learning during COVID-19 school closures.
- Other districts have funded equipment and staffing to keep meal sites open during holidays, or add summer meal sites, that would otherwise not have been possible.
- Dozens of schools around the state have begun innovative breakfast in the classroom and grab and go morning meals sometimes served through second period.
- At-risk afterschool meal programs and summer programs are using funding for enrichment activities, facilities and supplies, and staffing to help increase participation and sustain programs.
See the original press release about the collaboration with Blue Cross NC.