Eat-Learn-Play: Bridging the Nutrition and Education Gap for Wassa's Displaced Children

Free school meal programs help improve students’ health, support better academic performance and combat hunger and food insecurity. Several states have passed legislation to keep free meal plans active after federal waivers ran out in 2022. In Michigan alone in October 2023, the 3,459 school meal sites across the state served 10,064,686 free breakfasts and 17,659,809 free lunches.

The Sun Meals Program distributes free breakfast and lunch to Connecticut children in the summer, with no registration or identification required. The program has handed out more than 1.75 million free meals since June, but federal funding that helps support the distribution is being eliminated, leaving the state to shore up the gaps.

Lumen High School enrolls pregnant and parenting teens, providing a “learn-as-you-go” approach to learning that makes it possible for them to parent and stay in school. The school provides full-day child care, free baby supplies, mental health counseling and other supports to help get students to graduation day. All the Lumen High School students who graduate have been accepted into college, with 95% enrolling or choosing to start working within the six months after graduation.

Farmacy Marketplace is a neighborhood grocery store that partners with local farmers through the non-profit In Her Shoes to provide community members with access to fresh produce and meat. Local grocery stores are emerging as a solution to food accessibility in rural communities and Black neighborhoods as dollar stores close shop. Similar locally owned grocers are also popping up around the country in cities like Detroit and Milwaukee.

School-based health centers provide free services including flu shots, physicals, contraceptive care and reproductive education, talk therapy and behavioral health care to students. Research has found that these school-based clinics boost vaccination rates, reduce hospital visits, lower rates of teen pregnancy and depression and improve grades and attendance levels, all while reducing disparities and making healthcare more accessible.

The Home-Grown School Feeding Program provides one square meal a day to students in public primary schools in an effort to combat poor school attendance and malnutrition, feeding thousands of students each day. In addition to improving the economic conditions for farmers and food vendors, as well as rates of malnutrition, the program has led to a 35.6% increase in school enrollment.

Communities are creating networks to fill in food security gaps for children. In cities like Jackson, Mississippi, and Atlanta, Georgia, community groups, churches, and nonprofits are working to provide summer meals to children who rely on lunch programs during the school year. Closed schools create a barrier to resources for many families that depend on them. Organizations like Feeding America and the Georgia Nutritional Services draw from USDA Summer Food Service Program funding to address the shortfall in summertime support.

Mobile delivery increases the accessibility of summer meal programs for children who rely on food assistance during the school year. Across the country, multiple initiatives by local governments, schools, nonprofits, and faith-based organizations are working to extend participation in summer meal programs. Many of these programs receive support from the USDA, but additional grants have allowed organizations to extend their range of delivery, as have partnerships with food trucks and transportation services.

Funded by a grant from the Colorado Health Foundation, several nonprofits are working to fill the summer food security gap for children who rely on school meals. Several groups, including Pine River Shares and Friends with Food, have partnered with the Education Literacy Health and Inspiration Community Center to provide free lunches to needy schoolchildren. When the school district ceased operating the meal program, ELHI took over the operations, serving the children of families who already come to the center for other activities.

The SHARE program, a food recovery initiative created by Toward Zero Waste and Wake County Public Schools, redirects unopened cafeteria items onto accessible carts and fridges for any student to take throughout the school day. SHARE has grown from 8 to 37 schools since the spring of 2025 and recovers roughly 41 food items per school per day, reducing landfill waste and de-stigmatizing food support.