Michigan's free school meals yield high returns for student health and academic success

The Communities in Schools program (CIS) places trained navigators in low-income schools to provide wraparound social support, helping students and families access public benefits, cover emergency expenses, provide behavioral counseling and address barriers that prevent students from succeeding academically. The non-profit has been helping students for 50 years, serving 2 million children across 26 states, and has seen significant academic and economic outcomes, including increasing high school graduation and college enrollment rates.

The National Home Grown School Feeding program provides food to schoolchildren to support their health and education while simultaneously supporting local cooks and farmers. During its operation, the program reached millions of students across 3o states and led to a 20% increase in primary school enrollment.

For many college students, financial aid programs can help them afford tuition, but it doesn't cover necessities like food that are required for true affordability. To change that, colleges around the country are offering food scholarships and more comprehensive services.

Mat-Su Central is a hybrid homeschool that provides a flexible, personalized learning environment for both students and their families. Each student receives an individual learning plan that takes the student’s strengths and weaknesses into account, while still ensuring they’re meeting course requirements for graduation. As a result of the pandemic and increased rates of bullying and anxiety among students, enrollment in this hybrid homeschool option has quadrupled over the past 20 years.

The Transitional Learning Center provides children ages four to 14 with free education, school supplies, and one meal per day to not only encourage school attendance but to also address the issue of malnutrition. The beauty of the Center is that it’s a semi-permanent structure that can be moved to different locations where there may be school children in need. Since the Center was formed, over nine million students from 54,619 schools have benefited from the program.

Minnesota schools began a comprehensive program aimed at assisting children of minority groups to successfully navigate the college application process and push them towards higher education.

As a stopgap solution to housing insecurity among students, Long Beach Community College launched the Safe Parking Program, which allows students to sleep in their cars in a designated lot that has Wi-Fi, bathrooms and showers, and security on duty. The pilot program started with 13 students and was later expanded to become a permanent offering.

Educational Talent Search provides personalized college and career counseling to first-generation and low-income students. Counselors work with students from 8th grade through high school graduation, offering one-on-one support with college applications, financial aid forms, scholarship searches, and career planning. The program has seen nearly 90% of seniors enrolling in post-secondary education, far above its 56% target.

Self-directed learning centers in Massachusetts, such as North Star, provide an alternative for students who don't thrive in traditional schools. These centers allow homeschooled students to pursue their own interests through optional classes, tutoring, and community activities, with no mandatory attendance or standardized curriculum requirements. North Star has operated successfully for 30 years, growing from a handful of students to 65 expected enrollees in the coming school year.

To help address low school attendance and retention among girls, Kano’s state government launched a transportation initiative with buses that bring students to and from school for N50 per trip, a much lower cost than arriving by commercial rickshaw. Both students and teachers report that the program has made it easier and less costly to arrive at school on time.