student lunch.png — Promoting Universal School Meals in California’s San Joaquin Valley

California has begun implementing its groundbreaking School Meals for All, offering without charge breakfast and lunch every day to every student without regard to family income. This historic development’s success will require robust participation, particularly from households that may have been underrepresented, such as families in the San Joaquin Valley that our community partners represent.

Developing strategies for communicating about school meal programs and elevating parent voices in improving school meals will be key factors in building that robust participation.

Goals

The goal of this project is to work with parents, youth, school districts, and other partners in the SJV to co-create a portfolio of bilingual (Spanish/English) low-literacy educational materials highlighting:

Federal nutrition requirements for school meal programs
Factors and considerations that influence school meal offerings
The role of families and youth in advocating for improvements in school meal programs

Policy and Practice Implications

School meal communication materials can advance family-centered improvements in meal programs and promote participation by students particularly after the pandemic when participation waned. This is critical as California’s Free School Meals for All rolled out in 2022-2023 and many other states are implementing similar programs.