Child Nutrition
Hunger Free Vermont helps schools and communities throughout Vermont ensure
no child goes hungry.
Through individualized program support, developing broad outreach materials, and sharing best practices, our Child Nutrition Team supports building sustainable and effective child nutrition programs in every community in the state. Building a better future for Vermont’s children starts with ensuring that they have the tools they need to succeed, including access to nutritious food at school, in their community, and at home.
WE STRIVE TO:
Ensure equal access for all children, all day
School meals support healthy bodies and growing minds. We help schools, afterschool programs, and childcare providers utilize federal programs and implement best practices to serve nutritious meals from breakfast to supper. We ensure every student has the opportunity to eat meals at school by coordinating Free & Reduced Price Meal Application enrollment efforts statewide, helping schools bring breakfast after the bell, and supporting adopting universal school meal programs through Provision 2 and Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). We support programs that offer meals to kids outside of school as well, like pairing meals with afterschool education and enrichment programs and strengthening meal programs in childcare with the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).
Feed kids year round
Hunger doesn’t take a vacation. Summer meals help fill the gap when school is out and ensure that children come back to school well-nourished and ready to learn. We help communities establish and grow their summer meal programs through individualized support and outreach.
Address childhood hunger at home
Everyone deserves enough food at home. 3SquaresVT and WIC help families stretch their food budgets. Schools and childcare providers are trusted community leaders who can share positive messaging about these programs and support families’ access to them. We provide outreach materials, language, and training about these programs to make it easier to connect families to support in your community.
Build welcoming and inclusive cafeterias
We advocate for empowerment within child nutrition programs so that children may choose the food that they want and that is culturally appropriate. We work with schools and early childhood providers to create an eating environment that follows best practices, including setting up attractive and accessible cafeterias and serving family-style meals in early care settings, so that all children feel encouraged to eat nutritious meals and snacks.
Create sustainable and healthy meal programs
We partner with state and regional farm to school organizations to empower schools and early childhood programs to utilize Farm-to-School (FTS) as an opportunity to engage with their communities, expand local food purchasing, increase meal quality, and ensure program sustainability. Our team works closely with early childhood partners to expand Farm to Early Childhood (FTEC) programming for all early childhood programs in Vermont. We help school nutrition programs build financially and administratively sustainable programs that can continuously adapt and meet the needs of their students, and we offer professional development opportunities for school nutrition program leaders and staff.
Cultivate champions throughout your school community
Schools and early care programs are the backbone of healthy, hunger-free communities. Engaging with your community is essential to a successful early childhood and school nutrition programs. Teachers, counselors, nurses, paraprofessionals, and care providers are important resources for families and often one of their primary sources for communication. We empower schools and early childhood programs to leverage their roles as leaders to support hunger-free communities.