Afterschool Meals

Fueling up after school

Recognizing that children need nutrition when the school day ends, many afterschool programs have long served a snack — often at their own expense. Federal dollars are available to feed children afterschool!

The federal Child and Adult Care Food Program provides generous reimbursements to schools and other after-school organizations to serve snacks and suppers to children who may otherwise go home to an empty table

The state of Afterschool meals in New Jersey

A growing number of New Jersey children are receiving snacks and suppers after school, contributing to their health and academic achievement, but thousands who could benefit from these meals remain unserved.

The Food Research & Action Center found that the number of New Jersey children receiving afterschool meals through two federal programs inched up 4 percent from October 2016 to October 2017, when nearly 61,000 children received a snack or meal on an average day. Most of that growth was in afterschool suppers, which rose 13 percent during that time.

The Afterschool Meals Toolkit

Playbooks

Here are resources from national partners that make serving afterschool meals a snap.

Money for Meals

Find grants and other resources that can help you get your afterschool meals program up and running.

More Resources

Fact sheets, videos and links to organizations that can help you advocate for and implement afterschool meals.

How do Afterschool Meals Work?

Schools, local government and community organizations sign on to be an afterschool meals sponsor and provide food to sites in a community or communities.

Sites must provide afterschool activities for children, such as physical recreation or enrichment programs. Most aferschool meals sites are schools and afterschool programs operated by community organizations or municipalities. Sponsors are reimbursed by the federal government for each meal served. The program is administered on the state level by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.