The School Breakfast Program
Apply for free breakfast.
Locate data and resources.
...ensures that children can get a healthy breakfast at school.
School breakfast is free for all students in D.C. Public Schools. Depending on which charter school a student attends, breakfast may be free for all, free or low-cost, or not offered. Any public school, charter, or nonprofit private school can participate in the School Breakfast Program. Public or nonprofit private residential child care institutions may also participate.
Breakfast helps children learn, improves attendance, and reduces behavior problems and tardiness. Children who eat breakfast at school – closer to test-taking time – perform better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat breakfast at home.
Breakfast also promotes good health. Eating breakfast at school results in fewer visits to the school nurse, improves children’s diets, and helps build healthy habits. And, children who start the day with breakfast are less likely to be obese.
What’s happening with school breakfasts in D.C.?
D.C. Schools and School Breakfast in the Classroom
Beginning in April 2010, D.C. Public Schools will roll-out Breakfast in the Classroom at ten schools. About 15 charter schools are already serving breakfast, beginning in the 2009-10 school year (read the Washington Post article Meal program aims to keep kids hungry for learning for more information). Download this flyer (pdf) to learn more about Breakfast in the Classroom.
Free breakfast for all D.C. public school students
As a result of advocacy efforts led by D.C. Hunger Solutions, all D.C. Public Schools and many charter schools offer free breakfasts to all students. This policy change was important in removing the stigma that breakfast was just for poor kids. Even so, many students still do not participate, in part, because of a lack of knowledge about the program and the fact that breakfast is currently only available before the school day begins.
Strategies to bring the most important meal of the day to more low-income children
To get more students eating breakfast, we are working to promote school breakfast through our “School Breakfast: That’s What’s Up” Campaign and pushing for in-classroom breakfast, “grab and go” carts in the hallways, “second chance” breakfast served between first and second periods, and other strategies that have proven effective in urban school districts.
D.C. Hunger Solutions can help by:
- working with your school to tailor a program to make breakfast a part of every child’s school day;
- providing you with breakfast outreach materials to promote the program to students and families;
- presenting to students, faculty, or staff about the importance of school breakfast.
Help us spread the word:
- Review our Breakfast Fact Sheet (pdf) to learn about different serving models for increasing participation in breakfast.
- Check out a new breakfast service models in action at Friendship Southeast Elementary School (pdf), and School For ARTs In Learning (SAIL) (pdf).
- Stuff this Parent flyer promoting school breakfast in student backpacks to let parents and guardians know about school breakfast.
- Promote school breakfast with these inserts for school newsletters, PTA publications, etc.
- Distribute school meal applications from D.C. Public Schools and make sure that all households have completed them so that schools can get maximum federal reimbursements for school meals and Title I funding. The application is available in multiple languages.
- Download our Guide to Collecting School Meal Applications (pdf).
