Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Afterschool Suppers and Afterschool Programs Key to Student Success

  • 10/12/18

Research shows that afterschool programs provide measurable benefits to students academically, socially, and behaviorally, and serve as an important resource for families and communities. In addition to drawing children into safe and engaging learning environments, they provide a critical platform for providing federally reimbursable and nutritious afterschool suppers and snacks.

FRAC’s new Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation report finds that in Oct. 2017, 1.2 million children received an afterschool supper on an average weekday, an 11 percent increase from October 2016, and 1.6 million children received an afterschool snack. Forty-six thousand afterschool programs provided a supper, a snack, or both through the federal Afterschool Nutrition Programs in October 2017.

While positive gains have been made over the last eight years, since the Afterschool Supper Program became available nationwide, supplies for afterschool suppers are still falling short of the need — just one child received an afterschool supper for every 19 children who received free or reduced-price school lunch received in October 2017.

One of the biggest challenges to expanding afterschool meals is the limited public and private funding that supports afterschool programming in low-income communities. An important way to connect more children to afterschool suppers is to ensure that there are enough affordable afterschool programs available for families to send their children to. Meeting this need (more than half of children [56 percent] not in an afterschool program would be enrolled in one if it were available to them) means maintaining and investing more in existing funding streams, such as the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program. This is the largest funding source for afterschool programs, but only provides funding for 1.7 million children on an average day.

Combined, more public and private funding (on the federal, state, and local levels) for high-quality, affordable afterschool programs and the implementation of other proven best practices would ensure children have access to the nutrition and programming they need to support their academic achievement, health, and well-being. Thanks to the leadership and advocacy of the Afterschool Alliance and other partners, more children are benefiting from afterschool programs and suppers than ever before. Now is the time to redouble those efforts.

Learn more about closing the afterschool hunger gap in Afterschool Suppers: A Snapshot of Participation.

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • FGCU Breaks Ground on New Health Sciences Building

    Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has launched construction on a major new academic facility that leaders say will reshape healthcare education in Southwest Florida for decades to come, according to university news.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.