The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023 permanently authorized a non-congregate meal service option for operators of the Summer Food Service Program and the Seamless Summer Option in qualifying rural areas, beginning in summer 2023. This preliminary evaluation sought to understand (a) sponsors’ perceptions of the impacts of the non-congregate meal service option, (b) how sponsors implemented non-congregate meal service in summer 2023, and (c) sponsors’ plans for summer 2024 non-congregate meal service. Some program rules were modified for summer 2024 and beyond.
The USDA FNS Patrick Leahy Farm to School Grant Program awards grants annually to support schools, non-profits, Indian Tribal Organizations, state agencies, producers, and other entities who are planning, developing, and implementing farm to school programs. This report presents findings of the FNS evaluation of the fiscal year 2018 and 2019 Farm to School grantees, highlighting their activities, achievements, and challenges.
The 2023 Farm to School Census collected information on farm to school participation by school food authorities (SFAs) in school year 2022–23. Every SFA participating in the National School Lunch Program in the 50 states, Washington, DC, and five territories received an online survey asking about the farm to school activities they participated in, details of their participation, and their perspectives on farm to school.
The study used a survey and four case studies to understand how state agencies determined whether individuals were excused from the general and ABAWD work requirements or had a good cause for not meeting work requirements due to physical or mental limitations. The findings reflect on the process for determining exceptions and exemptions, in what circumstances discretion was allowed, and when was verification was required.
In 2019, USDA’s Team Nutrition awarded a training grant to the Michigan Department of Education to implement a two-year training program for School Nutrition Managers called E-STAR. E-STAR is intended to improve school meal quality and student perceptions of meal quality. This study examined how the grantee implemented E-STAR, participant engagement, and facilitators and barriers to engagement.
This report responds to a Congressional mandate in the 2018 Farm Bill for FNS to conduct an evaluation of child support cooperation requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Child support cooperation requirements refer to a set of policies that mandate households receiving certain public benefits cooperate with their state’s child support program as a condition of benefit receipt.
This dashboard was created to share information about Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program retailer participation during fiscal year 2023.
Through an examination of 5 disasters in 4 states, this study develops recommendations for best practices in planning for, implementing, and operating D-SNAP.
This study reviewed corrective action plans (CAPs) for payment error rate, case and procedural error rate and quality control completion rate from eight states and describes the approaches used to develop, implement, and monitor CAPs. The study also identified challenges and promising practices and provided recommendations for improving states' ability to conduct corrective action activities.
This study evaluated the implications of online SNAP benefit redemption on program integrity. In addition, the study gathered basic information about online benefit redemption, including the use in urban and rural settings.