Applying Racial Equity to U.S. Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs - Flipbook - Page 47
Kitchen equipment grants are available for low-income schools. Low-income schools may apply for kitchen
equipment grants. The National School Lunch Program (NLSP) Equipment Assistance Grants for School Food
allocates funding for state agencies190 to provide financial support to low-income schools to buy new or upgraded
kitchen equipment. Recipient schools are selected based on their FARMS rate and on how recently they last
received a grant, with priority given to schools with FARMS rates of 50 percent or more. This helps alleviate the
financial burden on schools in areas of concentrated poverty to serve a variety of fresh and flavorful meals that
meet federal nutrition standards. They are better able to produce meals of comparable quality to those in higherincome schools.
Targeted distribution of summer EBT funds is available to families in different parts of the country,
including households on Indigenous reservations. Families that participate in SNAP and have school-age
children may receive targeted increases in EBT/SNAP benefits during the summer months. Families who live
on Indigenous reservations are also eligible. In summer 2017, USDA awarded grants to several low-income
communities, including the Chickasaw and Cherokee Nations, to operate Summer EBT. Both tribes had managed
summer EBT demonstration projects in 2016.191 The project evaluation found that food insecurity rates were lower
in areas that offered summer EBT and that children who lived in areas with some summer EBT funding ate more
nutritious meals than children who qualified for SNAP but did not receive additional summer EBT.192
Because Indigenous children currently have higher rates of obesity and diabetes than children of other racial
identities, it is especially important to provide targeted interventions that increase their access (see glossary)
to healthy foods and improve their overall dietary quality. Indigenous children also have particularly high food
insecurity rates, so ensuring that Indigenous households have targeted support during the summer months is
important to improve equity as well.
Recommendations: Reducing Racial Inequities in Child Nutrition Programs
While there are aspects of child nutrition programs that already support equity, there are also opportunities for CNPs to achieve more
racially equitable outcomes among all children. The following recommendations would improve the nutritional divide between children of
color and their white peers:
Recommendation 1
Reform nutritional standards and enhance staff education to reduce
micronutrient deficiencies
Recommendation 2
Increase financial support for kitchen equipment and food preparation in schools
and other meal sites in low-income communities
Recommendation 3
Expand the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP)
Recommendation 4
Expand the nutritional support children receive when they are not in school
Recommendation 5
Establish a mechanism for CNP beneficiaries to equitably participate in program
design, planning, and evaluation
Recommendation 6
Strengthen data collection and disaggregation within Child Nutrition Programs
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