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New analysis from Urban Institute experts examines one approach to addressing summer-time hunger for students when school is out: “grab and go” meal services.


Noncongregate or “grab and go” meal service, which allows children to eat meals off-site, can fill a critical gap in food assistance, especially in rural areas with disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and less access to healthy food.


After the program was authorized by Congress in 2023, Urban researchers surveyed state child nutrition directors on their experiences implementing noncongregate meal programs and found that:
- “Grab and go” meals were popular. Almost 20 percent of the more than 66.1 million meals provided during summer 2023 were noncongregate.
- Noncongregate helped fill a critical gap in assistance in July and August. More than half of the 11.6 million noncongregate meals were offered in July, a month when, in most states, school is out.
- Some states relied more heavily on noncongregate meals. In states like Hawaii, Kansas, and Vermont, the majority of summer meals were served through noncongregate operations. After states and sponsors ironed out implementation challenges, including the USDA’s expanded definition of rurality, all states and DC chose to participate in 2024.
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Among states with data in 2024:
- There was a 180 percent increase in sites serving noncongregate meals. From 2023 to 2024, across 18 states, the number of noncongregate sites increased from 1,683 to 4,692.
- 40 percent of counties had at least one noncongregate site in operation, with Alaska, Kansas, and Montana having the highest percentages of sites.
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Explore the fact sheet to learn more. In another
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essay, researcher Emily Gutierrez examines how many students would lose access to free meals under proposed changes to the Community Eligibility Provision.


If you have questions or would like to speak with the research team, please reply to this email.


Thanks,


- The Stakeholder Outreach team

U R B A N I N S T I T U T E

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www.urban.org




Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization that believes in the power of evidence to improve people’s lives. Urban as an organization does not take policy positions but Urban’s independent experts are empowered to make recommendations based on their research.


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