Hunger Outreach Programs Empowerment (HOPE)
Our team works with school districts and community organizations to close the gap between children experiencing food insecurity and programs designed to reduce hunger. One in every five Texas children experiences hunger, resulting in health disparities and other negative outcomes. This reality for school-aged children is not due to a scarcity of resources, and for that reason we focus on the following:
Child Nutrition Programs
Summer Meals: The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides no-cost meals to children after the school year has ended. Free meals and snacks are available to all kids 18 and under at schools, parks, and other eligible locations. Beginning in summer 2023, sponsors in certain eligible rural areas could provide meals and snacks for kids to be picked up or delivered at no cost. This flexible, cost-effective approach helped reach more children.
After-School Meals: The Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP) provides funds for schools and non-profits to serve after-school meals and snacks for enrichment programs. The HOPE team works with these service providers to establish after-school meal programs and to navigate program guidelines.
Breakfast After the Bell: The Baylor Collaborative encourages and works with school districts to serve breakfast to students after the first school bell rings. Alternative breakfast service models significantly increase the number of children who eat school breakfast. This includes Breakfast in the classroom, Grab and Go and Second Chance Breakfast.
Community Eligibility Provision: The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) allows high-poverty schools to offer breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students while eliminating the traditional school meal application process. Many school districts have successfully implemented this option and are seeing the many benefits of ensuring that all of their students have access to healthy school meals.
Nutrition Assistance Programs
WIC: The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (commonly known as WIC) serves to safeguard the health of low-income pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age 5 who are at nutritional risk by providing nutritious foods to supplement diets, information on healthy eating including breastfeeding promotion and support, and referrals to health care.
SNAP: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is a federal program that provides nutrition benefits to low-income individuals and families which are used at stores to purchase food. The program is administered by the USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) through its nationwide network of FNS field offices. Each local FNS field office is responsible for the licensing and monitoring of retail food stores participating in SNAP.