The new Colorado voter-approved program, Healthy School Meals for All kicks off in most public schools this school year. Members of the Blueprint’s Workgroup 5: Maximizing Child Nutrition Programs have come together to ensure a strong launch with a statewide marketing and outreach campaign this fall – and we need your involvement to make it successful!

As part of this effort, you can help your community become better connected to your school district’s efforts and support school nutrition programs across the state.

See below to learn more about the campaign and how to get involved. Contact Justice Onwordi from the Blueprint if you have any questions or want to engage more with this campaign.

Statewide Marketing & Outreach Campaign

Goals & Timeline

Beginning in early August 2023, the steering committee of community members and partner organizations have worked to guide the direction and outcomes of the collaborative, statewide campaign, including its goals, audience, and barriers to success.

Publicly launched in January 2024, the Healthy School Meals for All campaign broadly focuses on the following:

• Promote the benefits of the new program

• Help ensure students in participating schools can access no-cost breakfasts and lunches

• Encourage family completion of school benefit forms

• Help fill position vacancies in school dining rooms

In addition to targeted advertising, the campaign is funding a grant program for community-based organizations to lead local marketing and outreach efforts. 

Campaign Focus Shift

We’re currently working with partners and the state legislature, as well as exploring federal action, to find sustainable funding solutions for Healthy School Meals for All that Colorado families, schools, and producers can rely upon every school year. Given this, the campaign will shift its focus and now prioritize encouraging families to complete their school’s benefits form, which directly impacts school funding and can help cover program costs.

Families should reach out to their schools directly to get the correct benefit form for their school district. If families have already completed a benefit form this school year, they do not need to complete one again until the start of the 2024 - 2025 school year. 

Find out more about these forms and why they’re important for students and their families, school funding, and local communities.

Campaign’s Community Partners

To ensure every child has the right to access nutritious and delicious meals, the Healthy School Meals for All steering committee pledged $370,000 in grants to encourage community-based organizations to support and actively promote the new program in their Colorado communities. The 12-month grants will support outreach for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. 

In October 2023, the campaign’s steering committee announced the selected 40 community-based organization partners to receive these grants in support of their work. In general, all groups will focus on continuing to uplift the new program, now available to students in every eligible school district across Colorado. See a list of our community partners.

Community-based organizations applied for grants from $5,000 - $20,000 to launch new activities or fund existing efforts. Funding is provided by the Colorado Access Foundation and The Colorado Health Foundation.

Generous Funding Support for Campaign

In support of this collaborative effort, the Colorado Access Foundation and The Colorado Health Foundation have committed a combined total of $1.5 million to promote program benefits, encourage student participation and family completion of school benefit forms, and help fill position vacancies in school dining rooms.

The Blueprint thanks both foundations for investing in a successful launch of Healthy School Meals for All so the new program can fuel learning and have lasting, positive health impacts! 

Resources Related Healthy School Meals for All

School benefits form

• Encourage families to complete their school’s benefits form! Find out more about these forms and why they’re important for students and their families, school funding, and local communities.

Program information

• Know any parents or caregivers with questions about Healthy School Meals for All? Check out Colorado Public Radio’s Q&A about school meals and what to expect this year.

• Learn more about the new program from the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). And access their bilingual communications toolkit to help your organization communicate about school benefit forms and the new meal program.

Background

• Proposition FF ballot initiative — The “Yes on FF” campaign was led by Hunger Free Colorado and supported by many entities, including the Blueprint. It was approved by Colorado voters in November 2022.

• State legislation (HB22-1414) to establish the program in CDE — It was signed into law in June 2022, pending voter approval of the ballot initiative.