Breakfast Expansion Grant

OSSE’s Division of Health and Wellness is soliciting applications for a breakfast expansion grant. The purpose of the breakfast expansion grant is to increase student participation in the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s School Breakfast Program (SBP).

Food insecurity, or a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life, was a chronic condition in the District of Columbia (DC) prior to the COVID-19 public health emergency and has worsened since March 2020. Rates of food-insecure residents in DC increased from 10.6 percent pre-pandemic to 16 percent in 2020, including even higher rates among vulnerable populations, including children. While a growing number of DC students are food insecure, not all eligible students are utilizing, or participating in, the SBP.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) FY21 SBP Expansion Grant awarded OSSE’s Division of Health and Wellness $2,000,000 to administer subgrants to School Food Authorities (SFAs) to increase student participation in the SBP and reduce food insecurity in DC by:

Improving nutritional content and/or meal quality;
Enhancing food service environments; and
Re-establishing or strengthening alternative breakfast serving models.

Funds will be available through a formula grant process to public school SFAs (i.e., schools within the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)), public charter school SFAs and non-profit private/non-public school SFAs who serve pre-K through grade 12 students and currently participate or would like to participate in the SBP (including Seamless Summer Option or SSO).

Eligibility

A list of eligible schools based on an existing SBP and severe need eligibility, including priority designation can be found in Attachment D. To be eligible, school(s) must have served at least 40 percent or more of NSLP lunches to students eligible to receive free or reduced-price meals. Eligible schools may include either schools that currently participate in the SBP (including the SSO) or would like to initiate a SBP.

Priority Designation

Schools must have priority designation in order to apply by April 29. Priority will be given to eligible schools in which at least 75 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. Priority applicants will be funded up to the maximum amount. If funds remain after priority applicants have been funded, the grant application will re-open for other eligible applicants.

Application Period

This grant was released on March 23, 2022. The deadline for application submission for schools with priority designation is April 29, 2022 at 3 p.m. EST.

If funds remain after priority applicants have been funded, the grant application will re-open for other eligible applicants. If the grant application re-opens, OSSE will notify all eligible applicants at that time. OSSE’s notification will include the new application deadline.

Pre-Application Question Period

To ensure an equal opportunity for all applicants, OSSE requests that applicants submit questions regarding this funding opportunity electronically to Michaela Todd by 5 p.m. on April 15, 2022. To ensure a fair process, questions submitted after the pre-application question deadline will not receive responses. Responses to questions will be published on this webpage by April 20, 2022.

Information Session

Applicants are strongly encouraged to review the recorded information session below. Please email [email protected] should you have any questions about the information provided in the recording or about this grant opportunity. Questions must be submitted by 5 p.m. on April 15, 2022.