GENYOUth's End Student Hunger Fund

Since the Fund’s launch to date in March 2020, GENYOUth has received a total of 13,652 applications requesting $39,157,689 in grant funding. Of applications received, 29% have requested support to transport and serve food outside of the cafeteria; 24% requested support for cold storage; 22% for sanitation aids; 11% for stipends; 9% for meal preparation; and 5% have requested funding for other related needs.

To date, GENYOUth has awarded $10,655,000 in cash and in-kind to over 9,000 school nutrition programs across the country, helping to deliver upwards of 4.3 Million daily meals to students.

In the 2020-21 school year, we anticipated and have seen that school nutrition programs continue to need support from public and private entities. In fact, since Labor Day, Monday, September 7, GENYOUth has received 414 new applications to the COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund, requesting an additional $1,164,365 in support for their emergency school meal delivery efforts, indicating that there is still a great need for additional resources and equipment to serve meals to students.

GENYOUth is committed to raise additional funding to support the growing number of applications from school nutrition programs in need of assistance. In this economic climate the pressure on school buildings to feed our nation’s kids will only escalate as schools work to serve the 30 million students who rely on school meals for a substantial portion of their daily nutrition, while following CDC COVID-19 guidelines.

We thank you again for your support and look forward to continuing our work into 2021.

Links:

• Grant Application
• Grant Impact

Since the COVID-19 Emergency School Meal Delivery Fund’s launch to date, GENYOUth has received a total of 13,094 applications requesting $37,587,556 in grant funding. Of applications received, 28% have requested support for transportation and serving food; 23% have been for cold storage; 22% have been for sanitation; 12% have been for stipends; 9% have been for preparation; and 6% have requested funding for other needs. To date GENYOUth has awarded $9,120,000 in microgrant funding to 8,110 schools across the country.

In the 2020-21 school year, we anticipate that schools will continue to need support from public and private entities. In fact, since June 1, 2020, GENYOUth has received 695 new applications to the COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund from schools that require assistance for their meal programs, indicating that there is still a great need for additional resources and equipment to serve meals to students safely. Additionally, the School Superintendent Association (AASA) launched its second national coronavirus school response survey in May 2020 to provide federal, state and local policymakers with immediate data on how districts are adapting and responding to prolonged closings, the resources and information superintendents are relying on or still need, and the initial financial implications associated with the pandemic, as well as re-opening schools this summer/fall. A summary of key findings related to GENYOUth’s COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund are as follows:

• When asked what, if anything, their district is doing to address equity during the COVID-19 Pandemic, respondents replied “pickup/delivery of free and reduced-price meals” (96%);

• When asked what, if anything, their district is finding hard to provide equitably during this time, respondents answered “pickup/delivery of free and reduced-price meals” (12%); 

• When asked what, if any, contracts their district has that are not being fully realized because of the pandemic, respondents reported “food/nutritional services” (21%); and

• When asked what costs they are most concerned about due to COVID-19), respondents were replied “costs related to providing food services to students off-site” (22%). 

GENYOUth thanks you for your support of our COVID-19 relief efforts to support the safe preparation and delivery of nutritious meals to school communities across the United States.

Links:

• Always Heroes Video
• GENYOUth COVID 19 Impact Report