• Farm Bill 2012
  • Letters and Statements Supporting SNAP
  • Strengthening SNAP in the 2012 Farm Bill
  • Farm Bill FAQ
  • Resources to Protect Federal Nutrition Safety Net Programs
  • Restoring SNAP Benefit Boosts
• Budget and Appropriations
  • FY2013 Budget
  • Appropriations
  • Federal Budget and Appropriations Process
  • The Budget Control Act
• Advocacy Tools
• Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization
  • CNR FAQ
• Legislative Successes
  • The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)
  • 2008 Farm Bill Nutrition Title
  • Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004
• Legislative Archives

Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization

President Obama signed into law the new Child Nutrition Reauthorization law on December 14th. Titled The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (S. 3307) (pdf), it broadens the Afterschool Meal Program to cover all 50 states (currently it covers just 13), supports the expansion of direct certification for school meals, improves area eligibility rules so more family child care homes can use the CACFP program, changes summer food rules to make it easier for nonprofits to operate, makes important reforms in the nutritional quality of food served in schools and child care, and makes “competitive” foods sold or offered in schools more nutritious.

Implementation Webinar Series

FRAC’s Webinar series, Child Nutrition Reauthorization: Putting the Act Into Action, examines the provisions of the Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act and provides steps to make the provisions of the Act a success.

Watch the latest webinar:
New Healthier School Meal Standards: What You Need to Know
(February 2, 2012)

View past webinars.
(Note: you must fill out the information in the boxes on the recording pages in order to stream the past webinars.)

Reauthorization Resources

• FRAC Statement on House Passage of Child Nutrition Bill
• Highlights: Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010
• Side-by-side comparison with the old act (pdf)
• Eight Facts You Need to Know NOW (pdf)
• Remarks by President and First Lady

To implement quickly and robustly the Act’s provisions, FRAC is conducting a Webinar series – Putting the Act into Action – to explore key improvements made by the bill and outline steps necessary for implementation. For more information, see box at right.

The passage of the Act was accompanied by the commitment of the President to work with Congressional leaders to fix the SNAP (food stamp) cut included to pay for some of the child nutrition improvements. In the weeks leading up to the vote, FRAC led the effort to urge Congress to pass the child nutrition bill and address the SNAP cut. Working closely with organizations across the country, FRAC used a range of strategies in the effort, including promoting SNAP Challenges (where a person pledges to live a week on the average SNAP benefit) and hosting two successful virtual rallies on Twitter and Facebook. For the rally, FRAC asked Twitter users to incorporate #SNAPcuts or #Rally4CNR in their messages; these hashtags ranked among the most used in several areas, including Minneapolis, New York City, and Washington, D.C.

PHOTO CREDIT: FRAC President Jim Weill took the above photo during the signing ceremony for The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.