This site, hosted by the Food Research and Action Center, provides numerous resources for understanding, implementing, and spreading awareness about the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004. Specific resources for serving migrant, homeless, and runaway children and youth are included.

Federal Resources for Feeding Homeless Children and Youth

This 2-page brief from the Food Research and Action Center provides a concise and easily-understandable summary of the main points of the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 as they pertain to homeless, migrant, and runaway students. Topics include: automatic eligibility for free school Meals, documentation of free meal eligibility, full year school eligibility, federal nutrition funds for shelters serving children and youth, and food stamps and homeless children and youth.

Feeding America seeks to create a hunger-free America. Feeding America distributes food and grocery products through a nationwide network of certified affiliates, increases public awareness of domestic hunger, and advocates for policies that benefit America's hungry. Enter your zipcode under "Find Your Local Programs" to find a food bank or food rescue program in your area. Also, explore the data gathered as part of Feeding America's Hunger in America 2010 initiative.

FirstStep, developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a web-based interactive tool for helping individuals who are homeless to access federal benefit programs. The tool contains information pertaining to income assistance, health care assistance, food assistance, housing assistance, employment services, alcohol and drug abuse treatment, child care, life skills, mental health and counseling services, and HIV/AIDS services.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is a leading national organization working to improve public policies to eradicate hunger and undernutrition in the United States. Founded in 1970 as a public interest law firm, FRAC is a nonprofit and nonpartisan research and public policy center that serves as the hub of an anti-hunger network of thousands of individuals and agencies across the country.

The Food Stamp Map Machine website, sponsored by the Economic Research Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, is an interactive web-based mapping utility that illustrates food stamp program participation and benefit levels down to the county level. Use the map machine to show per capita participation, per capita benefits, changes from year to year, and more.

This article, published in the October 2002 issue of Pediatrics, the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, examines the independent contribution of child hunger on children’s physical and mental health and academic functioning, when controlling for a range of environmental, maternal, and child factors that have also been associated with poor outcomes among children.

The Sodexo Foundation, the charitable arm of Sodexo, Inc., is committed to being a driving and creative force that contributes to a hunger-free nation. The Sodexo Foundation's website includes hunger facts and information on Sodexo's local, state, national, and global hunger initiatives.

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-265) expands federal child nutrition programs in several ways to assist homeless, migrant, and runaway children and youth by providing:

• Automatic eligibility for free school meals
• Streamlined procedures for documenting eligibility
• Full school year eligibility for free school meals
• Federal nutrition funds for shelters that serve children and youth up to age 18

See USDA Memo SP 17-2010 (Jan 29, 2010), which discusses the eligibility of Haitian refugees for USDA child nutrition programs.
See USDA Memo SP3 (Jul 7, 2004), which establishes a household's full school year eligibility for free or reduced price meals.
See USDA Memo SP4 (Jul 19, 2004), which establishes the categorical eligibility of homeless, migrant, and runaway children and youth, and provides instructions for documenting the eligibility of homeless children and youth served under the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.
See USDA Categorial Eligibility for Free Lunches and Breakfasts for Migrant Children Memo (Aug 16, 2004), which establishes the categorical eligibility of migrant students, provides instructions for documenting migrant students' eligibility, and explains the free meal program's full school year eligibility concept.
See USDA Guidance on Determining Categorical Eligibility for Free Lunches and Breakfasts for Youth Served under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act Memo (Sept 17. 2004), which establishes the categorical eligibility of runaway youth served through grant programs established under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and provides instructions for documenting the eligibility of youth served under the Act.