In their latest research brief, Nutrition Policy Institute researchers highlight the benefits and challenges faced by California school foodservice professionals implementing the federally-funded universal school meals through the Seamless Summer Option during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings also include the resources most needed as California becomes among the first in the nation to implement a statewide universal school meals program starting in the 2022-23 school year. Results are from a survey of over 580 California foodservice directors and managers conducted in February 2022. The brief is available online. This research was conducted by Christina Hecht, Monica Zuercher, Ken Hecht, Wendi Gosliner and Lorrene Ritchie of NPI and was funded by the 2021 California Senate Bill 170.

Nutrition Policy Institute researchers were awarded three separate 18-month research grants up to $250,000 as part of the Healthy Eating Research 2021 special solicitation on COVID-19 and Socioeconomic Recovery Efforts. Lorrene Ritchie, in collaboration with co-principal investigator Susana Matias from UC Berkeley and the CACFP Roundtable, received a grant for a project titled, “Child and Adult Care Food Program: Impacts of COVID-19 Differences in Reimbursement Rates on Family Childcare Home Providers, Children, and Families”. Wendi Gosliner is serving as co-PI on a project with Juliana Cohen from Merrimack College entitled “Evaluation of Universal Free School Meals,”, and is collaborating with Lia Fernald from UC Berkeley on another project entitled “Longitudinal Study of Low-Income Families with Young Children: Assessing California Communities' Experiences with Safety Net Supports Survey (ACCESS)”. Healthy Eating Research is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Only 9 grants were awarded this cycle.

California was the first state to adopt a policy to provide school meals, free of charge, to all students after the federal COVID provisions expired this summer. Beginning school year 2022-23, California's Universal Meals Program for school children—also known as school meals for all—will continue to serve school meals free of charge to all students, as mandated on July 9, 2021 by AB 130 (McGuire). The University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Nutrition Policy Institute received $2.4 million in one-time funding to evaluate school meals for all in California as part of the 2022-23 California State Budget. NPI's Wendi Gosliner is principal investigator of the project in collaboration with research team members Lorrene Ritchie, Monica Zuercher, Christina Hecht and Ken Hecht. The NPI research team is collaborating with multiple state partners, including the California Department of Education and a variety of non-profit and community-based organizations that engage parents and students as well as national partners working to understand the roll out of school meals for all in Maine and Vermont. Preliminary results from ongoing NPI California school meals for all research has already informed CDE and other state and national school meal stakeholders about the opportunities and challenges as well as resources needed to provide healthy and appealing school meals to all students.

The American Society for Nutrition's annual conference, Nutrition 2022 Live Online, happens virtually June 14-16, 2022. Nutrition Policy Institute researchers will share results at the conference from their latest studies on the federal Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Marisa Tsai will speak about ‘Larger WIC Cash Value Benefit for Vegetables and Fruit Is Associated With Lower Food Insecurity and Improved Participant Satisfaction in WIC Families With Children'; co-authors include Lorrene Ritchie from NPI. Amanda Linares will present a poster on ‘Association of Frequency of School Meal Consumption and Student Dietary Intake during COVID-related School Closures'; co-authors include Kaela Plank, Sridharshi Hewawitharana and Gail Woodward-Lopez from NPI. Both Tsai and Linares' presentations are available on-demand. University of California, Davis graduate student Alana Chaney will present live, online a poster on ‘Addressing Barriers to WIC Participation During COVID-19: A Qualitative Examination of California WIC Participants and Local Agency Directors'; co-authors include Lorrene Ritchie, Marisa Tsai and Nicole Vitale of NPI.