Since its inception, NASA's Science Activation program has demonstrated considerable success in leveraging the agency's strong public reputation and resources to engage a diversity of audiences in science education projects nationwide. As the program nears the end of this second five-year funding cycle, NASA tasked the National Academies with…

The Healthy School Meals for All Program (HSMA) provides funding opportunities for Colorado public school food authorities participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs (SBP) via reimbursement for meals provided to students who would otherwise pay full price for a meal. This reports provides an overview of…

This report illustrates the statewide implementation and effectiveness of school breakfast in Ohio. In the 2024-2025 school year, approximately 94% of Ohio schools with USDA nutrition programs serve breakfast. In the 2023-2024 school year, 27.2% of enrolled children participated in the School Breakfast Program and 54.5% participated in the…

This study is an evaluation of the national youth service corps (NYSC) program of the federal government of Nigeria. It assessed the input, process and output indices of the programs to determine the extent to which the program has been successfully implemented and what it has achieved so far. To the researchers' knowledge this study is the first…

A program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), Team Nutrition Training Grants have two objectives: to develop the knowledge and skills of School Nutrition Managers such that they are able (1) to assist students participating in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program in making…

The federal government has a long history of investing in programs for feeding children, starting with federal aid for school lunch programs in the 1930s. Today, federal child nutrition programs support food served to children in schools and a variety of other settings. This report starts with an overview of child nutrition programs' funding…

The Antideficiency Act prohibits Federal agencies from incurring obligations or expending funds in excess of an appropriation. However, Congress has granted agencies limited authority to make spending adjustments following the enactment of appropriations through transfers or reprogrammings. In November 2024, Senator Bill Hagerty requested that 19…

This report explores motives, experiences, and outcomes of the Performance Partnership Pilots for Disconnected Youth (P3)--a federal program to improve services for "opportunity youth" by increasing flexibility for sites focused on systems change--and makes recommendations for federal leaders to improve its appeal and impact. Building on…

This report summarizes findings from the School Meals Operations Study (SMO), part of an ongoing series to assess school meal operations on a school year (SY) basis. This volume of the study covers July 2021 through the end of September 2022 and includes SY 2021-2022. When the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020, the Families First Coronavirus…

Even in good economic times, many adults in the United States have trouble finding jobs that pay enough to support their families. One policy response has been to help these workers build more skills, with promising findings from some sector-based programs that train individuals to work in specific high-demand industries. The Pay for Success Clean…

In Spring 2025, the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) launched one of its most concentrated financial aid outreach campaigns yet. The goal: Raise Washington's historically low Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion rates so more students could access the aid they deserve. With only three months left in the school…

Since its inception in 1993, the National Guard Youth Challenge Program has produced over 200,000 graduates across dozens of sites located in the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Currently, the program operates 39 sites. House Report 117-88, accompanying the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2022, included…

Studies link intensified immigration enforcement to reduced safety net participation among mixed-status families, but less is known about how this varies by settlement duration. Bridging research on immigrant settlement and system avoidance, we theorize that the impacts are strongest among immigrants with shorter US residency. To test this, we…

Early care and education (ECE) apprenticeship programs provide structured on-the-job learning combined with job-related education or coursework. ECE apprenticeships are viewed as a promising strategy to prepare people for careers in ECE and provide career pathways for people currently working in ECE. ECE Registered Apprenticeship Programs--meaning…

Free school meal access has become increasingly intertwined with federal social safety net programs--including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)--to reduce duplicative paperwork for schools. The changes to SNAP that House Republicans have proposed would have downstream effects on free school meal access. The proposed changes to…