Background:

Our client, The Texas Department of Agriculture oversees programs funded by the USDA that help feed children, through subsidized breakfast and lunch funded-programs. The 2020 Spring semester was abruptly interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic mandating children across the state to continue their learning experience at home. Unfortunately, the mandatory shutdown removed daily access to breakfast and lunch for kids that were receiving state-sponsored subsidized meals at school.

The unprecedented progression of the COVID-19 pandemic created a time sensitive need for the state of Texas to communicate to families of these children the resources for meal availability. This has extended into the 2020-2021 school year and the body of work was developed to assist all school districts as they ensure to keep kids fed in a safe manner.

Solution: 

We helped Texas children stay fed, assisting our client to move quickly to develop time-sensitive materials for the following three programs:

• Meal Site Availability and Awareness Resources

Although schools were closed due to COVID-19, children were still eligible to receive free meals. The goal was to create informative items for parents that provided information on how to find meals. The material also had to equip schools and program partners of those schools with resources for parents, in both Spanish and English.

• Alternative Meals Model 

Provide creative materials to support TDA’s Food and Nutrition Alternative Meal Model. We delivered a series of informative and illustrative communications and flyers to bring awareness to what school lunch will look like, and Child Nutrition Director meal considerations, beginning for Fall 2020.

• Alternative Hand-Washing Reminder

Develop a call to action for students to recognize the important steps associated with hand-washing and incorporating best practices per the CDC. We produced four (4) total One-Pagers, including two Spanish versions, for TDA to share with schools to use in their communications and they prepare to reopen for the Fall 2020 semester. 

Results:

Food and Nutrition initiatives impact 5 million children. Specific to food assistance programs, approximately 3.6 million children who are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps. The program is important because it helps prevent hunger in Texas.