The traditional approach to addressing hunger during the summer when school is out has been to require children to eat meals at in-person, or congregate, sites. But congregate sites can have low rates of participation, especially among children in rural areas, because of the difficulty of driving to a site twice a day, parental work schedules, a general lack of transportation, and stigma. To respond to increased rates of child food insecurity during the summer, Congress authorized states to opt in to allowing noncongregate, or “grab and go,” meal services for students in rural areas. In the summer of 2023, 46 states and DC opted in, and in the summer of 2024 all 50 states and DC opted in.

Why This Matters

Noncongregate meal service, which allows meals to be eaten off-site, can fill a critical gap in food assistance for families, especially in rural areas. This is especially pertinent given rural areas have disproportionately high rates of food insecurity and less access to healthy food. Experiencing food insecurity during childhood can have lasting effects on health, academic, and cognitive outcomes. As a result, programs like the noncongregate meal services are pivotal in advancing the fight against childhood food insecurity in the US.

What We Found

Despite reported implementation challenges, the noncongregate meal program was popular in the summer months of 2023 and 2024 and helped fill in the gaps left by traditional summer meal programs. We found the following about the noncongregate meal program in 2023:

• Non-congregate meals were popular. Almost 20 percent of the more than 66.1 million meals provided during summer 2023 were noncongregate.
• Noncongregate helped fill a critical gap in assistance in July and August. More than half of the 11.6 million noncongregate meals were offered in July, a month when, in some states, typical summer school programs are not operating and school has not yet begun.
• Some states relied more heavily on noncongregate meals. In states like Hawaii, Kansas, and Vermont, the majority of summer meals were served through noncongregate operations. Noncongregate meals continue to fill the gap in late-summer assistance; for example, in August in Colorado and Oklahoma, more than half of meals provided were noncongregate.

After states and sponsors ironed out implementation challenges experienced in 2023, including the USDA’s expanded definition of rurality, the program skyrocketed in popularity in 2024 as all states and DC chose to participate. Among states with data, 2024 saw the following:

• A 72 percent increase in noncongregate sponsorship. From 2023 to 2024, across 23 states, the number of sponsors running noncongregate programs increased from 436 to 749.
• A 180 percent increase in sites serving noncongregate meals. From 2023 to 2024, across 18 states, the number of noncongregate sites increased from 1,683 to 4,692.

Despite having a larger presence in some states, noncongregate programming is a nationwide resource. In 2024, among states with data, 40 percent of counties had at least one noncongregate pickup site in operation. It is clear, however, that some states used the option more than others. We conclude that noncongregate meal programs are a successful and popular tool in addressing childhood food insecurity during the summer months.

How We Did It

In June 2024, the Urban Institute, in collaboration with the Food Research & Action Center, surveyed state child nutrition directors on their experiences implementing noncongregate meal programs. Directors from 32 states responded and provided data on numbers of noncongregate sites, sponsors, and meals in operation in 2023. Urban supplemented these data with data from state management and administration plans from 2023 and 2024.