School Nutrition Unit

Our Mission

The CDE School Nutrition Unit administers the USDA Child Nutrition Programs (CNP) that provide healthy food to children in Colorado. Each of these programs helps to fight hunger and obesity and promotes the health and well-being of children. School Nutrition is committed to ensuring all school-aged children have equal access to healthy meals by supporting, training, and connecting Colorado's child nutrition community.

Quick Links

Reviews

CO Child Nutrition Hub

Training Opportunities

National School Lunch Program

Summer Food Service Program

Special Milk Program

Aurora Public Schools (APS) Nutrition Services has taken the Summer Food Service Program on the road. Delivering hot and cold meals to youth throughout Aurora at sites varying from city parks to APS school campuses where meal participation had historically been low. Each of the three modified APS activity buses were hand painted by art students from Aurora Central High School- the brightly painted buses has helped increase participation in the summer program. APS knows that transportation to a school can be a barrier for some families and they wanted to take the program to places where kids like to hang out at during the summer and have easier access to come and enjoy a delicious nutritious meal during the summer!  APS is serving around 950 lunches and 500 breakfast each day which is up 17.8% over last year. As each day of summer rolls on and the word spreads, participation increases daily. APS looks forward to keeping the wheels rolling to the successful road ahead!

The Food Bank for Larimer County (FBLC) launched a new mobile community meals program in Loveland and Fort Collins this summer with a big, bright green food truck. Their program visits 10 different sites each week including two mobile home parks, five low-income apartment complexes, two parks, and a farmers’ market. A variety of partners including a bookmobile, library story time, rec center activity mobile trailer, and Food Bank volunteers provide an activity that accompanies the meal service. The truck also plays music, runs a bubble maker, and has sports supplies and a pop-up tent on hand to create a fun picnic vibe. FBLC is working on strategies to engage staff and residents in the housing communities and a network of other nonprofit partners across the county to make sure Larimer County knows about this resource. This summer is a great opportunity to learn what works best in terms of site placement, outreach efforts, and programming/residential partners to reach even more children next year!

The Cherry Creek School District (CCSD) began their first summer program in 2018 at one meal site serving an average of 60 children per day.  In an effort to expand their services and reach the many children in need of this program, this year CCSD partnered with several other district departments to help determine where summer sites should be added as well as help to promote the program.  The food and nutrition services (FNS) department met with the Health Services team, the Wellness team, the Medicaid Liaison, the Extended Childcare Director, and the Title I coordinator.  As a result of these partnerships CCSD expanded to three meal sites and are delivering meals to 7 of the 10 qualifying extended care programs. They developed flyers (translated into the 9 top languages in the district) that were distributed through school newsletters, FNS and CCSD social media, their admissions offices, and all the departments in which they collaborated.  FNS Supervisors also posted flyers in nearby libraries, pools, and community centers.  CCSD began the summer serving about 300 children per day and on June 19th served their highest number so far  - 444 children! CCSD is also excited to offer assistance completing free and reduced applications at meal sites and in June and July they will be offering families groceries to take home thanks to the donations collected by their Title 1 Department in conjunction with Colorado Cares. 

• Advisory Council for School Nutrition
• Calendar of Events
• Data Requests - Frequently Requested Information
• School Food Professional - Job Opportunities

• USDA Memos
• Charter School Information
• Dietetic Internship Rotation
• Equipment Decision Tree
• 19-20 Free and Reduced-Price School Meal Program Public Release (PDF)

• School Wellness and Local School Wellness Policies
• Smarter Lunchrooms Movement
• Smart Snacks and Competitive Foods
• Creating Safer Environments