New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate

06/19/2026

06/19/2026

State offices are closed today. Still, we can't wrap up the week without sharing how it ended on an amazingly high note, as the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate attended the ceremony where Governor Sherrill signed legislation ensuring information about free and reduced-price school meals is featured prominently on every school’s website, reducing unnecessary barriers for families eligible to participate in school meal programs.

Thank you, Assembly Speaker Craig J. Coughlin and Senate Majority Leader M. Teresa Ruiz, for championing this important legislation and your unending belief that every student and their family deserves a fair opportunity to be food secure, every day.

Thank you, Governor Sherrill, for enthusiastically signing this legislation into law and for the invitation to mark this milestone for our state together.

Dr. Dan Dychtwald, OFSA Policy Manager and team lead for OFSA‘s school meals work, applauded this milestone alongside partners in the legislature, plus a number of valued community and state agency partners, including the New Jersey Department of Agriculture, the New Jersey Department of Education, Hunger Free New Jersey and The Franklin Food Bank. Our Executive Director, Mark Dinglasan spoke to what this law will mean for New Jersey families.

"Families who face food insecurity often do not have the bandwidth to sift through mountains of information just to access benefits they are entitled to. This legislation is a testament to New Jersey's, and the Sherrill Administration's, commitment to meeting families on their journey towards building better and healthier lives for themselves.”

Additionally, the Governor also announced during the ceremony that as schools prepare to let out for summer, the State is issuing Summer EBT nutritional benefits to more than 680,000 eligible students.

More: https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/2026/approved/20260618a.shtml

06/18/2026

06/17/2026

06/17/2026

The countdown to the end of another school year also means time is running out for NJ schools to confirm their 2026-27 participation in Community Eligibility – the federal program that helps schools and districts serve breakfast and lunch at no charge to all students while eliminating the usual school meal application process.

**JUNE 30, 2026** is the final day for schools and districts to get ahead of the next school year’s meal costs, protect breakfast and lunch service for more eligible NJ students, not fewer, and keep more available federal dollars at the local level. A number of NJ schools and districts qualify to partially or fully participate in Community Eligibility based on their families’ eligibility for SNAP, TANF, or income-based Medicaid. Scroll through the images for a list of some of these eligible districts.

Know a school or district administrator? Encourage them now to connect with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDA) Division of Food and Nutrition Services – School Nutrition Programs team to ask how Community Eligibility can help nourish their students’ success in the new school year, and renew or join for the first time.

🎒See the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) area and download the NJ CEP Annual Notification directory via the NJDA website: https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/fn/childadult/school.shtml

🖍️Reach out to the NJDA School Nutrition Programs team: https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/fn/childadult/staffdirectory.shtml

🔭 Check out the benefits of Community Eligibility via this one-pager from the Food Research & Action Center : https://frac.org/research/resource-library/frac-facts-community-eligibility-provision

06/17/2026

REQUEST for APPLICATIONS --
TWO-WEEK APPLICATION WINDOW OPENS TODAY
JUNE 23 MANDATORY APPLICANT WEBINAR --

Through the Building Expanded Access to Nutritious School Meals (BEANS) 2.0 Program, the New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA) intends to support eligible entities in expanding access to and participation in school meal and childcare meal programs. Applicants can apply for up to $30K in grant funds for county-based initiatives addressing at least two of these intended outcomes:

🫐 Increased awareness of and application submission around New Jersey Expanded Income Eligibility for free school meals (Households at 185% - 224% FPL).
🫐 Increased submission of school meal applications in support of expanding access to eligible students, reducing school meal debt, and increasing school district eligibility for state funding, particularly among formerly directly-certified households.
🫐 Increased enrollment of non-public schools (including parochial schools) into the National School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast (SBP) programs.
🫐 Increased student participation in all school meal programs as a means of mitigating the impact of H.R. 1 on New Jersey families and the statewide emergency/charitable food sector.
🫐 Expanded site enrollment among early childhood care providers, after school, and pre-K programs in the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP), including the after school and At-Risk Suppers program for eligible schools .
🫐 Increased number of CACFP sponsors and increased number of CACFP operators across the state.

On Tuesday, June 23 at 11am ET, an informational webinar will be held. All agencies or entities that are interested in applying for BEANS 2.0 funding are required to attend. Dr. Dan Dychtwald, OFSA Policy Manager and Team Lead for OFSA's school meals work, will facilitate this webinar, providing a comprehensive guide to the BEANS 2.0 funding opportunity, application requirements, and program expectations.

💻Register for the June 23 webinar: https://form.jotform.com/261655599513165

🔗View complete details about BEANS 2.0 on the OFSA website: https://nj.gov/foodsecurity/funding-opportunities/

06/16/2026

Speaker Craig J. Coughlin, thanks for being on set with us to highlight the value and benefits of school meals!
Videos coming soon... Summer 2026 ... in time for the new school year!

06/15/2026

PUBLIC/PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP GRANT OPPORTUNITY CLOSING 6/24: Through Collaborating to Advance School Meal Equity (CASE) funding, OFSA will award one (1) Public/Private Partnership Grant of up to $1,034,593 to an eligible philanthropic entity to establish, administer and manage two initiatives that will support expanded access to nourishing school meals. The distinctive, yet complementary initiatives will support local efforts to capitalize on the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program or the Child and Adult Care Food Program to reduce the impact of H.R. 1 on New Jersey families.

CASE aligns with the NJ Food Security Strategic Plan, particularly Focus Area 3: Build and Support Local Partnerships to Advance Community-Driven Food Security Approaches. Additionally, CASE is the third funding opportunity from OFSA to move food security work forward through the Strategic Plan.

Applications are due Wed., June 24, 2026 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Incomplete or late applications will not be accepted.

Resources for Interested Applicants:
+ View the full notice, application template and Q&A document: https://nj.gov/foodsecurity/funding-opportunities/

+ Browse the Strategic Plan, a complementary Implementation Planning Toolkit ** and additional resources: https://nj.gov/foodsecurity/food-security/strategic-plan/

**The toolkit is an open resource to organizations and coalitions, regardless of whether they apply for CASE funding. There is no requirement to use the toolkit to develop an application, or to reference the toolkit when applying, and the toolkit is not reflected in the scoring rubric.

The philanthropic sector is invited and encouraged to check out the Collaborating to Advance School Meal Equity (CASE) opportunity published today by New Jersey Office of the Food Security Advocate (OFSA).

Through this competitive Public/Private Partnership Grant, CASE will activate the creation of a grantmaking partnership with OFSA to support local partners working to advance the utilization of and participation in school meals across the state.

Up to $976,758 is available as a single award that will be used to establish two grant funding opportunities as follows:
1) to support wider adoption of Breakfast After the Bell programs, including Second Chance Breakfast, Grab and Go, and Breakfast in the Classroom, and
2) to increase eligible students’, early childhood care providers’, public and non-public schools’ and communities’ access to school meals on a broader level, including through the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Child and Adult Care Feeding Program that covers lunches, snacks and dinners as designed.

Any U.S.-based philanthropic organization, pooled fund, fiscal intermediary, or similar entity with demonstrated experience in managing multi-funder philanthropic resources; issuing and overseeing grants or subawards; and supporting food systems, agriculture, food security, or related community-based initiatives is eligible to apply. There is no match requirement.

Important Dates:

+ May 27, 2026

The Q&A period for the CASE funding opportunity opens. Submit all questions about this Notice of Funding Availability to OFSA at [email protected]. All questions will be acknowledged upon receipt. Questions will be answered publicly after June 3, 2026. Continue following OFSA here on Facebook for updates on when and how to access all questions and answers.

+June 24, 2026

Applications are due at 5:00 pm ET. Incomplete or late applications will not be accepted.

Access full details in the Notice of Funding Availability and application template on the OFSA website: https://nj.gov/foodsecurity/funding-opportunities/index.shtml

06/14/2026

Las normas del Programa de Asistencia Nutricional Suplementaria (SNAP) federal, han cambiado, y estos cambios federales pueden afectar a su derecho a recibir ayuda alimentaria. Es posible que algunos adultos sin dependientes tengan ahora que cumplir nuevos requisitos laborales para seguir recibiendo el SNAP. Más información: https://www.nj.gov/humanservices/dfd/news/federal-changes/

06/14/2026

Federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) rules have changed, and these federal changes may affect your eligibility for food assistance. Some adults without dependents may now have new work requirements to keep receiving SNAP. Learn more: https://www.nj.gov/humanservices/dfd/news/federal-changes/