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It helps to clarify your short-term goals when starting out to prioritize what to do and what not to do.

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1. What is the problem you are trying to solve by making your meal program more student- and community-centered (e.g., participation, meal quality, cultural relevance, etc.)?

2. Is there a particular demographic you are aiming to engage more deeply (e.g., Latinx students and�their families, students eligible for free and reduced priced meals who are not participating, etc.)?

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3. What do you hope the impact of these efforts will be? (e.g., happier kids, greater use of FRP, enthusiastic parents, see uncommon measures for inspiration, etc.)?

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4. What assets and/or champions in your district can you tap for this effort (e.g., engaged parent groups, strong community organizations, cultural connections between students and staff, supportive administration, etc.)?

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5. What are a few challenges that need to be considered (e.g., staff burnout, capacity, resources, etc.)? How might your plan account for these?

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6. Where would you like to start? Check out the resources for the groups you want to engage first and see what works best for you.

  • Students
  • Caregivers
  • School community

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8. Based on these goals, what are a few things you should avoid doing or save for later? For instance, you may want to get student feedback but you do not have capacity at the current time to create a student advisory board. Instead, you can take incremental steps in that direction, first using a basic digital or physical survey to better understand student interests.

7. Which tool will you try out first? What modest goals can you set for this effort?

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9. How will you communicate your learnings and any adjustments to the meal program you’ll�make based on feedback and co-design? Here are a few ideas to get you started

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  • Learnings will be shared with internal staff to help with planning �
  • Learnings will be displayed in the schools – with posters,�collages, pictures of feedback�
  • Learnings will be reflected in the meal program and changes�suggested by community members highlighted�
  • Learnings will be included in discussions with administrators to�support requested changes (customizable presentation to administrators included in community section)�
  • Learnings will be communicated with parents through normal�school channels�
  • Other……….

Here are a few ideas to get you started.