Promoting Voting in Child Nutrition Programs

Voting is an important part of our democracy. In 2021, President Joseph R. Biden passed Executive Order (EO) 14019, directing federal agencies to consider ways to expand citizens' opportunities to register to vote and to obtain information about, and participate in, the electoral process.

To support this EO, and expand access to and information about voter registration and elections, the Nutrition Services Division encourages program operators to promote voting through your child nutrition programs (CNPs).

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) previously issued Policy Memorandum SP 07-2022, CACFP 06-2022, and SFSP 02-2022: Promoting Access to Voting through the CNPs. The policy memo encourages all state agencies administering CNPs to provide promotional materials about voter registration and election information.You can review this policy memo on the USDA, Food and Nutrition Service Resources Policy web page .

The USDA encourages:

• Program operators to promote voter registration and election information among voting-age participants and use congregate feeding areas, such as cafeterias, or food distribution sites, as sites for the dissemination of information.
  
  
• Schools to provide parents and guardians with voter registration and election information when distributing National School Lunch Program free and reduced-price meal applications and/or other communications to households.
  
  
• Program operators of the Summer Food Service Program to post flyers with voter registration and election information to reach parents and/or guardians of young participants; and
  
  
• All program operators to post information on their website and social media channels, and link to relevant resources, including vote.gov .

Additionally, the California Secretary of State has resources to assist you with educating students, families, and employees about voter registration and elections . Please note several of these resources:

• High School and Youth Initiative Resources
  
  
  • Voter pre-registration at age 16
    
    
  • High School Voter Education Weeks (last two full weeks in April and September)
    
    
• Print Materials to Share at Work (flyers and posters)
  
  
• Elections and Voter Information

Contact Information

If you have any questions regarding voting promotion through CNPs, contact your county’s School Nutrition Programs (SNP) Specialist. A list of SNP Specialists is available in the Download Forms section of the Child Nutrition Information and Payment System , Form ID Caseload. You can also email SNPInfo@cde.ca.gov to request the contact information for your SNP Specialist.