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2025-26 School Breakfast Program and Summer Meals Start-Up and Expansion Grants

Grantor:
CA Department of Education
Departmental Grant ID:
6345
Portal ID:
87473
Status:
Active
Opportunity Type:
  • Grant
Last Updated:
 | 
Categories:

Details

Purpose:

The intent of the grant is for the California Department of Education (CDE) to award competitive grants of up to $15,000 per school site for nonrecurring expenses incurred when initiating or expanding an SBP or SMP. The following types of grants are available:

Start-up grants for costs associated with starting an SBP or SMP site.

Expansion grants for costs associated with increasing program participation at an existing SBP or SMP site.

Description:

Overview

School food authorities (SFA) can submit the 2025-26 School Breakfast Program (SBP) and Summer Meal Programs (SMP) Start-up and Expansion Grant, known as the Breakfast Grant (BG), application found online on the California Department of Education (CDE) BG Request for Applications (RFA) web page. Please carefully review the Application Scoring Criteria on the CDE BG web page and read the Instructions for Completing the BG Application. Complete the application and have the appropriate agency official electronically sign and submit it. The CDE must receive your SFA’s online submission no later than 4 p.m. on Monday, March 3, 2025. No late or mailed applications will be accepted.

Questions: School Breakfast Grant Team, email: breakfastgrant@cde.ca.gov

Grant Award Information

If your SFA requires board approval to receive grant funding, please provide a copy of the board approval with your grant application. The CDE will not process an application without these approvals (if needed). All grant recipients must sign and return the original grant award notification (GAN) before the CDE will release grant funds. An original GAN includes the signature of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The CDE will bill SFAs for any grant funds received or may withhold final payment if the requirements of the grant are not fulfilled. Please note that awarded SFAs must be approved to participate in the SBP or SMP before receiving their first grant payment.

If an SFA knowingly submits false information on the grant application or invoices, the CDE may deny or recover the SFA’s grant funding.

The CDE will send grant awardees an approved procurement form, which represents an estimate of approved grant expenses for claim submittal.

The CDE administers these grants and reserves the right to make changes to the approved budget, which includes reducing the amount of funding to reflect actual, allowable, and reasonable costs.

SFAs should keep the following information in mind when applying for this grant:

SFAs may receive a grant for the same site no more than once every three years.  

Eligible SFAs may apply for the SBP grant or the SMP grant; however, SFAs may not request both grants for one site.

For SBP grants, the SFA must have at least 20 percent of students enrolled at the site approved for Free/Reduced Price (F/RP) meals. For SMP grants, sites must meet all Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) eligibility criteria.

An SFA must have a current vendor number on file with the California State Controller’s Office to be eligible for an SBP or SMP grant. SFAs can obtain a vendor number from the CDE as part of the application process to participate in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP), SBP, or SMP.

The CDE may consider SFAs with excess net cash resources (NCR) to be ineligible to receive a grant. In accordance with Title 7, CFR, Section 210.14(b), an SFA shall limit its NCRs to an amount that does not exceed three months’ average expenditures from its food service account. SFAs with excess NCRs must include a detailed explanation of their excess NCRs in their application.

SFAs must be in good standing in all Child Nutrition Programs in which they participate.

Eligibility Requirements

Eligible Applicants:

  • Public Agency

Public school districts, county offices of education, and directly funded charter schools can apply for this grant funding. Please note that private schools, residential childcare institutions, and juvenile detention centers are ineligible to apply for or receive these grants. For SBP grants, the SFA must have at least 20 percent of students enrolled at the site approved for Free/Reduced Price (F/RP) meals.

Important Dates

The date (and time, where applicable) by which all applications must be submitted to the grantmaker. Time listed as “00:00” equates to midnight.
The date on which the grantor expects to announce the recipient(s) of the grant.
June 1, 2025
The length of time during which the grant money must be utilized.
Until February 2026

Funding Details

The total projected dollar amount of the grant.
$1,017,000
A single grant opportunity may represent one or many awards. Some grantors may know in advance the exact number of awards to be given. Others may indicate a range. Some may wish to and wait until the application period closes before determining how many awards to offer; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
Dependent
Grant opportunities representing multiple awards may offer awards in the same amount or in varied amounts. Some may wish to wait until the application period closes before determining per-award amounts; in this case, a value of “Dependent” will display.
$0 – $150,000
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) provide a letter of intent.
No
Certain grants require that the recipient(s) be able to fully or partially match the grant award amount with another funding source.
No
The funding source allocated to fund the grant. It may be either State or Federal (or a combination of both), and be tied to a specific piece of legislation, a proposition, or a bond number.
  • State

Funding Source Notes:

Funding is for nonrecurring expenses incurred in initiating or expanding a: (1) SBP, serving students in transitional kindergarten through grade twelve or (2) SMP, serving children and youth eighteen years of age and under during school breaks.

The manner in which the grant funding will be delivered to the awardee. Funding methods include reimbursements (where the recipient spends out-of-pocket and is reimbursed by the grantor) and advances (where the recipient spends received grant funds directly).
  • Advances & Reimbursement(s)

Funding Method Notes:

The CDE will award competitive grants of up to $15,000 per site. Each SFA may apply for no more than 10 sites. Recipients will receive 90 percent of the funding at the time of award with the remaining 10 percent awarded upon approval of all invoices. The CDE will recover funds from agencies that do not submit invoices for approved budget items within the award time frame.

How to Apply

State agencies/departments recommend you read the full grant guidelines before applying.

Resources

For questions about this grant, contact:
Clayton Terry-Gonsalves, 1-916-327-2220, breakfastgrant@cde.ca.gov

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