Feeding Success – How The Idaho Foodbank Supports Community Schools
Community Schools are local, public schools that partner with their communities to remove barriers to education. This looks different in every school but could be anything from hosting a food bank inside the school building to expanding career prep programs for high schoolers. Community Schools with the United Way are more than classrooms—they’re hubs where students and families can access the resources they need to thrive.
Many Community Schools partner with The Idaho Foodbank to have a school food pantry or run Backpack Programs to ensure students have reliable access to nutritious food all week long. These programs help alleviate hunger, which is one of the biggest barriers to learning, so that kids can focus on their education. Families also benefit from hands‑on education, like cooking classes that make the most of shelf‑stable ingredients or tips for using an instant pot. These practical skills help stretch budgets and keep healthy eating within reach.
Katie Marshall with United Way Treasure Valley described how Community Schools benefit children by engaging the community to “assess the needs of students and ways they can be addressed. This helps to address the ‘life stuff’ that gets in the way of students’ education.” The top needs Community Schools see among Idaho students are mental health support, family engagement opportunities, and afterschool and summer programming.
Every Community School looks a little different, but they share the same vision of addressing the needs that can be a barrier to a student’s education. The Idaho Foodbank is proud to have an ongoing partnership with the United Way to help support Community Schools and children in need.