MySchoolBucks is excited to honor the 850,000+ afterschool professionals nationwide who are dedicated to enriching children's lives during out-of-school hours. We are proud to partner with several afterschool programs, and in celebration wish all staff a Happy Afterschool Professionals Appreciation Week! With an estimated 10.2 million children participating each year, afterschool programs play a vital role in enhancing education, promoting physical and emotional health, providing a safe environment and exposing youth to new experiences.

With an estimated 40% of parents between the ages of 38 and 18, millennials are part of an ever growing parent population in K-12 schools. This generation of the early cell phone adopters, now Facebook, Snapchat and tweet constantly, turn to Alexa for daily problem solving, and require Uber as a main source of transportation.  With the increasing reliance on convenience-based technology as a part of daily life, here are some ideas to help engage with your parents and promote your meal program in the digital age:

Earlier this year, in an effort to help promote student participation in lunchrooms, the MySchoolBucks Growth Grant Program offered additional funding to school nutrition programs nationwide.

We wanted to help get students pumped up about school lunch in ways that were specific to each of your lunch programs and the ideas came pouring in. Out of 225 applications, we were thrilled to award 86 school districts with Growth Grants for the 2017-18 school year! 

Take a look at how some of the funds were used:

We've recently established a new partnership with SchoolFunds Online by TRA - and we couldn’t be more psyched about it! Developed for and by school bookkeepers, SchoolFunds Online is a comprehensive accounting system engineered to meet the needs of a dynamic school environment to automate funds management.