Statewide Public Awareness Campaign

HEALTHY SCHOOL MEALS FOR ALL

OVERVIEW

Smart Cookie developed a strategic, ready-to-use communications toolkit that enabled the Colorado Department of Education to scale the Healthy School Meals for All campaign across districts statewide. The customizable, bilingual resources amplified family engagement, streamlined outreach for schools and supported continued access to critical federal funding.

HIGHLIGHTS

  • Communications roadmap
  • Messaging framework
  • Bilingual outreach materials
  • Multichannel toolkit
  • Statewide rollout plan

BACKGROUND

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) launched the Healthy School Meals for All program to help districts across Colorado provide free breakfast and lunch to students. While meals were now available at no cost, families still needed to complete household income (FRL) forms to ensure districts could access critical federal funding to support nutrition programs and student services. CDE needed a strategic communications approach – and scalable tools – to clearly explain the change and drive action among families and school leaders across Colorado.

Our SUPPORT

Smart Cookie partnered with CDE to develop a strategic, turnkey communications package that districts and schools could easily customize and deploy statewide.

Grounded in clear messaging and thoughtful communications planning, the team created a comprehensive, multichannel toolkit that included parent-facing templates, one-page fliers, social media posts and graphics, website copy, robocall scripts, text messages and newsletter content. When appropriate, these communications were created in both English and Spanish. The materials were mapped alongside a strategic rollout timeline to ensure maximum engagement among school leaders and families. 

This packaged approach allowed CDE to easily roll out the campaign to districts across the state – equipping every district with ready-to-use materials that ensured consistent messaging while still allowing for customization at each district and school level.

IMPACT

With a clear strategy and customizable communications toolkit in place, districts across Colorado were able to amplify the Healthy School Meals for All message to families in a consistent, accessible way.

The templated materials streamlined outreach for school teams, increased accessibility through bilingual resources and strengthened family engagement statewide – helping protect essential funding that supports healthy meals, student services and nutrition programs.

By transforming complex program details into easy-to-use communications tools, Smart Cookie helped CDE launch a coordinated statewide effort that reached school leaders, students and families across Colorado.