In 2026, the Washington Food Coalition’s Children’s Backpack Project, funded by the Arcora Foundation, brought together eight programs to evaluate the nutritional quality of distributed items and understand the barriers they face in serving more nutritious foods.

The assessment uncovered a desire for more resources and vendors to help backpack programs navigate sourcing healthier food. These resources include an overview of the project findings, a summary of listening sessions, suggestions for healthy food swaps and a food sourcing resource.