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Overview of Bridgeport, CT Breakfast in the Classroom
Eos Foundation
District-wide K-8 Universal Free Breakfast in the Classroom: Bridgeport, CT
In SY06-07, one of Bridgeport’s neediest elementary schools piloted a universal free breakfast in
the classroom (BIC) program. Students were calmer in the morning, and test scores went up
immediately in the pilot school.
Success of the pilot set of a ripple effect that over the next three years brought the program to
another seven grade level schools. In SY09-10 the BIC program reached a tipping point: another
twelve elementary schools adopted the universal free BIC program early in the year, leading the
Bridgeport Superintendent to mandate that every elementary school in the district offer BIC.
Since SY10-11, Bridgeport has offered universal free BIC district-wide, in all twenty-eight K-8
schools, serving approximately 12,000 nutritious school breakfasts each day.
According to a report by End Hunger, Connecticut, Bridgeport has 98% of students eligible for
free and reduced meals, and in 2012, had an 82.8 breakfast participation rate of those free and
reduced meal-eligible students. Prior to implementing universal free breakfast, participation was
on 34%. District revenues increased significantly with the change. Maura O’Malley, Executive
Director of the Thomas E. Carroll Food and Nutrition Services Center for the Bridgeport
Schools, reports that after implementing district-wide universal free after-the-bell breakfast in K8 schools*, federal reimbursements increased from $1.3 million to $4.5 million as a result of
increased participation. This more than covered the increased meals costs and allowed for
reinvestment in food quality, labor, and associated capital expenses.
*Due to some administrative staff changes, pilot BIC programs in Bridgeport’s high schools
have been delayed.
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