Operation Shoestring Inc.

Operation Shoestring Inc., a Mississippi-based nonprofit corporation headquartered in Jackson, operates as a federal grant recipient delivering afterschool, summer, and child nutrition programs to low-income youth in Mississippi. The organization functions almost exclusively as a sub-recipient (94% of recent awards) routed through state education and human services departments, with a single direct prime grant award from the Department of Education dated June 2026.

Operation Shoestring's federal footprint is heavily concentrated in child nutrition and youth development programming. The organization receives the vast majority of its federal sub-awards through the Mississippi Department of Education's Child Nutrition Program (CNP) administration, which flows Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service dollars for subsidized breakfast and lunch service. Between December 2023 and February 2025, Operation Shoestring received 26 monthly or bi-monthly CNP sub-awards from MDE covering both CNP-Block (child nutrition block grants) and CNP-CIL (child and adult care food program) components. The organization also receives sub-awards from the Mississippi Department of Human Services for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programming that supports family formation and maintenance initiatives. These state-administered sub-awards funnel federal dollars from the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.

Operation Shoestring's primary direct federal engagement is a $514,003 Project Grant (S215K260034) awarded by the Department of Education's Office of Elementary and Secondary Education under CFDA 84.215 (Innovative Approaches to Literacy; Promise Neighborhoods; Full-Service Community Schools; and Congressionally Directed Spending for Elementary and Secondary Education Community Projects), effective June 1, 2026 through June 1, 2029. This three-year award supports expansion of the organization's afterschool and summer enrichment services, combining academic support, literacy development, and social-emotional skill-building for kindergarten through seventh-grade students from low-income families in Jackson. The award builds on the organization's existing operational footprint of meals, education, and enrichment services that have been developed through prior sub-awards under child nutrition and education programs.

Recent award activity shows 23 awards in 2024 (driven by monthly CNP flow-through from MDE), with six awards in 2025 and one in 2026. Total combined federal dollars obligated across all awards in the source data is $2.2 million. The organization has no federal prime contracts; all federal engagement routes through grant mechanisms. The concentration of CNP sub-awards through MDE reflects Operation Shoestring's primary operational footprint in subsidized meal service, with supplemental federal support for youth development and family support programming routed through TANF administration.