FRAC - Report: Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:	CONTACT:
Tuesday, July 24, 2007	Jennifer Adach, 202-986-2200 x3018

Administrative Hurdles Continue to Block Food for Hungry Children during the Summer Months

Fewer than one in five children served, states missing out on millions in federal funding

Download Report: "Hunger Doesn't Take a Vacation 2007"

Washington, D.C. – July 24, 2007 – Fewer than one out of every five eligible low-income children participated in the summer nutrition programs in 2006, according to the Food Research and Action Center’s Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report. In many states, administrative hurdles and inadequate reimbursements in the federal food programs continue to be the largest obstacles to making sure that low-income children have access to healthy meals during the summer months.

While 17.4 million low-income children receive school lunch during the regular school year, only 2.85 million get summer food when school is out. That means the summer nutrition programs are only reaching 17.7 percent of low-income children who depend on school lunch during the school year – a ratio that has fallen from 22.2 percent in 2000.

FRAC’s annual analysis of participation in the summer nutrition programs underscores the benefits of the Simplified Summer Food Program. Originally developed as a pilot program by Congress in a limited number of states, the Simplified Summer Food Program reduces the administrative barriers that prevent many sites and organizations from participating in the program and from receiving full reimbursement. The dramatic increases in summer food participation in pilot states speak to its success. Over the past six years, the 13 states originally allowed to use the Simplified program have seen their summer numbers climb by 51 percent, while states never added to the pilot dropped by 16.5 percent.

"The robust increase in participation in 'simplified' states means Congress must act now to make it nationally available to all hungry children," said Jim Weill, FRAC president. "Thousands of children in nearly every state are losing access to healthy meals, and we know a solution to this problem that works."

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee announced that its Agriculture Appropriations Bill includes funds to add all remaining states to the Simplified program beginning in 2008. FRAC called on Congress to include the House step in the final appropriations bill so all states can use the simplified rules.

The summer nutrition programs are especially important for the millions of low-income children (and their parents) who rely on school breakfast and lunch during the school year to help keep hunger at bay. Families with tight budgets find themselves especially strapped during the summer. Summer food programs make sure that children are surrounded by access to healthy food – even when school is out.

Summer recreation and educational programs help keep children safe and engaged over the summer and combat "summer learning loss" that can leave children – especially low-income children – behind when they return to school. Summer nutrition programs attract children to summer programs, bring federal dollars into support them, and combat both hunger and obesity.

Key Findings from the Report Include:

In July 2006, participation in the states with Simplified programs rose by 3.2 percent compared to 2005 – in non-simplified states, participation dropped by 0.8 percent.
If every state reached 40 children with summer meals (for every 100 that receive lunch), an achievable goal, an additional 3.6 million children would have access to healthy summer meals daily, and states would receive an additional $199 million in federal funding.
The five states with the lowest participation rates in 2006 were: Alaska, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
The five states with the highest participation rates in 2006 were: California, the District of Columbia, Nevada New Mexico, and New York.

About the report:
FRAC’s annual summer report, Hunger Doesn’t Take A Vacation, gives data for all states and looks at national trends. The report measures participation in the summer nutrition programs by comparing the number of children receiving summer meals to the number of children receiving school lunch during the school year. FRAC measures national summer participation during the month of July, when typically all children are out of school for the whole month and lose access to school meals. The report is available online at www.frac.org.

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The Food Research and Action Center (www.frac.org) is the leading national organization working for more effective public and private policies to eradicate domestic hunger and undernutrition.