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Now it's Easier to Provide Meals to Hungry Children When School Is Out

All Schools Can Take Advantage of Seamless Summer Option

On Wednesday, June 30, 2004, President Bush signed the Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 into law (Public Law 108-265). One important provision of the Act makes the Seamless Summer Food Waiver a permanent option, called the Seamless Summer Option.

What Is It?

The Seamless Summer Food Waiver was a USDA initiative begun in 2002 that sought to help school Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) sponsors reach more hungry children in low-income areas when school was out, and that provided more efficient meal services to those children. In the Summer of 2003, school sponsors in 32 states took advantage of the waiver. Nineteen of these states provided summer food to significantly more children in 2003 than they had in 2002. The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 builds on the success of this waiver by making it a permanent option available to all school sponsors across the country.

How Does It Work?

The Seamless Summer Option reduces paperwork and administrative burdens that are normally associated with operating the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) during the school year and the SFSP in the summer or when school is out.

Under the option, schools offer summer meals as an extension of the NSLP, rather than having to apply to participate in the SFSP. The schools are reimbursed at the NSLP rate for free meals, which are lower than the SFSP rates. The advantage for schools is that they do not have to apply for and operate two different programs.

The School Food Authority basically amends its school lunch application with the state agency that administers the National School Lunch Program. Schools may serve sites located on or off school grounds, such as parks departments and community-based nonprofits, anywhere School Food Authorities may operate SFSP sites. Sites qualify for the new option in one of four ways:

• Open: Located in low-income areas where at least 50 percent of the children are eligible for free or reduced price school meals, and open to all children through age 18 in the community, except in some cases where participation may be limited for reasons of safety, security, or control
.


• Enrolled: Have enrollment limited to a group of children through age 18, of which at least 50 percent qualify for free or reduced price school meals.

• Migrant: Primarily serving children through age 18 of migrant families, as certified by a migrant organization.
  
  
• Camp: Offers regularly scheduled food service as part of an organized program for enrolled children; only meals served to children through age 18 who are eligible for free or reduced price school meals may be reimbursed.

Useful web links about the SFSP

See FRAC's website for more information on the SFSP:
http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/sfsp.html

See FRAC's 2005 report on summer nutrition programs:
http://www.frac.org/Press_Release/06.16.05.html

See USDA's website for more information about the Seamless Summer Option:
http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/states/waiver.html

USDA's website on SFSP includes outreach materials, tips for success, and regulations:
http://www.summerfood.usda.gov