Food Stamp Program | National School Lunch Program
School Breakfast Program | Summer Food Service Program
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March 4, 2002

Food Research and Action Center Pleased to Partner with U.S. Department of Agriculture on Major Initiative to Provide Nutritious Meals to More Low-Income Children During the Summer Months

USDA's Summer Food Service Program Can Serve Millions More Children

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) is delighted to be a partner in and supporter of USDA's nationwide Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) expansion initiative, which is being officially launched today. When school lets out for the summer, millions of low-income children lose access to the school breakfasts, lunches, and afterschool snacks they receive during the regular school year. The time of year children are at greatest risk of hunger is the summer. The SFSP allows schools, local government agencies, and nonprofit community-based organizations to fill this gap by providing the funding for meals and snacks served to children at summer programs. (Find resources on SFSP here.)

FRAC will be working in partnership with USDA, the American School Food Service Association, America's Second Harvest, and with local anti-hunger organizations and children's groups across the country to encourage and assist potential sponsors and sites to offer the program, and to let families know about programs in their communities.

Unfortunately, there are not enough sponsors and sites signed on to the program to meet the needs of the millions of low-income children who could benefit from this summer program. During the school year the school lunch program serves 15 million children free and reduced price school lunches. During the summer, the SFSP serves 2 million children, and 1 million children get school lunches in summer school. This adds up to only about 20 percent of the number of children who receive free and reduced price school lunches during the school year.

In its July 2001 report, Hunger Doesn't Take A Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report, FRAC estimated that three million more children, at a minimum, could be reached if all states simply performed as well as the three leading states in reaching children with summer nutrition.

"The under-utilization of the Summer Food Service Program is distressing in light of the 12 million children we know are living in households that are food insecure," said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center. "Summer food makes a nutritional difference for kids, giving them the best start on the new school year. Paying for the food also allows programs to focus their resources on the educational and recreational activities that help children stay safe while working parents are away."

The Department of Agriculture, through its national and regional offices, is providing the leadership, technical assistance and resources that will be necessary to expand the utilization of the program. In addition, there are a number of program changes that will help to attract sponsors to the SFSP. For example, Congress in 2000 provided 13 states and Puerto Rico with paperwork reduction authority for schools and government agencies that sponsor the program. In addition, USDA has developed waivers and changes in guidance that should assist sponsors in offering the program to children in their communities.

"We need to do everything we can to let potential sponsors of the SFSP know that, despite the benefits to working families and the educational and nutritional continuity summer food programs provide to children, the majority of students who could qualify for — and could benefit from – these programs is not being served," said Weill. "We welcome USDA's commitment to encouraging and helping more schools, non-profits and local governments to provide much-needed summer meals to children in their communities, and we look forward to continuing to partner with them in these efforts."