Better Summer Food Services Should Be A Priority

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The lack of adequate federal nutrition assistance for low-income children during summers is the greatest shortfall in the child nutrition programs. Nationally, the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) serves about one in ten children who qualify for the free or reduced-price school meals. The SFSP, an entitlement program no less, is simply not doing enough to reach the many millions of children it is supposed to serve.

Because the SFSP is an entitlement program, any child who qualifies for federally subsidized meals should be able to receive them—but it is a moot point if there is no one willing to provide the meals, and that is precisely the problem in far too many communities. Organizations that could—and would—provide services have opted out of the program due to stringent administrative requirements.

The SFSP was launched in 1968 to address the lack of nutrition services once school was out for the summer. Over the years, sponsoring organizations have included schools, parks, playgrounds, recreation centers, housing projects, migrant centers, Indian reservations, YMCAs, Boys and Girls Clubs, houses of worship, summer camps and other sites.

In 1996, Congress reduced SFSP reimbursement rates, making it more difficult for sponsors to cover the costs of doing business. We believe government should be working to encourage organizations to start summer food programs in their communities, not developing prohibitive rules that discourage providers from continuing to meet the needs of disadvantaged children.

Expanding the reach of the SFSP is critical because during the summer many low-income children have no other resources available to obtain nutritious meals. School is out and so is children's access to the meals served there. Parents working low-wage jobs have a hard enough time putting food on the table while their children are getting the school meals. Hunger does not go on vacation for the summer. That is why there is a pressing need for government to provide low-income children with federally subsidized meals when school is out.

A pilot program, the Simplified Summer Food Service Program (SSFSP), proposed by Senator Richard Lugar in 2000 was an important step in the right direction. From 2001 to 2004, 13 states and Puerto Rico participated in the pilot. The SSFP allowed public institutions (schools, for example) to apply for reimbursements to cover their combined operating and administrative costs, thereby simplifying the paperwork and eliminating some of the administrative burden alluded to above. Additionally, any public institution in an area with 50 percent or more families living at or below 185 percent of the poverty level could provide free meals to all children.

During the first four years of the pilot, participation in the SFSP increased by 25.2 percent in the 13 eligible states. Meanwhile, participation across the rest of the country declined by 8.6 percent.

The pilot had another noteworthy effect. The number of sponsors operating summer programs in the 13 pilot states increased by 20.8 percent, and the number of sites offering meals increased by 54.8 percent.

Due to the success of the pilot, Congress used the 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act to add six more states for a total of 19. As of January 2005, all summer food providers, including non-profits, are allowed to participate in these eligible states. Here again is a step in the right direction. If the government is serious about providing meals to low-income children, it will have to work smarter with non-profits. Non-profit organizations have always played a major role in connecting people in their communities to government services. The non-profits hold the key to rapidly expanding the SSFP, either by starting programs or advocating for changes in the next reauthorization.

The SSFP certainly signals a better way forward, as opposed to the disastrous legislation in 1996, but alone it will not boost participation rates to what they should be. Other aspects of the program require still more creative thinking. For instance, participation in rural areas is complicated by greater distances for the children to travel, plus lesser transportation available to get them to program sites. Rural transportation grants will be awarded starting in 2006. We will have to wait and see what impact these will have.

It is important for everyone concerned with boosting the nation's child nutrition programs to continue pressing for enhancements in the SFSP, this critical untapped resource with such tremendous growth potential. Expanding the current pilot to all the states is an excellent place to start. 

  "My hope is that we will continually work towards providing an effective nutrition safety net for our nation's children," said Senator Lugar when he proposed the SSFP in 2000. "It is clear that the need to feed youths in the summer time is a nationwide problem, and I hope that my Senate colleagues will move quickly to address this shortfall."

Case Study in Nutrition Assistance: A Summer Feeding Program in Kansas

By Karole Bradford

Andrew was 7 years old when he started coming to the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) at Fairmount United Church of Christ in 2002. He and his brothers spent their days roaming the neighborhood, roughhousing in the park, and hopefully avoiding the gangs and drugs in the neighborhood.

Andrew was a tough little blond kid, and he and his two older brothers to lunch at the church next to the park.  Their mother worked most days, so the boys were on their own from about seven in the morning until about six at night.

Andrew is the face of the SFSP.  He lives below the poverty level in a single-parent working household. The family does not have health coverage because his mother works less than 40 hours per week. Her salary is just slightly above minimum wage. 

It became pretty clear that Andrew and his brothers could not rely on food being in the house.  In fact they never ate breakfast, and dinner was hit-and-miss. The SFSP was their only dependable source of food.  It was also a dependable source of friendship, community, structure and exercise.

They were always the first to arrive for lunch, sometimes showing up as much as an hour and a half before the meal was served, and they were always the last to leave. They never missed a day.

Andrew has a long, hard row to hoe before he grows up, but he has a chance at normal development and a normal life with the support of programs like the SFSP.

Karole Bradford is a Program Director with Inter-faith Ministries in Wichita, Kansas. She manages the Summer Food Service Program at Fairmount United Church of Christ. The program was funded as part of the Hunger Free Communities project administered by Bread for the World Institute.

This piece was originally published in Bread for the World Institute's 2006 Hunger Report, Frontline Issues in Nutrition Assistance. Find out more about the publication or order your copy from our online store.