Dive Brief:
- Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Secretary of Education John King to kick off the 2016 season of the USDA’s summer meals program, which has served more than 1.2 billion meals this administration alone.
- More than 22 million students receive free and reduced-priced meals through their schools during the academic year, but fewer than 4 million participate in summer meals, whether it is because they do not exist in their communities or they can’t make it to them.
- In 2015, more than 66,000 meal sites served eligible students, and Vilsack and King are urging local communities to host sites and help spread the word about where students can find daily meals.
Dive Insight:
One important limitation of the USDA’s summer meals program is that community organizations can only participate if they offer meals at group sites. They cannot deliver meals to students or allow parents to pick up food and bring it home. The Hunger Free Summer for Kids Act would change that, giving communities more options to reach potentially hungry kids. For children in rural areas or dangerous cities, more flexibility will help them get food during the summer months, when breakfast and lunch programs at their schools stop and weekend backpack programs or school food pantries go on hiatus.
This year’s Summer Opportunity Project, a joint collaboration between the departments of Labor, Agriculture and Education, will provide meals to students taking advantage of organized summer opportunities, which could increase the portion of students who get free meals while school is out.