center for public policy priorities 1 answers to summer food challenges: an advocate’s...

Center for Public Policy Priorities www.cppp.org

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USDA Southwest Region Task Force MeetingSouth Padre Island, Texas

December 5, 2006

Answers to Summer Food Challenges:Answers to Summer Food Challenges:An advocate’s perspectiveAn advocate’s perspective

December 5, 2006Celia Hagert, Senior Policy Analyst

[email protected]

900 Lydia Street - Austin, Texas 78702Phone (512) 320-0222 x110 – fax (512) 320-0227 - www.cppp.org


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Overview• Barriers• A four-pronged approach to overcoming barriers

– Outreach & Education– Partnerships/volunteers– Research & Technical assistance– Legislative

• Model programs/strategies– Food for People – Eureka, CA– Texas’ transportation grants– Mercy Hospital – Independence, KS– Idaho’s Simplified Summer Food Program– Kentucky’s comprehensive outreach program– DC Hunger Solutions – partnerships with foundation

• The role of advocacy


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Barriers

• Lack of sponsors, sites• Lack of awareness• Limited funding• Paperwork/administrative burden (real and

perceived)• Transportation problems• “Not on my campus” – when schools don’t

reach out to the greater community/close early• Not enough partnerships (or, lack of buy-in)


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Outreach & Education• Comprehensive outreach strategies work best• Outreach to every potential partner is critical:

– Media– Sponsors– Sites– Parents/kids– Communities (philanthropic, nonprofit, local

government)– Business leaders

• Outreach must start early, never end


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Outreach & Education – Media Strategies

• Write an op-ed piece for a local newspaper • Encourage editorials (see Houston Chronicle editorials)• Place announcements in community newsletters, bulletins, etc.• Produce PSAs for television and radio• Advertise on public transportation, billboards, and/or grocery

bags• Create a toolkit with tips for sites/local groups about working

with the media, creating advertisements, door-knockers, etc.• Encourage elected officials to visit a site, and alert the media. • “Summer food kick-off” events with fun activities are an

effective way to garner media attention • Find a famous spokesperson (NYC uses sports celebrities from

the Yankees and the Mets)


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Outreach & Education – Sponsors/Sites

• Hold a statewide conference and invite new and potential sites/sponsors

• Targeted outreach to potential sponsors through local briefings (food banks sponsored in TX)

• Ask educational associations (i.e., school boards, teachers, principals, etc.) to put you on the agenda at statewide meetings

• Work through nonprofit umbrella groups (United Ways, religious organizations, food banks, community health centers, etc.)

• Develop special web site (track hits/users)


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Outreach & Education – Parents/Kids/Communities

• Ask schools to send home weekly flyers starting in May (PTAs can be big help)

• Post information on PTA/school web site• Get PARDs, YMCAs, and any sites with free

swimming pools to post information• Get information to families through homeless, food,

health providers (churches, food pantries, free clinics, etc.)

• Locate other places where kids are in care during summer, ask for their help

• Develop special web site (track hits/users)• Door-to-door in high need, underserved areas – piggy

back on other outreach


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Partnerships

• With corporations (funding, in-kind, transportation)

• Between schools and nonprofits (extend summer food beyond summer school)

• Between hospitals and schools

• Between senior centers and children’s centers

• Volunteers are critical – does your state have a centralized hotline for volunteer opportunities?

• Intra- and interagency partnerships


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Research/Technical Assistance

• Survey sponsors/sites – particularly when they drop out

• Track participation (ADP, meal) by type of sponsor/month of service/type of meal to evaluate reasons for increases or decreases

• Track use of websites/toll-free hotlines (i.e., how did you hear about the program?)

• From monitoring to technical assistance – state agencies can make it easier for sponsors


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Funding/Legislative

• State mandate – State law requiring that all or certain schools offer the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)

• Reporting requirement – State law that state, schools or districts convene advisory group, and/or report participation or reasons for nonparticipation in the SFSP

• State funding – State funds for one purpose or another related to the SFSP


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State Mandates/Reporting• 7 states have mandates (TX, CA, FL, MD,

MO, OH, WA)• Mandate generally based on:

– % of FRP kids (TX, FL, MO, WA)– If offer summer school, must participate (MD, OH,

CA)• California has reporting requirement in

Seamless Program– Requires schools to keep track of children who

receive free lunches but are not enrolled in summer school

– Data used to improve performance


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State Funding• 10 states provide funding (TX, NY, CA, OH,

WA, OR, MD, VT, MN, DC)

• Types of funding– Per meal supplement (CA, MN, NY, OR, TX,

VT, WA)– Start-up/expansion grants (add sites, extend

program later in summer) – CA, DC, MA, WA)– Outreach (DC, MA, OH, TX)– Incentives: # of meals served (WA)– Activities/transportation (VT, DC)


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Food for People – Eureka, CA

• Addresses transportation/rural barriers• A partnership among Food For People (food bank),

Humboldt County Transit Authority, and UPS• Food bank approached HTA/UPS for help with

high transportation costs to rural areas.• HTA community college routes not as busy during

the summer, added SFSP sites• UPS was already part of food bank’s gleaning

program with similar delivery routes.


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Food for People

• HTA/UPS now deliver the meals to their rural sites along their regular routes, Food for People prepares the lunches, places them in coolers.

• HTA/UPS delivers them to local sites for distribution, saving FFP >300 miles of driving every day.

• The meal sites all offer programs or informal activities such as arts and crafts.

• Paperwork is returned weekly inside one of the empty coolers.

• Community volunteers or site staff return the coolers.


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Food for People

• Food for People loads meals onto UPS delivery trucks, which then deliver the meals to rural locations an hour outside the city.

• UPS exchanges the coolers with lunches for the empties and completed paperwork from the day before.

• Food bank staff them pick up the empty coolers from the UPS hub the next day when they drop off meals for that day’s delivery.

• For more information: Jennifer Rishel - (707) 445-3166 ([email protected])


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Texas: A Tale of Two…Rural Areas• Two food banks with very different experiences• East Texas had huge success (341% increase in sites/62K

meals served), while West Texas floundered (some days served fewer than 59 kids)

• Factors affecting success:– 42 vs. 4 sites– Research before picking sites (ET went to where the kids

already were)– ET Supplemented USDA grant to use school busses to take kids

to the site– ET recruited famous soccer player to kick off program

(“Kickin’ Hunger out of East Texas”)


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Mercy Hospital – Independence, KS

• Mercy Hospital used its mission of serving the community to start a summer program

• Mercy Hospital sponsored the program and prepared the food in its kitchen

• A public elementary school provided its custodian and its cafeteria as the feeding site

• Hospital auxiliary volunteers and local church youth groups helped with food preparation at the hospital and site supervision at the school.

• Youth volunteers gained experience in food preparation and working with the children.


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Mercy Hospital – Independence, KS• The local Cooperative Extension Office provided

enrichment activities at the SFSP site and brought in college students to supervise and interact with the children.

• School bus company picked up children at three different sites and transported them to Mercy Hospital's summer program.

• The public school system took over the program in 2005

• For more information: Amy Bain - (620) [email protected]


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Idaho’s Simplified Summer Food Program

• Idaho used the Simplified SFP to reduce paperwork, increase participation, improve program integrity & better train sponsors

• Before and After:

2000 2005 % increase

Sponsors 51 89 75%

Sites 108 232 114%

Meals 484,422 1,009,992 108%

Federal funds

Participation rate

$890K

9%

$2.4 m

19.2%

170%

113%


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• Keys to Success: “I was a pest” – Linda Westphal, State Dep’t of Education

• Emphasized rule simplification in outreach materials to sponsors

• Comprehensive outreach combined with simplified program – at 19.2% Idaho has best participation rate among Lugar states (next highest is 15.7%)


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• Know the chain of command – First went to food service, then superintendent– Then went to mayor and PARD

• Sent letters to every superintendent with list of eligible schools

• Emphasized summer employment opportunities in food service

• Extensive advertising• One-on-one training with sponsors during pre-

approved visits (emphasize meal pattern, meal quality, portion size)


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Kentucky Department of Education• Pairs sponsors with as many sites as possible by giving them lists of

churches, libraries, extension agents, food stamp and WIC representatives, and migrant coordinators in the area.

• Emphasis is on coordination with existing summer activities – the building blocks approach

• Partners: libraries, senior centers, local law enforcement• In more than five counties, senior citizen centers sponsor SFSP meals

along with the meals they already prepare for senior through Meals on Wheels.

• Senior center vans deliver meals to multiple sites, record participation data; Local “homemakers” groups or college nutrition students serve as site supervisors

• Half of KY’s sites are churches – encouraged to participate during the weeks they have vacation bible school or other events.

• Libraries encouraged to serve as sites during the days they have summer reading programs.

• Success with the SFSP has led to many libraries expanding their reading programs to additional days during the week.


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DC Hunger Solutions – Rags to Riches

• SFSP was failing • Mayor set up a task force to figure out how to increase/retain

sponsors, sites, and participation. • Reached out to a wide variety of new sites, including

churches, libraries, parks, and apartment buildings. • Advertisements placed in movies at theaters popular with kids.• Mayor’s office assumed a lot of work traditionally required of

sponsors, i.e., assisting with paperwork and coordinating sponsors and sites.

• Got foundations involved: many funders of local services now require grantees to be sponsors of sites.

• When large foundations made SFSP a priority, smaller organizations more likely to participate.


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Role of Advocacy

• Supplement outreach/education efforts

• Leverage new funding sources

• Leverage new partnerships

• Promote legislative/policy/funding solution


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For More Information• Food Research and Action Center

– http://www.frac.org/Out_Of_School_Time/index.html

– http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/sfsp.html

• Summer Food Geo-Mapping - http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/programs/sfspGeoMappingIntro.htm

center for public policy priorities 1 answers to summer food challenges: an advocate’s...

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