Fewer than one of six eligible children takes part in the summer food program, a participation rate that plateaued in 2015 after three years of steady growth, says the Food Research and Action Center in a report released today. The anti-hunger group said Congress should expand the program as part of the pending update of child-nutrition programs costing $23 billion a year, headlined by school lunch.
“Status quo is not good enough when it comes to the well-being of our nation’s children,” said FRAC president Jim Weill. The summer food programs served nearly 3.2 million children last summer, a fraction of the 22 million low-income children who received school lunch for free or at reduced price, said an annual FRAC report, “Hunger doesn’t take a vacation.”
The bulk of the children were served through the Summer Food Service Program at a cost of $490 million. An additional bloc of students ate meals while attending summer school classes.
In its report, FRAC supports broader use of a program that issues an EBT card to families so they can buy healthy food for school-age children during the summer. “Summer EBT demonstration projects have been shown to reduce food insecurity dramatically,” said the report, which also calls for removal of barriers to sponsorship. “One key proposal is to allow sponsors to provide meals year-round rather than through one federal program in the summer and another during the school year.”
The child-nutrition bill pending in the Senate would allow a limited number of states to issue the cards. The White House has proposed a gradual expansion of the summer food program, including the EBT card, so that at the end of a decade, all 22 million eligible children would be served.
Expansion of the program would help assure children have enough to eat during the summer, says FRAC. The food program operates at schools, parks and other gathering places. “Not only do children benefit from free meals, but they also benefit from the enrichment activities that keep them learning and engaged,” said FRAC.
Education Secretary John King and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack urged local leaders in a letter last week to make sure children do not go hungry this summer. Said King, “Working with USDA, we are grateful for the schools across the country who open their doors to provide children with healthy meals, even when the school year is over.” There were 66,000 meal sites last summer, says the USDA.
The District of Columbia, New Mexico, Vermont, New York State and Connecticut had the highest participation rates in 2015, all above 25 percent, according to FRAC. Oklahoma, Mississippi and Kentucky had the lowest rates, below 8 percent. The U.S. average was 16 percent.