State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Announces Opening of Summer Meal Sites for Families Hard Hit by Economic Downturn
SACRAMENTO – State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced socioeconomically disadvantaged children may receive free meals during the traditional summer recess under the Summer Food Service and the Seamless Summer Feeding Option at hundreds of sites throughout the state.“Many families are still reeling over the economic downturn that has made feeding the family quite a challenge,” said O’Connell. “Thankfully, there are still places for families to take their kids and certain adults for a free, nutritious meal to help spread their grocery dollars during the summer break.”
“When school districts were forced to cut summer school last summer due to state budget cuts, this meant many summer meal sites were closed as well,” said O’Connell. “I am pleased to see so many school districts, food banks, and community agencies opening new sites to increase access to nutritious meals and snacks during the summer,” stated O’Connell.
“This kind of local leadership is exemplified by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). After cutting their summer school offerings last year in response to budget cutbacks, they operated 60 summer meal sites. This summer they will provide meals at more than 300 sites—a 400 percent increase. The YMCA of Silicon Valley is one of many other local agencies significantly expanding their summer meal sites, planning to provide meals at 36 sites—40 percent increase from the number of sites they served last summer,” he said.
Socioeconomically disadvantaged children in California are eligible to receive at least one nutritious meal a day while during the school year. But when school is out during the long summer recess, many of these children won’t have access to well-balanced and nutritious meals that are important to their growth and development. When children do not receive proper nutrition, they are more likely to become ill and are not able to concentrate or perform well when they are in school. Providing children with nutritious meals when school is not in session helps them to return to school ready to learn and succeed.
In 2008-09, 51.3 percent of California's public K-12 population—or 3.2 million students—were enrolled in the state's free and reduced-priced meal programs. During that same time period, California served a record 794.3 million meals during the school year, 23.7 million more meals than the year before—a 3.1 percent increase. Historically, the state has experienced a 1 percent increase per year. More children are expected to enroll as California’s economic crisis continues. Despite this dramatic rise in the need for school lunches, the total average daily participation in summer meal programs for July 2009 was 481,376 children.
If California’s summer meal programs reach 100 percent of the low-income children who consumed a free or reduced-priced school lunch in 2009, an additional $189 million in federal reimbursement would come into those programs and boost California’s local economy.
Children 18 years and younger in low-income areas and individuals 18 years and older who meet the state agency definition of having a mental or physical disability, may receive free meals through the Summer Food Service and the Seamless Summer Feeding Option programs. Both are federally funded programs administered through the California Department of Education. The programs operate when school is not in session for 15 days or more. The summer meal sites must serve meals that include milk, fruits, vegetables or juice; grain products; and meat or meat alternate. The program allows sites to serve each day: two meals; a meal and a snack; or if at a camp, three meals a day.
To help parents more easily find a location to take their children, the California Department of Education has an interactive Summer Meal Service Sites Web page with a map of California. Visitors may select any county on the map to reveal a list of Summer Food Service programs near them. The interactive Web page contains contact names and telephone numbers where parents may get more information. The list is updated throughout the summer. To access the Web page, please visit http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/sh/sn/summersites10.asp
Agencies and advocates may download free parental notifications in several languages about the summer meal sites from the California Department of Education's Clearinghouse for Multilingual documents athttp://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sf/mgmb.asp#resources
For more information about summer meals, please visit www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sf/.