Applying Racial Equity to U.S. Federal Nutrition Assistance Programs - Flipbook - Page 51
Recommendation 4
Expand the nutritional support children receive when they are not in school
Context
The current network of summer feeding sites has many shortcomings. There are far too few sites to meet the need. In fact,
of more than 20 million children who participate in FARMS during the school year, only about three million benefit from
summer nutrition programs.218 In addition, most summer meal sites do not offer transportation, nor do they reimburse families
for transportation costs and time.
Summer meal sites are particularly scarce in areas of concentrated poverty, which are far more likely to be home to food
insecure children of color. Community organizations in these areas often qualify to be reimbursed for the meals they serve
children over the summer, but they can rarely afford to register with SFSP. In rural areas, particularly on reservations, lack of
transportation options may make it either impossible or cost-prohibitive for children to access “free” meals.
Family food insecurity worsens during summer and winter breaks since children are home without access to school meals or
after-school snack programs. For most families, SNAP benefits run out in the third week of the month. It is even more difficult
to stretch SNAP benefits when, for example, a family’s two teenagers are home for summer vacation, each needing the 10
meals a week they usually eat at school. Families whose children are eligible for free school meals have little if any money saved
for emergencies. This is particularly true for families of color because of the racial wealth divide.
Therefore, it is essential to expand Child Nutrition programs to provide children with more nutritional support during
extended school breaks.
Recommendation
• Appropriate funds to expand the summer EBT (Electronic Benefit Transfer) Program, which provides additional
SNAP benefits to families with children on summer break. This support should also be available during winter vacation
and, for year-round schools, to vacation periods.219 Expanding the program will help ensure that families can make up the
“missing meals” children get at school when it is not in session.
According to a 2016 Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) report,220 an increase in summer EBT of $60 a month reduced the
most severe forms of food insecurity by one-third and generally showed positive change in nutrition outcomes, as seen in the
results of the Summer EBT demonstration project.221 222
• Make non-congregate feeding programs more accessible by increasing financial support for hard-to-reach areas.
About 3 million children are reached at summer meal sites through the Summer Meals Program (in policy terminology,
these sites are a type of “congregate feeding,” meaning that meals are served to groups). The evidence shows that summer
EBT is more effective in reaching children, so this should be the choice in most situations. However, some congregate
feeding sites combine providing nutritious meals with other goals, such as helping to prevent summer learning loss.223
In other cases, such as in hard-to-reach areas with no consistent meal site sponsor, the best option might be to use mobile
meal sites, learning from demonstration projects in Georgia224 and Montana,225 as recommended by a 2018 Government
Accountability Office (GAO) report, “Summer Meals: Actions Needed to Improve Participation Estimates and Address
Program Challenges.” The report outlined transportation barriers and the need for more flexibility in rural areas.226 For a
chart summarizing the barriers identified by GAO and details on the No Kid Hungry food truck initiative, see Appendix 11.
Recommendation 5
Establish a mechanism for CNP beneficiaries to equitably participate
in program design, planning, and evaluation
Context
Part of racial equity is ensuring that the needs of communities of color are being placed at the center of how policies and
programs are designed, implemented, and evaluated. In order to do this, CNPs need processes in place to enable communities
to participate and tell their own stories. Currently, the only infrastructure available to receive feedback from the general public
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