Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 124

FEDERAL POLICY IDEAS TO END CHILDHOOD HUNGER Duke Storen, Share Our Strength Child Nutrition Reauthorization offers a rare opportunity for bi-partisan reform to make it easier for communities to end childhood hunger. The programs that provide healthy food to hungry children already operate through public-private partnerships across the country. By building on successful state practices, eliminating red tape and increasing program efficiency, more churches, schools, and other community organizations will be able to connect additional children to healthy meals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has worked to streamline programs like summer meals and afterschool meals, but reauthorization is an opportunity to take a step back and make sure the infrastructure that provides healthy foods for low-income children meets today’s demand as efficiently and effectively as possible. For example, a church that feeds children meals afterschool and during the summer must negotiate two different programs—the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). These programs have different requirements, meal patterns, reimbursement rates, and are often housed under different state agencies. These complications make it difficult for many churches to operate these programs despite the desire to offer them and the need in the community. “No child should Besides eliminating red tape, nutrition programs also need greater grow up hungry in flexibility to respond to local circumstances and demands. For America, but one in example, the current programs feeding children afterschool and in five children struggles with hunger.” the summer require kids to come to a site instead of bringing food to them. Eighty percent of children spend their time during summer at home and 86 percent spend their time after school at home. In order to expand existing summer and afterschool programs, we need to meet children where they are during out-of-school times. Recently, USDA undertook a demonstration project that both eliminated red tape and increased flexibility related to summertime meals for kids. Many kids who rely on school meals go hungry in the summer months when they lose access to those meals. Low-income families also say their grocery bills are, on average, about $300 higher every month when kids are out of school. Instead of trying to meet unmet demand by creating new programs—i.e. summer meals sites—families with children who received a free school lunch during the school year had an additional monetary benefit placed on their SNAP or WIC card. This allowed the family to have enough resources to feed their children at home during summer months. The project resulted in more children receiving the food they need during summer months, illustrat