Transcript Slide 1

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USDA Southwest Region Task Force Meeting
South Padre Island, Texas
December 5, 2006
Answers to Summer Food Challenges:
An advocate’s perspective
December 5, 2006
Celia Hagert, Senior Policy Analyst
[email protected]
900 Lydia Street - Austin, Texas 78702
Phone (512) 320-0222 x110 – fax (512) 320-0227 - www.cppp.org
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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Overview
• Barriers
• A four-pronged approach to overcoming barriers
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Outreach & Education
Partnerships/volunteers
Research & Technical assistance
Legislative
• Model programs/strategies
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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
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
3
Barriers
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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)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
4
Outreach & Education
• Comprehensive outreach strategies work best
• Outreach to every potential partner is critical:
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Media
Sponsors
Sites
Parents/kids
Communities (philanthropic, nonprofit, local
government)
– Business leaders
• Outreach must start early, never end
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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Outreach & Education – Media Strategies
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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)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
9
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
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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.
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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.
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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) 4453166 ([email protected])
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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”)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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.
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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) 332-3254
[email protected]
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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
51
2005
89
% increase
75%
108
232
114%
Meals
Federal funds
484,422
$890K
1,009,992
$2.4 m
108%
170%
Participation rate
9%
19.2%
113%
Sponsors
Sites
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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Idaho’s Simplified Summer Food Program
• 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%)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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Idaho’s Simplified Summer Food Program
• 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 preapproved visits (emphasize meal pattern, meal
quality, portion size)
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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.
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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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.
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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Role of Advocacy
• Supplement outreach/education
efforts
• Leverage new funding sources
• Leverage new partnerships
• Promote legislative/policy/funding
solution
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org
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For More Information
• Food Research and Action Center
– http://www.frac.org/Out_Of_School_Time/index.h
tml
– http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/p
rograms/sfsp.html
• Summer Food Geo-Mapping http://www.frac.org/html/federal_food_programs/pro
grams/sfspGeoMappingIntro.htm
Center for Public Policy Priorities
www.cppp.org