children can learn
Year-Round Food Programs
Nothing is more fundamental to ensuring that children can learn, grow and thrive than consistent access to healthy meals. Youth-serving organizations like the Y are on the front lines of providing healthy meals to children experiencing food insecurity. However, we face the challenge of operating under two separate federal programs in order to provide meals to the same kids all year long.
The Y is a leading provider of the USDA’s Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), where we offer healthy meals and snacks to tens of thousands of kids alongside vital afterschool and summer enrichment activities. In 2022, the Y served 60 million meals and snacks to kids in need at 6,000 sites.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more children and families than ever faced food insecurity. In response, additional Ys started serving meals and experienced Ys dramatically increased service to meet the need. Using new flexibilities, Ys grew to operate 11,000 feeding sites, which, along with serving 505,000 kids through CACFP and SFSP, served over 38 million pounds of food to over 500,000 people of all ages. Through this process we learned how much more we could do to serve, which is why we've been supportive of initiatives that would expand our program operations, like USDA's new rural delivery and pick-up option, which launched in summer 2023.
Our key advocacy efforts are focused on passing the Summer Meals Act, which would create a streamlined solution for the Y’s year-round food programs and include other critical improvements, like ensuring Ys can feed all kids experiencing food insecurity in our communities, allow for a third meal to be served during the summer and provide transportation to programs where kids can eat, play, learn and thrive.
Action Item
- Co-sponsor the bipartisan Summer Meals Act. The Summer Meals Act will help improve nutrition and enhance learning in underserved areas by streamlining administrative paperwork, investing in transportation, allowing for an additional meal and aligning site location eligibility to match that of other federal education grants.
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Advocating
Healthy living is public policy priority for the Y. So many children benefit from our programs focused on their well-being. We continue to strive to include even more kids in these supportive initiatives.