Summer Meals Participation Fell in California

With the economy declining and food prices rising, advocates call for a stronger nutrition safety net

San Francisco, CA – 575,419 low-income youth in California participated in the USDA-subsidized meal programs on any given day in July 2007. Across the state, participation in these programs declined by 1.1 percent from the previous year. This means that less than 30 percent of the state’s most nutritionally needy children who consumed free and reduced-price lunches during the school year continued to eat healthy meals when schools closed for the summer. At a time when low-income Californians face high unemployment rates, a worsening economy, rising food prices, and financial instability, these important nutrition programs must be strengthened to ensure that low-income youth get proper nourishment at summer school, summer enrichment programs, or community sites. “California is leaving millions of federal dollars unspent by not taking full advantage of these important nutrition programs,” says Matthew Sharp of California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA) and co-author of the School’s Out… Who Ate? 2008.

The new data released today in School’s Out… Who Ate? 2008 is from an annual report published by CFPA, a statewide nutrition policy organization. The report includes county specific statistics based on CFPA’s analysis of data provided by the California Department of Education. A new analysis conducted by CFPA this year also highlights the most needy communities around the state that lack access to any free summer lunch locations. Approximately fifty communities offer no open, free meal sites, despite the availability of federal and state funds to serve meals to needy children.

Although the entire state saw an overall decline in participation from 2006 to 2007, individual county performance varied. CFPA’s press page has links to individual county performance data.

A 2007 UCLA study found that 2,486,000 low-income adults in California struggle to put food on the table or are “food insecure”, as defined by the government. 7,629,000 other people live in these food insecure households, including children. Given the current economic hardships facing families, experts predict the problem will only worsen.

“With the economy slowing down and food prices rising, California communities can and should do better at ensuring that low-income children get the healthy meals they need during the summer,” said Kumar Chandran, co-author of the report and Nutrition Policy Advocate for CFPA. “Communities without summer lunch sites must take steps to provide low-income children with nourishing meals during summer months. For those communities with sites, sponsors must undertake concerted efforts to expand participation, such as coordinated outreach.” Other recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers are contained in the report.

More information on summer lunch programs:

http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/ & http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/nu/sf/

To find the nearest summer lunch location, click here.

For CFPA’s summer food press page, click here.

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