This presentation serves as an introduction to the Summer Food Service Program or SFSP and will provide information on what the SFSP is how it came to be and who administers the program.
The US Department of Agriculture of USDA Summer Food Service Program is a federally funded child nutrition program established to ensure that low-income children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. SFSP operates during school vacations, primarily in the summer months from May through September. The program may also provide meals during vacation breaks in schools that are operated on a year-round basis or a continuous school calendar or during emergency school closures from October through April.
The SFSP was created in 1968 as part of a larger pilot program. This three-year pilot provided grants to states to help provide meals for children when school was not in session. The SFSP was made a permanent part of child nutrition programs in 1975 being authorized at sites serving areas of poor economic conditions. In 1994, the healthy meals for healthy Americans Act raised priority for private nonprofit sponsors with program experience. This law also authorized operation of the SFSP at non-school sites at times other than summer due to emergency school closure. In 2007, the consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 extended simplified cost accounting procedures in SFSP to sponsors in all states. This allowed sponsors to be reimbursed based on the number of meals served without a monthly comparison of actual costs and the sponsors approved budget to the per meal rate. And most recently, the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 removed limits on the number of sites that private nonprofit organizations may operate. For a full legislative history of the SFSP, visit the USDA Food and Nutrition Service website.
The SFSP is administered by the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service at the national and regional levels. Within each state the program is administered by the state Department of Education or an alternate state designated agency. Then, local organizations who have been approved by their respective state agencies are responsible for overseeing program operations. These organizations are referred to as sponsors.
Sponsors must be local public or private nonprofit organizations. Some examples include: a public or private nonprofit school food authority, a public or private nonprofit college or university, public or private nonprofit residential summer camp, a unit of local County municipal state or federal government, or any other type of private nonprofit organization. Organizations that want to become sponsors apply and are approved by the state agency. They then sign program agreements with their state agencies and are responsible for operating the program. Sponsoring organizations must also be tax exempt and must demonstrate the administrative and financial ability to manage a food service effectively. Sponsors receive federal reimbursement from the state agency to cover the administrative and operating costs of preparing and serving meals to eligible children at one or more meal sites.
SFSP sponsors must be able to assume responsibility for the entire administration of the program. As the sponsor, an organization is expected to: attend state agency training; locate and recruit eligible sites; hire, train, and supervise staff and volunteers; competitively procure food to be prepared or a vendor for meals to be delivered; monitor all sites; prepare claims for reimbursement; ensure that the sites are sustainable; and maintain all program documents for three years plus the current year. For organizations not yet ready to take on these responsibilities, another option is to participate as a site under an existing sponsor. This is an effective way to prepare an organization to become a sponsor in future years.
Historically, summer meals served through the SFSP and National School Lunch Program reached only about 17% of the 21 million children who receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year but the need for good nutrition does not end when school lets out. USDA summer meal programs offer nutritious meals and snacks to low-income children during the summer months and long vacations in an effort to close the nutrition gap low-income children face when schools close for the summer. Often these children receive meals through the School Breakfast or the National School Lunch Program during the school year and may at risk of hunger or poor nutrition during the summer months.
For additional information about the summer food service program, please contact your state agency or complete our Summer Food Service Program modules.
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