When the School Day Ends, Hunger Persists

A couple of weeks ago, we hosted our third Intersectional Happy Hour at Satellite Room. For our most recent one, we looked at the relationship between food security and expanded learning programs.

We were especially thrilled to co-host this event with D.C. Hunger Solutions and we welcomed their Director, Beverly Wheeler who shared a bit about the work they do to  end hunger in the nation's capital. We are also grateful to feature her as this week's guest blogger.

Can you remember what you did when you got out of school at the end of each day?

I would go in search of an afterschool snack. Lunch had been at least three, maybe four hours ago and I was hungry. Times haven’t changed that much — students are still hungry at the end of the school day. However, what has changed is what we can do to address the needs of thousands of children from food-insecure households once school is out.

Back to School!

As youth and their families all over DC prepare to head back to their classrooms (and for students in 10 DC Public Schools, they're already back), we thought we'd post some back-to-school tips.

Safe Track
DC Public Schools released a document to highlight the impact of WMATA's Safe Track plan on the ability of students to get to school in a timely fashion. And while the document highlights which schools each "Surge" could affect, between updates to Safe Track since it began as well as varying ways in which schools are accommodating students that are adversely affected, we recommend student parents, guardians, and caregivers reach out directly to understand how each school will handle any effects Safe Track may have on a student's attendance and punctuality, despite alternative planning for transportation.

School Supplies Drives
Keep an eye out for a drive to collect school supplies in your neighborhood and even your workplace. In the building where our offices are located, there's a drive to support our neighbors, the students at Thomson Elementary School.

Not sure where to start? Check out DCPS' site on how you can give directly to a school near you.

Food
DC Hunger Solutions is a great resource. They include information about the School Breakfast and Lunch Programs, as well as After School Suppers and Snacks options.

In addition to guiding visitors to these programs, they also have robust advocacy and informational resources on their website.

Out of School Time
As you may know, DCPS will be offering Out of School Time (OST) programs in 53 schools this school year. A number of our member organizations also offer OST programs throughout the year.

If you are considering enrichment activities for your youth, don't just check out either of the two links above, but please reach out to  us if you would like to be engaged in our OST advocacy efforts, as well.


DC Re-Engagement Center
For some of our older youth from 16 to 24 years old, the DC Re-Engagement Center is a great resource to connect them to. They provide support and services for DC youth who are not enrolled in school or other educational programs and who do not have a high school diploma or credential.

As we enter this final stretch of the summer, we hope you all stay cool and stay hydrated. We hope some of the links above are helpful and please share them forward!

- Your friends at DCAYA

Feeding Our Capital's Youth One Summer Meal at a Time

Every year during these last few weeks of the summer break, DCAYA likes to take a look back on the summer and how well our government agency partners executed their summer programming. Today we’ll be focusing on the Office of the State Superintendent for Education’s (OSSE) summer meals program which historically has the top summer meals utilization rates in the nation.

If you’ve been paying any attention this summer, you have heard at least something about the Free Summer Meals Program. OSSE’s Department of Wellness and Nutrition Services administers the program's federal extension of the free and reduced price school lunch program and reimburses organizations that provide meals during the summer to children from low-income areas or to individuals with disabilities.

According to OSSE 

“the DC Free Summer Meals Program was created as a safeguard for children in under-served low-income areas to ensure continued access to good nutrition during long school vacations when access to school provided breakfast and lunch meals are unavailable. The health and wellbeing of children in the District is important, therefore access to nutritious meals should not end when school is out.” 

We couldn’t agree more with this statement especially given that nationwide low-income families say they spend an average of $300 more per month on food when kids are out of school.

Summer meals are an open access service in the District which means any young person under 18 can drop-in and get the nutrition they need at a number of sites across the city. There is no proof of income eligibility required, which makes this an especially youth-friendly resource for our city’s young people. As a result many children and youth who take part in summer school, parks and recreation activities and camps and even the Summer Youth Employment Program utilize this service and the District is better for it.

Last year the summer meals program served 26,000 daily meals to children and youth. While this number is impressive, what our friends at DC Hunger Solutions found in their analysis this Spring, was that we’ve actually been experiencing a decline in use from previous years. It was this finding that led to the decision by OSSE to extend the free summer meal program to Saturdays for the remainder of the summer in an effort to expand the reach of the program and ensure that DC’s children and youth have consistent access to nutritious meals.  This shift, combined with the diligent work of the One City Summer Initiative and the outreach that organizations, agencies and concerned community members undertook to get the word out about free summer meals this year, will (we are hopeful) have a measurable impact on youth access to this program for this year and be the first step toward fixing the decline we experienced last year.

At the same time, all stakeholders acknowledge that there is more to be done to maintain high use of this program. Yet, to get there, we need better information on what led to the decline in use of the summer meals program, and some tangible interventions that can be fully implemented for next year. To that end, DCAYA and DC Hunger Solutions are collaborating on a short issue brief (to be released late Summer or early Fall) that explores the causes for this decline, examines the impact of this decline on youth development and presents some solutions to ensure DC remains a leader in ensuring children and youth have access to healthy and nutritious meals.  With that in mind, as you wrap up your summer program and before the crush of fall hits, if you have any suggestions, feedback or thoughts on how we can continue to spread the word about summer meals, remove barriers to access or support expansions of this program please don’t hesitate to share them.  

Anne Abbott is the policy analyst at DC Alliance of Youth Advocates. Her favorite summer meal as a kid was the traditional PB&J, on special occasions she'd add in a banana. To contact her with suggestions for the summer meals program you can email her at anne@dc-aya.org. 

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