HUD Joins Forces with the City of Atlanta and USDA to Launch Summer Food Service Program

(left to right): Robin Bailey, USDA, FNS Regional Administrator; Ed Jennings, Jr, HUD SE Regional Administrator; Mayor Kasim Reed; Stephen Dunmore President, Sodexo; Rosel Fann, Fann Center; Amy Phuong, City Commissioner, Park and Recreation and Rosel Fann Center of Hope Spring break program school children

Summer is a time of the year that so many young people look forward to - as school is finally out and they can enjoy playing and being with their family and friends more often! Unfortunately, when schools are out, not everything is well. The reality is that many low-income children no longer get a healthy breakfast and or lunch at school to sustain them throughout the day.

City officials stated that 50 percent of Atlanta schoolchildren rely on free or reduced-price meals at school and roughly a quarter of the children in Atlanta and Georgia are considered food insecure during the summer because they could miss meals they would normally receive at school.

Atlanta City officials under the leadership of Mayor Kasim Reed (www.atlantaga.gov/index.aspx?page=16) recognized that challenge and its impact on the wellbeing of children and invited HUD SE Regional Administrator Ed Jennings, Jr. and Robin Bailey (www.fns.usda.gov/fns-regional-offices), USDA Food Nutrition Service, Regional Administrator to join him along with Marilyn Hughes, Ph.D. Director of the Nutrition Department of the Atlanta Public Schools to announce recently an effort to increase awareness and services to about 6,000 children through the USDA Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) (www.fns.usda.gov/sfsp/summer-food-service-program-sfsp) at the Rosel Fann Recreation Center.

"Together we joined forces today to fight the good fight, investing in our children's future in a basic and fundamental way," said Jennings. "Our children matter and we care about them and so their nutritional health is inextricably linked with their opportunity for a better and brighter future as no child should ever have to go hungry."

HUD and USDA are working closely together to increase awareness about the availability and advantages of the Summer Food Service Program for low-income children. Earlier this year Jennings and Bailey met with Rocky Mount, North Carolina (www.rockymountnc.gov/) leaders as part of the Strong Cities Strong Communities Initiative SC2 (www.huduser.org/portal/sc2/home.html) and the topic of the Summer Food Service Program was introduced. Local leaders from that meeting unanimously decided to work to ensure that 100% of the eligible youth in the city would be participating in the program by next year.

The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) ensures that low-income children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. This summer, USDA plans to serve more than 200 million free meals to children 18 years and under at approved SFSP sites.

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