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August 27,2020
Summer Meals for Children: An Overview of FederalAid
hintroductdio n
Since the late 1960s, the federal governmnt has provided
assistance for summermeals servedto children. The
Summer Food Service Program(SFSP) provides funding
for meals served bynonprofit organizations, school
districts, andpublic agencies to children during the
summer. Another program, the Seamless Summer Option
(SSO), allows schooldistricts to operateamodified version
of the school meals programs (the National SchoolLunch
Program[NSLP] and School Breakfast Program [SBP])
into the summer.
Traditionally,summermeals must be consumedon-site
with other participants (referredto as congregate feeding).
In recent years, USDA has tested alternative food service
models, including the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer
Programfor Children (SEBTC, or Sumner EBT) and the
Summer Meals -to-You demonstration projects.
The summer meal programs and demonstration projects are
administered by the U.S. Departmentof Agriculture
(USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS).
Surnrner Mel Pro,>g ra ms
SFSP and SSO are authorized under Section 13 of the
Richard B. Rus sell National School Lunch Act. They
provide federal reimbursement for meals served by
participating institutions to children ages 18 and under
during summer vacation periods in May through September
(except for schools with continuous school calendars). They
may also operate during unanticipated school closures
between October and April. Federal funding is provided to
state agencies, which oversee anddistribute
reimbursements to eligible institutions.
In SFSP, eligible institutions (sponsors) include nonprofit
organizations, school food authorities, and government
agencies (including tribal governments).
In SSO, school food authorities (typically food service
departments of school districts) that participate in NSLP
and SBP during the school year are the only type of eligible
sponsor. School food authorities have the optionto
participate in SFSPor SSO (or neither). Schoolfood
authorities may find SSO easier to administer, but they
receive larger reimburs ements under SFSP.
In both programs, sponsors operate mealsites at various
locations,including schools, recreation centers, andparks.
Eligible Sites
Eligibility rules differ for different types of meal sites. The
most common types of meal sites are open sites, closed
sites, and camps.
* Open sites (opento any child in the conmmunity) must
be located in an area in which at least 50% of area
children qualify for free orreduced-price school meals.
They serve free meals to all children and receive
reimbursement for all meals served.
* Closedsites (open only to enrolled children) must
demonstrate, throughhousehold applications, that at
least 50% of enrolledchildrenqualify for free or
reduced-price school meals. They serve free meals to all
enrolled children and receive reimbursement for all
meals served.
* Camps (residentialand daycampsthatprovide
organized programs for enrolled children) do not need to
have a certain proportion of free/reduced-price eligible
children. Instead, they adminis ter household
applications and are only required to serve free meals to
children who qualify for free or reduced-price meals,
and they receive reimbursement only for such meals.
Both SFSP and SSO provide cash reimburs ements for up to
two meals (or one meal and one snack) per child daily, with
exceptions for camps and sites serving migrant children,
which may serve up to three meals (or two meals and one
snack) per child daily. Sponsors may use reimbursements
for allowable operational and administrative expenses.
In order to receive reimbursement, SFSP meals must meet
SFSP nutritionalrequirements and SSOmeals must meet
NSLP/SBP nutritional requirements.
Table I. Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
Participation and Expenditures, FY20 10-FY20 19
Fiscal Meal Sites Meals Served Expenditure
Year (thousands) (millions) ($ in millions)
2010 38.5 133.7 358.8
2011 38.9 137.3 372.9
2012 39.8 143.7 398.0
2013 42.7 150.9 427.2
2014 45.4 160.5 465.6
2015 47.7 163.4 487.8
2016 48.2 154.2 477.4
2017 50.1 152.2 482.7
2018 49.5 145.8 473.4
2019 47.5 142.1 476.4
Source: CRS, using USDA FNS, Child Nutrition Tables,July 10,
2020, https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/child-nutrition-tables.
Notes: Seamless Summer Option (SSO) dataare not available.
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