Top 5 Tips from the Summer Meal Summit

In San Diego County, 59 percent of children who benefit from free or reduced-price school lunches don’t have access to this important nutrition during the summer months. That’s more than 68,000 kids.

Our Director of School Meal Programs, Robin McNulty, attended the annual Summer Meal Summit hosted by the California Summer Meal Coalition to learn about the latest strategies for increasing summer meal participation. From Robin’s perspective as an experienced summer meal provider, here are the top five tips for San Diego organizations looking to help children access healthy meals this summer.

1. An effective summer meal program doesn’t start in the summer; it’s a year-round effort. For a superb summer meal program, start by getting administrative processes in place early to engage existing and new partners in developing your vision and strategy.
2. Develop clear messaging to build awareness and reduce confusion among your target audiences. Working with a local network like San Diego Hunger Coalition’s Summer Meals Task Force can help with this.
3. Tailor your outreach about the summer meal program to the neighborhood where meal sites are located with culturally appropriate promotion in convenient locations.
4. Recruit partner agencies to offer regular activities and programs at summer meal sites to encourage community members to enroll in the summer meal program. If partner agencies cannot commit to providing consistent activities, consider an “adopt-a-week” strategy.
5. Hold a kick-off event to invite families to learn about summer meal programs in a fun, kid-friendly setting.

Building Bridges with Heaven's Windows

kids enjoying a heaven's windows child nutrition program

Led by Angela Kretschmar, the small team at Heaven’s Windows makes a big impact by working together with other community-based organizations. Each month approximately 1,500 families receive resources from Heaven’s Windows including grocery staples, summer meals, and after-school snacks through sites such as churches and other neighborhood agencies. But the Heaven’s Windows team doesn’t stop at providing food. They serve as a resource center helping each person access the unique assistance needed to improve their lives. 

Angela reached out to us seven years ago, because she felt the Hunger Coalition could provide guidance and support for her mission. The Hunger Coalition provided advocacy strategies, CalFresh training and outreach opportunities, and put her in touch with other community-based organizations. Angela has been thankful for the Hunger Coalition’s CalFresh Task Force monthly meetings where she and her team can address real-time client issues and contract questions, as well as discussing complex program regulations.  

It has been a match made in heaven. A recent success story is “Jim,” who came to Heaven’s Windows looking for support in navigating his journey from prison to workforce re-entry. Consistent food assistance was an important piece of the puzzle. Through its partnership with San Diego Hunger Coalition, Heaven’s Windows helped Jim secure food assistance through CalFresh. Once that basic need was met, Jim enrolled in job skills training. With hard work and the right resources, Jim is now employed full-time and on his way to a healthy, active life.

Angela is also excited about working with Robin McNulty, the Hunger Coalition’s new Director of School Meal Programs. “The Hunger Coalition will provide a much needed bridge between small nonprofit agencies serving children and local school nutrition services departments providing the food,” says Angela. She is also looking forward to joining the Hunger Coalition-facilitated Summer Meals Task Force, which is a resource for organizations and schools wanting to start new summer meal sites and/or improve participation at existing sites. Heaven’s Windows provided 88,000 meals to children during the 2015 summer break, and they are planning to provide even more in 2016!

San Diego Hunger Coalition is proud to partner with Heaven’s Windows. We look forward to continuing our work together in 2016 to help more people like Jim move from food insecurity to self-sufficiency.

Fueling Hungry Minds with Breakfast and Internet Access: iCafe

One in four children in San Diego County go to school without breakfast. According to the Food & Research Action Committee, numerous studies conclude that “students who eat school breakfast increase their math and reading scores as well as improve their speed and memory in cognitive tests. Research also shows that children who eat breakfast at school perform better on standardized tests than those who skip breakfast or eat breakfast at home.” In addition to giving our kids the nutrition they need to succeed academically, ensuring every child receives a nutritious breakfast is a sure-fire way to reduce child hunger.

Unfortunately, research from California Food Policy Advocates has shown that only 40% of low-income students in San Diego County are reached by traditional school breakfast programs.  To address this, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) selected the San Diego Hunger Coalition to work in partnership with the San Diego Unified School District to implement alternative breakfast strategies at select middle schools.

Yogurt parfait with fresh fruit and granola; a student favorite

Principal Nicola Labas of Clairemont’s Innovation Middle School, where 59% of students are eligible for free or reduced price school meals, has implemented a breakfast program with a creative twist. Apart from access to enough food, students also struggle with the Internet access they need for schoolwork.

Principal Labas’ program offers students access to both Internet and nutritious breakfast and at once. Her solution is iCafe, a school breakfast stand, in an area with Internet access, open an hour before school starts.  iCafe is an immediate success. The program has only been open for one month but school breakfast participation is already up by 11%. Innovation Middle School’s students love it. One of their favorite meals is a yogurt parfait with fresh fruit and granola. iCafe is also helping to remove the stigma associated with lack of access to food and Internet. The program has become so popular as a resource and social event that the school band came to play at the iCafe on December 9. 

Spreading The Word About School Meals

Our School Meals Program Director Robin McNulty, MPH presents "Getting the Word Out: Marketing Your School Meals Program" at the Annual California School Nutrition Association Conference on November 6.

The San Diego Hunger Coalition is pleased to announce that our School Meals Program will now be under the leadership of Robin McNulty, MPH. Robin is an expert in the field of nutrition, for the past 10 years she served as Director of Nutrition Services for the Lemon Grove School District. 
 
In her new role as School Meals Program Director, Robin will build upon the Hunger Coalition’s recent successes and deep commitment to ensuring children have access to healthy food year-round through school meals and other Federal Child Nutrition Programs. 

Getting the Word Out: Marketing Your School Meals Program is the title of a presentation given by Robin, on November 6th, 2015, at the 63rd Annual California School Nutrition Association Conference. Seventy-five school nutrition professionals attended the morning workshop to learn how to increase participation in school meal programs with low cost outreach strategies. The presentation focused on best practices for outreach methods to raise awareness from the Hunger Coalition and our partners. Here are four of the key outreach methods discussed:

1. Raising awareness about summer meals programs is most effective when it comes from a trusted entity or word of mouth.  During summer 2015, the Hunger Coalition launched an awareness building campaign to build participation at 5 summer meal sites in Southeastern San Diego through in partnership with San Diego Unified School District. We distributed nearly 5,000 flyers in the surrounding neighborhoods; placed ads in community newspapers; and partnered with local organizations, community leaders, and elected officials to make announcements at community events and in community newsletters. We only saw a slight uptick in participation at the location where the site director – who is well-known in the neighborhood -- distributed flyers himself.  We believe that families need to receive the information repeatedly and, most importantly, from sources they trust.
2. The Chula Vista Community Collaborative has been extremely successful in spreading the word about school and summer meal programs by utilizing promotoras. This outreach model recruits neighborhood champions to get the word out in a grassroots style.  The trained community members go door to door to provide information about available resources and how to receive the services.   
3. Technology is a growing strategy for reaching parents and kids.  Over the summer, the Hunger Coalition tested Share Our Strength’s “Text ‘FOOD’ to 877-877” program on our flyers to help people find the closest summer meals sites. Upon entering an address, the program will text nearby locations with information on the meals served and times.  To speak to a person about summer meal site locations, people can also call 2-1-1 San Diego.   
4. Another technology solution that we highlighted was the Digital School Menus mobile app that San Diego Unified School District and Sweetwater Union High School District are using to feature daily school food menus with nutrition information.  Parents and kids are loving being able to see what their school is serving for breakfast, lunch and supper.  

Lastly, during the share sessions other school districts shared their innovative outreach practices, such as contacting local businesses to post flyers in the store windows and contacting local law enforcement community resource officers to inform about the free summer meal programs. 

Looking for ways to build participation in your school meals program?  The Hunger Coalition can help!  Contact Robin McNulty, Director of School Meal Programs at robin@sdhunger.org or 619-501-7917 ext. 104.

School Meals Program Announcement

The San Diego Hunger Coalition is pleased to announce that our School Meals Program will now be under the leadership of Robin McNulty, MPH, who is an expert in the field of school nutrition and a passionate advocate for children and equitable services to all. 
 
For the past 10 years, Robin served as Director of Nutrition Services for the Lemon Grove School District.  In her new role as School Meals Program Director, Robin will build upon the Hunger Coalition’s recent successes and deep commitment to ensuring children have access to healthy food year-round through school meals and other Federal Child Nutrition Programs. 
 
With 1 in 4 children arriving to school hungry every day in San Diego County, and enough hungry kids to fill Qualcomm Stadium twice over, it is imperative that we fully utilize the options and resources available to give our children their best chance at success. 
 
The Hunger Coalition’s School Meals Program offers hands-on technical assistance to school districts and community-based organizations to implement or increase participation in:

• Universal Free Meals through Provision 2 for schools where more than 80% qualify for Free & Reduced Price Meals.
• Breakfast after the Bell, which has been proven to reach many more kids and improve school performance.
• “Supper” Meals, offered during after-school programs through the Child and Adult Care Food Program.
• Summer and Intersession Meals, offered when school is not in session.

 
We look forward to the enrichment of our partnerships and encourage you to review Robin’s full bio on our website.  Robin’s first day at the Hunger Coalition will be Tuesday, November 3, 2015, and you may contact her at robin@sdhunger.org or 619-501-7917.