Despite the availability of summer meals, only 17.5 children participate in Summer Nutrition programs nationwide for every 100 who eat a free or reduced price school lunch during the academic year (Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation, FRAC, June 2008.) In 2007, that number was 21.3 per 100 in Massachusetts, 26 per 100 in Connecticut, 29.8 per 100 in New York, and 26.7 per 100 in Vermont. The result is that thousands of children are at risk of hunger and malnutrition and are returning to school in the fall at a disadvantage. 

One of the main reasons for this is the lack of awareness among parents about the availability of the Summer Food Service Program (Analysis of Summer Food Service Program and Food Needs of Nonparticipating Children, USDA, 2006.) Disseminating information about the SFSP to parents and identifying the barriers to their children’s participation is critical to the success of any effort to increase program participation. The outreach strategies outline below proved very successful for increasing SFSP program awareness among parents and communities in each of the states that participated in the UPS Project. 

Program Planning  

Recommendations:

• Schedule planning meetings during the winter and spring months.
  
  
• Make presentations to community organizations about the Summer Food Service Program to help with program planning and outreach.
  • The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger presented SFSP information at the Lamoille Valley Hunger Coalition, a network of service providers, advocates, and public officials, to increase awareness of the program and worked with the Coalition to develop a leaflet for distribution at local food pantries.
  • In Waterbury, Connecticut, the Connecticut Association of Human Services partnered with the Housing Authority to assist with a distribution of hundreds of flyers to its residents about the upcoming summer food programs available for children and hosted a series of presentations to residents and Housing Authority staff. 
  
  
• Hire an outreach assistant to plan and execute an outreach campaign throughout the summer months.
  • End Hunger Connecticut! received funding from the City of Hartford’s Youth Services Summer Programming Grants Program to help with their work to increase participation in the SFSP. With these funds, they were able to hire a part-time summer food outreach assistant to help get the word out about the program throughout the city. The assistant displayed lawn signs at sites throughout the city, provided materials to local WIC offices and food pantries, sent program flyers to all Head Start Programs, and helped organize daily programming at most of the sites throughout the city.
    
    
• Recruit staff, volunteers, and interns.
  • End Hunger Connecticut! worked with a sub-committee on summer food outreach that was formed by the Middletown Childhood Hunger Task Force. One of their strategies for increasing participation involved creating a more fun and engaging program structure through scheduled activities provided by volunteers at the SFSP meals sites. As a result of the work of End Hunger Connecticut! and the subcommittee, almost all programs included organized activities each day along with SFSP meals in Middletown in 2007. 
    
    
• Research possible sources of potential grant funding (i.e. City Youth Services Department, local community foundations, United Way, anti-hunger organizations, etc)
  • As a result of expected participation increases, the sponsor in Middletown, CT sought supplementary grant funding from Liberty Bank, a local community foundation, and the United Way for additional site supervisors, rather than relying on student interns or volunteers for primary site staffing. This move undoubtedly stabilized the sites and raised the level of safety at them by adding consistent staff supervision.  Additionally, the project generated an unexpected amount of attention from the community and local media.  A press conference held in early June 2007 was well attended by at least thirty social service groups, and the local newspaper was very involved in tracking the efforts and progress of the program throughout the summer months.
    
    
• Award Incentive grants for purchasing the equipment needed to prepare, store, and transport food to sites and/or recreation equipment for summer programs. Note: Funds for staffing is a definite program need but since it does not contribute to future program viability, many funders will not consider it an allowable cost.
  • Both Project Bread and End Hunger Connecticut! gave out grants to local partners in target communities to help support efforts to make and distribute SFSP meals and to increase participation at the sites. Grants were intended for sustainable improvements to the programs. For example, an incentive grant awarded to the sponsor in Malden, MA helped purchase food service and preparation equipment necessary to expand the program, and a grant to a church site in the same community was used to purchase picnic tables and recreation equipment.
    
    
• Search for sources of potential donations and supply discounts (i.e. free books from a library or free activities such as story hour)
  • In 2008, the Nutrition Consortium of New York State solicited corporations, local businesses, and individuals for donations of supplies and/or funds to bolster the program and help ease the burden on sites. This was a tremendous success overall and raised over $1,500. The funding was allotted to sites in the form of arts and crafts supplies, giveaway items including ‘Summer Food’ backpacks, and more.  Companies such as Stewarts Shops, Dicks Sporting Goods, Regal Cinemas, Payless Shoe Source, and A.C. Moore Craft stores donated giveaway items and provided generous discounts for the purchase of supplies. 
     
    

Types of Outreach and Outreach Tools

The four states used a wide range of outreach tools to increase SFSP visibility and program participation. These tools were used in a variety of ways depending on the target audience and the desired goal. The four main outreach goals included: raising awareness of the SFSP, recruiting sites, creating partnerships/requesting donations for sites, and increasing participation at sites. Below is a description of these tools and examples of how they were implemented in each of the four states.  

1. Tools to Raise Awareness About the SFSP

• Use hunger statistics in outreach materials
  • In Rensselaer County, NY the Nutrition Consortium launched an outreach campaign that included sending letters to over one hundred area churches and faith based organizations that cited the percentage of families living beneath the poverty line in the neighborhoods where these churches and organizations were located. Follow up calls were placed to each of these locations, and outreach packets with flyers for posting in their location were also provided. Additionally, dozens of local churches and places of worship posted information in their bulletins and newsletters about the program, not only to heighten awareness for potential participants, but also to encourage community volunteers to donate time and supplies needed by sites and sponsors countywide.
    
    
• Draw media attention by using tools such as media advisories and press releases, etc.
  
  
• Conduct outreach to elected officials by sending information and inviting them to see meal sites
  • The Governor from New York attended one of the SFSP events in Albany NY organized by the Nutrition Consortium of New York State.  The announcement of his impending appearance heightened the importance of the event to the school district, city, and media, and resulted in further communication between the Governor’s staff and the school district.  The Governor’s attendance was a huge draw for other local officials, including the Mayor and at least 25 media outlets.

2. Tools for Site Recruitment

• Postcard mailings
  • Send a site recruitment postcard to anyone that might operate or know of summer programs for kids that could qualify for the SFSP. Postcards are better than letters because they can be easily tacked to a bulletin board until the recipient has an opportunity to read it—unlike letters that frequently get lost under a stack of papers.
    
    
• Community meetings and presentations.
  • For more information, see Building a Community Coalition section

3. Strategies for Partnering with Local Businesses and Agencies
Local businesses can benefit your SFSP in many ways. Take advantage of the assistance they can provide and help them get positive press for supporting your program.

• Contact the Chamber of Commerce to ask for a list of businesses that are active in the community, or approach local businesses with which you are already familiar. Ask these businesses for donations, in-kind support, and volunteers.
• Send them a thank you note stating their contribution and send a copy of this to the mayor’s office, school committee, and/or city counselors to extend the recognition and motivate them to donate again.
• Consider asking for the following donations from your local businesses and organizations. 

Incentives for kids

• Movie Theaters- Free tickets
• Sporting Goods Stores- Free equipment
• Local Restaurants – Free or discounted coupons for a meal or food/beverage item
• Book Store or Library- Donated books or magazines
• Local Gym- Free day passes

Services for your program

• Supermarkets – Agreement to put SFSP flyers in customers’ shopping bags
• Public Transportation -Group discounts on transportation for field trips
• Health Centers- Free health screenings at summer sites

 

  4. Tools to Increase Parental Awareness and Program Participation.

• Cable, radio, and television Public Service Announcements
  
  
• Flyers/letters/newsletter articles from schools, churches, local community groups, housing authorities, etc.
  • Project Bread’s SFSP outreach to churches generated a call from a Boston Globe columnist who wrote an article about the role of religious organizations in summer food distribution featuring one of the two new church sites in Malden, MA.
  • Connecticut Association of Human Services partnered with the East Hartford Housing Authority who distributed hundreds of flyers to its residents, thereby reaching many more children with information about sites than in previous years.
    
    
• Posters in high traffic areas
  
  
• Information on community bulletin boards
  
  
• Lawn signs or street banners at sites or downtown areas
  • Project Bread designed and produced 30 colorful banners and lawn signs that were hung up at sites in Malden, MA to increase the program visibility.
    
    
• Site list flyers that provide site location, types of meals offered, meal times, and program dates.
  • Flyers were sent home with students in their report cards and end of the year announcements by schools in Middletown, CT, Malden, MA, and Albany and Queens, NY. 
    
    
• Advertisements on city and town websites, recreation department websites, etc.
  
  
• Direct contact and conversation with parents and caretakers.
  • Because Morrisville/Hyde Park, VT did not have any SFSP sites in 2006 and 2007, they did an aggressive outreach campaign that resulted in two new sites that opened in 2008. The campaign included advertising through school officials, the parent teacher organization, and the school newsletter as well as the recruitment of participants through a network of families who already received other services at one of the new sites.
    
• Outreach mailings from other community service organizations (i.e. schools, and other state and town departments)
  • Since there had never been significant outreach for the SFSP program in Poughkeepsie, NY, Hunger Action worked with local partners on an exhaustive outreach campaign, including hand delivering flyers to churches, community organizations, emergency food programs, community centers, and various businesses throughout Poughkeepsie.  Hunger Action made sure that every child who went to a Poughkeepsie school got a flyer sent home with them on the last day of school, placed a notice in the parent newsletter, created and distributed radio and television public service announcements, and sent several press releases to local newspapers with information about where to go for free meals.
  • In Vergennes, VT, flyers were distributed to local service providers, pediatricians’ offices, the local homeless shelter, and the local food shelf. 
    
    
• Neighborhood canvas flyering
  • The experience of the Hunger Action Network of New York State in 2007 in Queens provides a compelling story about the potential impact of an aggressive SFSP outreach campaign.  Hunger Action Network visited Astoria Playground, one of their newly recruited sites, on a weekly basis to cover the park and the surrounding neighborhood with flyers about the SFSP.  By the end of the summer, SFSP participation increased from an average daily attendance of 40 children to approximately 100 children per day.  On one day, Astoria Playground handed out approximately 150 meals in 10 minutes!
    
    
• Announcements in utility bills
  • At the request of the Hunger Action Network of New York State, KeySpan Energy, a natural gas company, placed a blurb about the SFSP in their bills to customers in Queens, NY. 

Activities for Drawing Attention and Increasing Participation at SFSP Sites:

•    Kickoff events
  • In Barre City, VT, a SFSP kick-off event at the Highgate Housing Community was held to publicize SFSP meals throughout the city. The event included a story hour and free book giveaway provided by the Children’s Literacy Foundation and resulted in news stories run by the local newspaper and a regional television station. 
  • Events to draw attention to the summer meals programs were held in Hartford and Waterbury, CT; Salem and West Springfield, MA; Poughkeepsie and three locations in Rensselaer County, NY; and Vergennes, VT.  The events gave members of the local media an opportunity to learn more about the programs and to help with outreach by publishing SFSP stories.  Several local and regional government allies participated in the events, including the US Department of Agriculture, CT State Department of Education, CT Department of Agriculture, Congressmen, State Representatives, State Senators, Mayors, and County Executives.
    
    
•    Site supervisor and volunteer contests.
  • End Hunger Connecticut! worked with both of the two Hartford sponsors on implementing a site supervisor contest that recognized and rewarded site staff who went above and beyond to recruit more students and make summer food a fun experience for Hartford children.  
    
    
•    City wide drawings (large incentive items)
  • Citywide drawings were held on random days in August at large park sites in Rensselaer County, NY.  The more often children attended a meal site, the greater their chances of winning. Prizes were drawn on the last day of the Summer Food Service Program and included toys, arts and crafts materials, or books donated by local businesses.
    
    
•    Treasure box (small incentive items)
  • In Rensselaer County, NY, the Nutrition Consortium of New York State coordinated an effort to solicit corporations, local businesses, and individuals to donate supplies and/or funds for site programming. Funding helped create “Treasure Boxes,” a new addition to some Housing Authority sites. The boxes contained various toys and products that children would enjoy. These served as incentives for regular participation, good nutrition awareness, and positive behavior. When children met the standards, they were able to pick a treasure from the box.  
    

Also Consider These Potential Target Groups for Outreach:

• Teen parents
• Grandparents raising grandchildren
• Parent teacher organizations
• Pediatrician’s offices
• Homeless shelters
• Community service agencies
• Housing authorities
• WIC offices
• Food pantries
• Head start
• Churches
• And more!

 
 
Sample Materials:

Sample Outreach Workplan-CT

Flyers & Brochures
Flyer Distribution Ideas
Parent Outreach Flyer
SFSP Outreach Flyer- CT
Spanish SFSP Outreach Flyer-CT
Volunteer Outreach Flyer- NY
Site List Flyer1-NY
Site List Flyer2-NY
Site List Flyer3-MA 

Banner and Lawn Signs
Street Banner and Lawn Sign-MA
Spanish Street Banner-MA
Street Banner-CT 

Press and Media Documents
Sample Media Advisory-MA
Sample Press Release-MA
Sample Newspaper Ad-NY
Public Service Announcements
Sample Newsletter Articles- English, Spanish, Portuguese

Customizable Newspaper Ad Templates
3”x3.75”- English
3”x3.75”- Spanish
5”x8.5”- English
5”x8.5”- Spanish

Kickoff/VIP Event Materials
Kickoff Event Sample Invitation
Kickoff Event Sample Media Advisory
Kickoff Event Sample Press Release

Back to Top

Learn More about the UPS Project
UPS Project Background
Organizational Profiles and Contact Information
Results

Read More SFSP Best Practice Tools
Identifying and assessing a target community to build a work plan
Building a community coalition to support a work plan
Recruiting sponsors and sites
Addressing meal quality