From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Transcript for: Summer Meals Programs

Description: What role does the USDA play in providing meals to children
in low-income families during the summer break? Is there room for
improvement?

Related GAO Work: GAO-18-369: Summer Meals: Actions Needed to Improve
Participation Estimates and Address Program Challenges

Released: July 2018


[ Background Music ]

[ Kathy Larin: ] Federal actions are needed to improve the estimates of
the number of children who are participating in the program.

[ Matt Oldham: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news
and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm Matt
Oldham. There are federal and other programs in place to help feed
children in low-income families. It's help that's often provided at the
child's school. And while schools take a break for the summer, the need
for this type of assistance doesn't. I'm here with Kathy Larin, a
director in our Education Workforce and Income Security team, to talk
about a GAO report which explored ways to improve summer meals programs.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with me Kathy.

[ Kathy Larin: ] Happy to be here.

[ Matt Oldham: ] How many children participate in these Summer Meals
Programs?

[ Kathy Larin: ] We actually don't know how many kids receive summer
meals. USDA asks the organizations that provide meals to keep track of
how many meals they serve. So, we know that in 2016 for example, 149
million meals were served to kids in the summer. States use the number
of meals to estimate the number of kids who participate on a typical day
in the summer. But, what we found was that those estimates are very
unreliable. They're not comparable across meal sites or across states.
So, because of that we really don't know how many kids participate.

[ Matt Oldham: ] It's summer now, how do these kids get fed?

[ Kathy Larin: ] So, Summer Meals Programs are operated by a range of
different public and nonprofit organizations. And they provide meals in
schools, at summer camps, sometimes at libraries. We went around the
last summer to 30 different sites in three different states, and we saw
children being served meals at parks with splash pads, at schools, at
summer camps. In some cases, we saw mobile food delivery units driving
from park to library, and serving meals to whatever kids happened to be
there. Meals can be either breakfast, lunch, snack, supper. There are a
variety of different summer meals that are served, and all of them have
to meet nutritional requirements.

[ Matt Oldham: ] Are there any challenges you found that are specific to
the Summer Meals Program?

[ Kathy Larin: ] Yeah, we found a number of challenges. For example, in
rural areas, transportation is a real challenge for kids to get to a
place where there is a summer meal site. The availability of sites
generally is limited, and that can pose a challenge. We also found that
it was challenging just to get the word out to kids that these programs
exist and where they can find them. And we found a number of
administrative challenges that those programs, you know, those
organizations that are operating the programs face.

[ Background Music ]

[ Matt Oldham: ] It sounds like there's some trouble getting consistent
participation estimates from state to state, and this could affect the
state's abilities to implement or plan for summer food service programs.
So, Kathy, what recommendations does your team have?

[ Kathy Larin: ] We recommend that the USDA improve their estimate of
the number of kids participating in the program, so they'll have a
better sense of how many kids are actually served. We made a couple of
other recommendations as well. We recommended that USDA better inform
the programs that are operating these meal programs about
simplifications that could make it administratively easier for them to
participate. Finally, we made a recommendation that USDA better inform
providers about flexibilities they have that help them to keep kids
safe. So, one of the challenges that we identified is that, in
high-crime areas there is some concerns about the safety of kids when
they're required to eat their meal onsite. And USDA can grant waivers to
get around this safety issue. But, sponsors are really unclear as to
when those waivers can be granted. So, we recommend that the USDA
clarify that.

[ Matt Oldham: ] Lastly, what do you believe is the bottom line of your
report?

[ Kathy Larin: ] You know, the purpose of this Summer Meals Program is
to provide children in low-income areas with nutritious meals throughout
the summer when they don't have access to the School Meal Program. To
that end, the program serves close to 150 million meals every summer.
However, we found that federal actions are needed to improve the
estimates of the number of children who are participating in the
program. And to address some of the challenges that the program
continues to face.

[ Matt Oldham: ]  Kathy Larin is a director in our Education Workforce
and Income Security team. And she led a GAO report looking at how
improvements can be made to summer meals assistance programs for
children in low-income families. Thank you for your time, Kathy.

[ Kathy Larin: ] Thank you.

[ Background Music ]

[ Matt Oldham: ] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. To
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[ Background Music ]

[ Matt Oldham: ] For more from the congressional watchdog, the U.S.
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