ļ»æEpisode 32. USDA Summer Food Program with Administrator for the Food and Nutrition Service, Cindy Long Transcript
Hello, and welcome to a very special summer Rural Impact episode. I'm Michelle Rathman. Now, you may be wondering why we are joining you off of our routine schedule, and there is very good reason to do that. While I was in studio recording today, I had the very immediate and I think really important opportunity to touch base with Cindy Long.
And Cindy Long is the Administrator of the United States Department of Agriculture. That's the USDA, in case you're not familiar with the acronym. And Cindy is over the Food and Nutrition Service Division, and we talked today about the critically important summer food programs that are available opening up for millions more rural children across this country.
And because we know that hunger does not take a break just because school is out again, we wanted to jump on this opportunity to have this important conversation because there's something that you can do immediately if you or you know somebody who's in need of food assistance this summer.
So, with that said, here now is my conversation with USDA FNS Administrator, Cindy Long.
Michelle Rathman: Cindy Long, Administrator of the USDA Food and Nutrition Services. Thank you so much for joining us on the Rural Impact. We are, and I mean it when I say, very appreciative for your time and that you could join us today. Welcome.
Cindy Long: Well, thank you so much, Michelle. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for the invitation.
Michelle Rathman: Well, I thank you for the reach out because as I mentioned to you earlier before we started today, this is something that we have been covering in the past, and I wish it was a, you know, something that we could say that we cover and then prove it goes away, but we know that's not true. And I want to start off by sharing something that came out of the National Center for Health Statistics, and that is a division, of course, of the Department of Health and Human Services.
And I want to note that these stats, and I know you'll have new stats for us, they are a few years old, but nonetheless, here goes. And that is that you'd have to be kind of living under a rock, that's my commentary to not know that children experience an increased burden related to food insecurity.
And according to the children living in households that experienced food insecurity which was 2019-2020 report, 12.9% of children in non-metropolitan areas live in a food insecure household. And according to Child Hunger and Rural America reports that 84% of counties in the US that experienced the highest levels of childhood food insecurity are rural.
And of course, the USDA ERS has their own reports. And so all that is to say summer break is well underway. And food insecurity doesn't have a season. So, I wonder if you could talk to us about how parents and caregivers might be able to alleviate some of their concerns and navigate and gain access to nutrition assistance program this summer and how the USDA through this program is working to make that happen.
Cindy Long: Yeah, and you know, Michelle, I really appreciate you starting out by framing this as by reminding us all the challenge that we do face around food insecurity, particularly around children, particularly around rural areas in this country, even though we are by any reasonable measure, a very wealthy country.
And the thing that I want to really add to that is that there is both data and common sense tells us that that risk of food insecurity for children gets more significant during the summer. Because, on an average day, about 30 million children receive school meals. And many of those children get them for free or at a reduced price.
So just think about that, you know, up, up to as many as 30 million children who rely on schools for lunch, often breakfast, often sometimes even a snack or an afterschool supper rely on this, you know, every single day that they're in school and suddenly school is over and their families are faced with the challenge and the stress of trying to figure out how they are going to make up for those nutritious and significant number of meals that their kids receive.
So, the good news right now is that we have more tools in our toolbox to combat that increased risk of summer hunger. And I, I can tell you a little bit about that.
Michelle Rathman: I do because we know that you say it very well and for someone who has been close to educators, we know that sometimes, you know, sending children home with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches over the weekend is to supplement. But when you're talking about three meals a day at best, you know, for seven days a week or at least the five days a week that the school meals right now that are so incredibly important for us to maintain.
But so, let's talk about the SUN meal programs. Of course, everything that has to do with the government and as an acronym, which I like this one because it's, it, you know, signifies that it's bright. So, talk about SUN meals, who is eligible? I think that's the most important thing to cover. How do families access these meals who are in immediate need right now?
Cindy Long: Absolutely. And I'm really glad to know that you like the S. U. N. acronym. It stands for Summer Nutrition Programs. And we, we love the fact that it, we can give it a little symbol that portrays the fact that it's a summertime set of programs. And what we really have now is a set of programs.
So historically for, for several decades now, we've had a summer meal program that we're calling SUN Meals that would allow folks to serve kids when they came together during the summertime for recreational or educational programming. So, whether it was at a rec center, maybe at a church camp, maybe a school program, they could come together, do whatever the activities they had, and they could have a breakfast and a lunch or, or maybe one, one or the other, depending on the program.
And that, that was a great program for the kids that it reaches. And it continues to be a good program for kids that it reaches. But the problem that we've known about for a long time is that program has only ever been able to reach about one in six of the kids that rely on free meals during the school year.
And it's a, it's because, you know, they're just not a captive audience the way that they are during the school year. And for many places, particularly true in rural areas, you know, the transportation that parents need to get their kids to site, work schedules, just logistics, it just doesn't work for the meals to be tied to the kids coming together.
So, we were really thrilled at a new opportunity that opened up actually last summer and that is continuing on a permanent basis specifically for rural areas. So, in eligible rural areas providers, again, whether they be schools, rec centers, churches, the variety of nonprofit entities can do this.
They can provide meals for pickup or even for delivery. So instead of the child having to come to a meal site every day or maybe staying there in order to receive more than one meal. Parents can now, parents or the kids themselves can now come and pick up meals maybe three days worth, maybe a week's worth whatever the structure is so they can really overcome some of those challenges that have limited the SUN Program from operating, meeting all the needs of rural areas in the past.
We're calling this program SUN Meals to Go. And you, you asked Michelle about who's eligible. These two programs, SUN Meals and SUN Meals to Go, are actually, the eligibility is actually based on the location of the program.
So, they're targeted to areas that have a reasonably high concentration of lower income kids. So if, you know, if you are a, a nonprofit, say a YMCA, a Boys and Girls Club, a 4H that wants to operate a program, you just need to make sure you're in an area operating in an area that is eligible.
And we have a lot of resources to help figure that out. And then you can offer meals to any child who shows up if it's an onsite or who comes for a delivery or a site pickup of meals.
Michelle Rathman: And I will just say I encourage, and we'll talk about this in a moment. I'm on the website right now I'm multitasking just a little bit but for it to say this is if you go to the website that's dedicated to this and we'll make sure that we put it in our show notes on our resources in our website. It does show you that as of June 14th, and when we're recording, this is just a week after the site finder has data for the following states and you go through, I won't go through all of them, of course, that you can.
And so there is a way to navigate this. And we know that there are, you know, we may have some listeners where they live in communities where broadband and surfing the internet might not be easy. And I would encourage if we have any rural libraries out there, rural hospitals, please make sure that you include these links on your website, because it's all about the access after all, and you can't benefit from it if you don't know about it. Which is what I like about this program so much because instead of people going somewhere, you're meeting people where they are.
Cindy Long: Absolutely. And I'm really appreciative, Michelle, that you brought up the website and the site finder. You know, our website is www.fns.usda.gov/summer, and you'll get information about all the programs we're talking about today. And we do have this what I think is a terrific tool called a site finder that you can write in a location or even a specific address, and it will show you where there are sites that have some meals so that where the programs where kids come together and where we have SUN Meals to Go where there are delivery or pickup options.
And, you know, to your point about challenges, perhaps with broadband access, etcetera. I, I. echo your call for libraries, other points of entry to make sure that they're aware of that, you know, tell folks when they come in. I'll also mention that we did try very hard to design the website and the site finder in a way that it is more user friendly sometimes than they are on mobile phones than, than it has been in the past.
So it's, it's a, it's a really good resource and I hope that lots of folks will take a look.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, and then also if we really could quick touch on if I am, if we have listeners out there who would say, 'Hey, we could potentially be a site.' I'm sure they can navigate their way to that information as well.
Cindy Long: Absolutely right. Yeah, the program. It's a really good point. The programs actually are operated at the state level in terms of the daily, you know, nitty gritty operations. And you can always and you can find the information about where in your state to look on the website.
Michelle Rathman: Okay. So, we know at the very basic level, it's not hard to understand how much nutrition, good nutrition is a part, I mean, it's just essential for health. You know, food is health and there's a big movement about this today. Can you talk just a little bit about the social and emotional benefits of the SUN Meals group?
You know, it's something that you've been doing for almost a year now, as you said, let's talk a little bit about where you see the social, emotional benefits. And then I want to just talk about the SUN Grocery Benefits as well, because why leave anybody out of this conversation?
Cindy Long: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, honestly, I think that if you if you speak to anyone who works in a school, for example, they will tell you how important it is for kids to be well nourished. And as we were sort of talking about before, how much so many kids really depend on getting those nutritious meals at school.
And it's important to remember that, you know, those meals they get at school, they are real substantial meals with strong nutrition standards. And so kids need them to be, you know, ready to learn while they're in school. There's plenty of research to show that good nutrition during the school day contributes to academic performance, it reduces behavior challenges, reduces absenteeism.
Now, in the summertime, kids aren't in school, but what, again, what you'll also hear from anyone who works in a school is about the summer slump or the summer dip. And which means that when kids come back in the fall, there, you know, there's a lot of time that's spent getting them back up to speed. And certainly it, it is true that if a child hasn't been well nourished, if the family has been under stress to put meals on the table consistently and to put healthy meals on the table during the summer, that is absolutely going to contribute to you know, that, that whole challenge with summer slump and make it even harder for that child to get back in the groove and to be, you know, ready to learn and move on to the next level.
Michelle Rathman: And so, real quick talk on the SUN Bucks program and the benefits at grocery stores. Who is eligible? How does that work?
Cindy Long: So SUN Bucks is the third piece in our toolbox and it is an extraordinary opportunity and that's one that it's starting this summer. We are now able, states that are participating in SUN Bucks are able to provide a grocery card, an EBT card to families with $120 of benefits for every child who is eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
It is potentially a game changer. We estimate that in the states that are running the program this summer, we are going to be able to reach 21 million children. And that is just this summer, the first summer that the program's operating. So, it is a, it is an extraordinary opportunity to fight summer hunger.
You know, you talked before about eligibility. I want to stress again, any child who is eligible for a free or reduced-price meal can get these benefits. It's meant to fill the gap and the other great thing about the eligibility is many kids, those kids that are on SNAP or in some states Medicaid or another means tested program, they will automatically get this card.
And for those families that don't participate in other programs, but do get free or reduced-price school meals, they will be able to apply through a brief and simple application that either their state or possibly their school will make available this summer.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, I think that's a great point because we, I hear very often in the space that I work and my other life is that even though there's eligibility, there is for whatever reason, whether it's roadblocks to access, or roadblocks that are tied to emotional and social matters, but just navigating these programs.
And it seems to me that this is one that you've done as much as you can think of right now to ensure that that those kinds of barriers are no longer a factor.
Cindy Long: Yeah, absolutely. And we really appreciate partners like you, Michelle, that are helping us get the word out. Helping people understand that it is a new program, and it always takes time for people to become aware and understand what it's all about. So, we really appreciate you all spreading the word because again, it is meant to be available to every single family who has a child that has a free or reduced priced child in the school.
So huge opportunity.
Michelle Rathman: Absolutely. And as you've mapped out, you've got timelines and milestones aiming to, and this is the best goal ever, which is to end childhood summer hunger. And of course, that only can happen if you have full participation, full, like unfettered participation. And so, let's talk just real quickly about that goal.
I mean, how do we get that across the finish line in some of the places where it's not eligible? Do we have any words of wisdom you can share about how folks can advocate?
Cindy Long: Right. We, you know, for the, the, it is not easy to stand up an entirely new program. And we, we are really pleased that right now we have, it's changing every day, but I, I think we have between 40 and 45 states, territories and, and Indian tribal organizations who can also operate this that our run, our planning to run the program this current summer.
And so, you know, I am really confident that we are gonna see a lot of success and folks will see the benefit here in those states that either weren't able to or didn't see the value of standing up this program this summer. We'll reconsider that for next year. USDA and the Biden Administration is here to help and support.
We have a lot of resources. As you said, we've worked really hard on our website. It's a great place to start, and we have worked hand-in-hand intensely with every state that wanted to operate all three of these programs, and we will absolutely continue doing that because we would love to see more folks pick up the SUN Bucks Program next summer.
Michelle Rathman: Well, we will most certainly do our part and get this content out there. Cindy Long, Administrator of USDA Food and Nutrition Services. I mean, we say it all the time. It's these are not light subjects. Food insecurity in children is not, but certainly what you've shared is enlightening. And we hope that our listeners really take it to heart and get curious and learn about it.
As I said, we'll put it up on the website. And so again, my thanks to you for joining us on the Rural Impact. You're welcome back anytime you've got news like this.
Cindy Long: Thank you so much, Michelle. Appreciate it.
Michelle Rathman: My pleasure. Okay. This is a Rural Impact Extra, and you're going to hear from us very soon on a new episode of the Rural Impact. Until then, take good care of yourself and each other. We'll see you soon.
