Serve Your Community by Offering USDA Summer Meal Programs

OLYMPIA — February 1, 2024 — The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) is seeking sponsors and sites for the 2024 U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). The SFSP helps children and teens living in areas identified as low-income to continue to receive nutritious meals during the summer when they do not have access to school meals.

Who Can Sponsor the SFSP

This federally funded program may be sponsored by public and private nonprofit schools; residential and non-residential summer camps; private nonprofit organizations; tribal organizations; and units of local, county, municipal, and state government. Colleges and universities that participate in the Upward Bound Program may also sponsor meal sites.

Eligible sponsors will operate a nonprofit meal program for children age 18 and younger. Meal sites must be in areas where at least 50% of the children are qualified for free or reduced-price school meals, or where at least 50% of the children enrolled in a specific program are eligible for free and reduced-price school meals. All children — regardless of family income level — can receive a free meal at a site once the site has been approved.

Operators of federal Child Nutrition Programs must follow the unique and complex regulations for the programs they offer. Sponsors of the SFSP must have adequate administrative capability and financial viability to operate the program and maintain compliance. For this reason, OSPI encourages organizations to offer the SFSP as a site under an experienced sponsor for the first year of operation.

Meals Served Under the SFSP

Meal reimbursements help program sponsors offset some of the costs of providing well-balanced, nutritious meals and snacks to participants. Since SFSP is a reimbursement program, sponsors are reimbursed for meals served that meet USDA meal pattern requirements for the SFSP. Sponsors may prepare their own meals or purchase them from a school district or food service management company.

Interested in Applying?

To apply, email OSPI’s Summer Meals Team at summermeals@k12.wa.us, call 360–725–6200, or visit the Summer Food Service Program webpages. The deadline to apply to participate in SFSP is June 1, 2024.

USDA Nondiscrimination Statement

In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including gender identity and sexual orientation), disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity.

Program information may be made available in languages other than English. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication to obtain program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language), should contact the responsible state or local agency that administers the program or USDA’s TARGET Center at (202) 720–2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877–8339.

To file a program discrimination complaint, a Complainant should complete a Form AD-3027, USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form which can be obtained online at: https://www.usda.gov/sites/default/files/documents/USDA-OASCR%20P-Complaint-Form-0508-0002-508-11-28-17Fax2Mail.pdf, from any USDA office, by calling (866) 632–9992, or by writing a letter addressed to USDA. The letter must contain the complainant’s name, address, telephone number, and a written description of the alleged discriminatory action in sufficient detail to inform the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights (ASCR) about the nature and date of an alleged civil rights violation. The completed AD-3027 form or letter must be submitted to USDA by:

1. mail: U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights 1400 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20250–9410; or
2. fax: (833) 256–1665 or (202) 690–7442; or
3. email: Program.Intake@usda.gov

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.