Summer Food Service Program - Hunger Solutions New York
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Summer Food Service Program
The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) provides free meals and snacks to children and teens ages 18 and under when school is not in session.
Children who eat well during summer remember more of what they learned in school and are better prepared when they go back in the fall.
Summer meal sites include schools, parks, churches, public pools, community centers, camps, housing communities, libraries, YMCAs, farmers’ markets, medical centers, summer recreation programs, Boys & Girls Clubs, and museums.
Summer meals are meant to work hand-in-hand with
Summer EBT
, a new federal nutrition program that provides food benefits to eligible children on an EBT card. These two programs help ensure children’s access to nutritious food while school is out.
Find summer meal sites near you
SUMMER MEALS IN NYS
In 2023,
nearly 500 summer meals sponsors
served nourishing meals at
2,500 sites
across New York.
More than
250,000 children
ate a summer lunch through SFSP on an average day in July 2023.
Still, only
1 in 4
of New York’s low-income children ate summer meals in July 2023.
Promote & Grow Summer Meals
Help increase the number of children eating summer meals by promoting summer meal sites, recruiting new sites in underserved areas, and supporting local sponsors and sites already operating in your area.
Visit our
Summer Nutrition Outreach Resources page
where you can find tools in English and Spanish to:
Promote summer meals to families
in your community using our outreach flyers, sample social media posts, and more.
Help summer meals grow by recruiting more sites
using our flyers.
You can also connect with local sponsors and sites to learn how to best support their efforts. Community partners may be able to volunteer at sites, provide fun activities for kids, or help in other ways.
to connect with existing sponsors and sites in your area.
Summer Nutrition Outreach Resources
Promote summer meals and Summer EBT in your community with our outreach flyers, sample social media posts, and more. Available in English and Spanish.
Become a Summer Meals Site
Sites are connected to and trained by a local supervising sponsoring organization that provides the meals. Most sites are “open” sites, meaning there is no enrollment process for children or families; any child or teenager can drop in during meal or snack service times. Other types of sites include day camps and residential camps, which serve children enrolled in their care. Kids are required to eat together at most sites, but flexibilities are available for eligible rural areas. The rural non-congregate option allows for grab-and-go or home-delivered meals in eligible areas where no in-person meal service is available
Criteria for approval include:
1. Location eligibility:
Summer meals can be served in locations or at programs where at least half of children are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. This can be determined using:
Census data, available in the USDA Capacity Builder Mapper below, or
School meals data. See
this list
for eligible schools as of summer 2025; summer meal sites may qualify if they are located within the attendance area of a listed school.
2. Ability to follow basic eligibility requirements:
Serve meals provided by the sponsor to children ages 18 and under
Maintain safe and sanitary conditions
Ensure children eat all meals on site
Attend the sponsor’s training session, ensure all site staff attend a training session, and have an adequate number of trained staff present during meal service
Other requirements outlined in each sponsor agreement
To get started,
for further assistance.
Use the USDA Capacity Builder Mapper to help you:
Check site eligibility
Determine if site is located in an eligible rural area
Locate potential partners
Find and compare summer meals sites from the current and previous summer
Identify community resources
To use the map:
Click “Find Address or Place” in the search bar at the top
Enter an address, city, county, state, and/or zip code
Click on the “Layers” button
Click “Summer Meal Sites 2024” to see last year’s site locations.
Click “FY2025 FNS CACFP and SFSP Eligibility” to see which areas qualify for open summer meal sites. Areas highlighted green are eligible based on Census data. More locations may be eligible based on school data;
to learn more.
Click “Rural Designation (areas in green are rural)” to see what areas qualify as rural and are potentially eligible for the rural non-congregate flexibility.
Click any other locations of interest in the layers list
Click on any layering icon for more information
This map is created and administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A full-screen version is available
here.
Learn More:
NYS Education Department Summer Food Service Program
Food Research and Action Center
Share Our Strength
We can help
We can provide you with resources, data, and best-practices to improve participation in the Summer Food Service Program. We provide tailored one-on-one assistance to schools, community organizations and other youth services providers to maximize access to summer meals. We can:
Help coordinate sites and sponsors in local communities
Provide local and state-level data about SFSP
Help you promote awareness of summer meals sites in your area and across NYS.
Contact
Cody Bloomfield
, Summer Nutrition Specialist, for assistance.
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14 Computer Drive East Albany,
New York 12205
(518) 436-8757 (800)
865-5542 (518)
458-6068 (fax)
This institution is an equal opportunity provider
Dedicated to alleviating hunger in New York State.
14 Computer Drive East
Albany, New York 12205
ph. (518) 436-8757
ph. (800) 865-5542
fax. (518) 458-6068
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
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