center for faith based and neighborhood partnerships

The winds of winter may still be blowing where you live, but it is already time to start thinking about the summer.  When school is finished, over 20 million children who receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year through USDA’s National School Lunch Program will be in trouble.  Less than 3 million kids participate in our summer feeding programs.  We want to make sure that no child in the U.S. goes to bed hungry, whether school is in session or out.  We can only do that with your help.  Your organization can get free meals for kids this summer by being a site or sponsor in the Summer Food Service Program.  SFSP is a federally funded program administered by states that reimburses organizations for meals served to children during the summer.

The winds of winter may still be blowing in many parts of the country, but it is already time to start thinking about the summer.   20 million children receive free or reduced-price lunch during the school year through USDA’s National School Lunch Program. For many children, school meals are the only complete and nutritious meals they eat, and in the summer they go without.  22.3 million children are at risk of going hungry when the school year ends and school lunches are no longer available.

Cross-posted from the White House Blog.

On Monday, November 29^th at 2:30 PM EST, First Lady Michelle Obama will join faith and community leaders on a conference call to launch Let’s Move Faith and Communities, as part of the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign.

In early October, USDA’s Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships was honored to host a dozen Latino faith leaders to our “Tuve Hambre y Me Diste de Comer” (“For I was Hungry and You Fed Me”) consultation on improving Latino outreach. USDA studies show that 1 out of 4 Hispanic households in the US are food insecure and that this number is only growing. The situation is well-known among these leaders whose congregations and organizations are on the front lines of serving those threatened by hunger.

Chicago in August concluded our USDA Community Roundtable tour, where our Food and Nutrition Service and Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships met with almost 100 community and state partners to discuss how to improve access to SNAP at a time of growing need for food throughout the country. There my colleague Max Finberg, Director of the Center, and I met with wonderful people all over the city dedicated to fighting hunger. From the South Side to the West Side, we shared ideas with churches and other faith-based organizations, community advocates, food banks, outreach workers, school districts, community hospitals and clinics, and our state partners to discuss how to improve access to SNAP and our other fourteen USDA nutrition assistance programs.

By Vincent M. Russo, Research Leader, ARS South Central Agricultural Research Laboratory and Tasha Askew, Bill Emerson National Hunger Fellow, USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Just in time for the 2010 Feds, Farmers, and Friends Feed Families Food Drive, is two-thousand one-hundred pounds of produce gleaned from the Oklahoma People’s Garden in conjunction with the Choctaw Nation. What an astounding amount of food to be gathered during one month!

The USDA Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships co-hosted with USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and USDA FNS Western Regional Office Administrator Allen Ng, another successful community roundtable. More than 100 people attended, including State, county, and city leaders; promotoras; and representatives from faith-based organizations, community groups, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Los Angeles Food Bank, area hospitals, and the Mexican Consulate. Special guests included California Endowment Director Dr. Beatriz Solis and the legendary farmworkers’ advocate Dolores Huerta. Panelists included John A. Wagner, Director of the California Department of Social Services, and Philip Browning, Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services.

Written by: Amy Mund USDA Public Information Coordinator, Colorado

Working with local community faith based organizations has provided the Rural Development Office in Alamosa, CO with a substantial increase in single family home loan applications. Taking the approach to leave no stone unturned Ty Coleman, Outreach Initiative Specialist, recently visited with 12 faith based organizations in the San Luis Valley area.

By Lisa Pino, Deputy Administrator of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

By USDA Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships

Inner city Omaha is an economically distressed area, especially among the predominantly African-American and senior populations. Poverty rates and obesity among young people are high and access to healthy, affordable food is low, especially for those who need it most.