Overview
The Hunger-Free Summer Hub Project Program is a federally funded program through the U.S. Department of Agriculture that is administered by a state-level agency. This program provides free meals to children 18 years and younger in low-income areas. While over 30 million children participate in the National School Lunch and National School Breakfast Program during the school year, participation in summer feeding programs remains low.
Feeding America and its member food banks have focused their efforts in summer feeding over the past few years as a part of their Child Hunger Strategy. The Hunger-Free Summer Hub (HFSH) initiative was funded through the generous support of ConAgra Food Foundation. The purpose of this effort was to determine how food banks can strategically partner with organizations in their community to increase access to, and participation in, SFSP, as well as how other feeding efforts (e.g., Backpack Program, School Pantry, SNAP outreach) might impact summer feeding. The Family Resiliency Center conducted a cross-site evaluation of the HFSH initiative.
View the Hunger-Free Summer Hub Logic Model.
Research Team
- Barbara Fiese, Ph.D., Former Director, Family Resiliency Center, Human Development and Family Studies
- Brenda Koester, MS, Associate Director, Center for Social & Behavioral Science
Contact:
Brenda Koester
217-244-6486
bkoester@illinois.edu
Funding
This project is supported by a grant through Feeding America.