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Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced significant investments in states and tribal areas across the country to test innovative ways to address a critical need – providing low-income children with access to healthy nutrition during the summer.

Today, FNS announced the winners of the first ever SFSP "Food, Fun and Sun!" story and photo contest to highlight how the program provides free, healthy meals to children in low-income areas during the summer. 

USDA Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today highlighted the results of two Summer Food Service Program pilot programs in Arkansas and Mississippi that used incentives to increase participation among low-income children. The study found that the innovative pilot programs were associated with an increased average participation rate among kids in the Summer Food Service Programs by 35 percent in Arkansas and 19 percent in Mississippi.

USDA's Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Administrator Audrey Rowe yesterday announced the winner of First Lady Michelle Obama's Recipes for Healthy Kids competition. The contest launched last year to challenge students, parents and other interested community members to create tasty and healthy new recipes for America's school cafeteria menus.

FNS today launched a photo contest to look for and promote best practices in the Summer Food Service Program. The competition is open to sponsors and sites participating in the SFSP, which provides free, healthy meals to children in low-income areas during the summer.

USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service and FNS will conduct a pilot for acquiring fresh fruits and vegetables to build on farm-to-school programs in Florida and Michigan. The pilot will use commercial distribution models already in place and allow schools to obtain locally grown produce.

FNS Administrator Audrey Rowe joined D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and Office of the State Superintendent of Education representatives at the 8th Annual "Free Summer Meals Kick off", a celebration of USDA's Summer Food Service Program in the District of Columbia. 

FNCS Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton addressed the need for more Summer Food Service Program sites across the country to feed low-income children when school is out while attending the 2011 Wyoming School Nutrition Association Conference .

USDA announced today that Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee were selected to participate in the initial year of an innovative universal free meal service option that makes it easier for low-income children to receive meals in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. 

Secretary Tom Vilsack today joined Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and No Kid Hungry National Campaign spokesperson Jeff Bridges to launch the Virginia No Kid Hungry Campaign, a public-private partnership that will work to connect Virginia's children and teens to school breakfast and child care nutrition programs, including summer meal programs.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today kicked-off the first-ever National Summer Food Service Program Week:“Food That's In When School Is Out,” a week-long awareness campaign to promote USDA’s Summer Food Service Program and other initiatives across the country to feed low-income children during summer when school is out.

Agriculture Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today announced that more low-income kids will have access to nutrition assistance when school is out and during critical gap periods. USDA's Food and Nutrition Service provided waivers to simplify existing regulations making it easier to provide critical meals through the Summer Food Service Program. The changes will expand and enhance the ability of the SFSP to provide nutritious meals and snacks to children in low-income areas during the summer months and long vacation periods for schools on year-round schedules.

USDA today announced the recipients of grants to improve the delivery of nutrition assistance to low-income children during the summer months. The grants will be used to test innovative alternatives to enable children from low-income households to access healthy food during the summer and will boost participation in the Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals to children from low-income households during summer months.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today joined Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, Paul Davis, acting director of AmeriCorps VISTA, and Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, to swear-in 46 members of the new National Anti-Hunger and Opportunity Corps, an AmeriCorps VISTA project. The new VISTA volunteers will work in both rural and urban areas in 18 states as part of a public-private partnership to increase access to the SNAP for Americans in need.

USDA Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today joined San Francisco Board of Education President Hydra Mendoza in a tour of E.R. Taylor Elementary School to see how the school exemplifies First Lady Obama's Let's Move! initiative, which is dedicated to solving the problem of obesity within a generation. They observed children participating in organized physical activity, visited the school garden, and participated in a cooking lesson. The event is one of dozens taking place around the country this week to inspire communities, families and schools to take action against childhood obesity.

USDA today announced that children placed into the foster care system by a state or court are categorically eligible to receive free meals in all USDA child nutrition programs. The expansion of categorical eligibility to foster children is a component of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 which President Obama signed into law Dec. 13, 2010.

Deputy Under Secretary Janey Thornton today joined Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut's 3rd Congressional District and Chef Timothy Cipriano, Executive Director, New Haven Public School Food Services, and New England Patriots' Ron Brace to unveil a new salad bar at Mauro-Sheridan Science, Technology and Communications School as part of Let's Move! Salad Bars to Schools.

Under Secretary Kevin Concannon today joined the District of Columbia State Superintendent of Education Hosanna Mahaley in a special ceremony to present Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School a USDA HealthierUS School Challenge Gold Award of Distinction.