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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. 

Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the award of demonstration grant to Texas to test new ways to provide nutrition assistance and access to healthy foods to low-income children during the summer.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced the award of a demonstration grant to Missouri to test new ways to provide nutrition assistance and access to healthy foods to low-income children during the summer. The $230,650 Missouri grant is part of the Obama Administration's efforts to use improved approaches to increase access to nutritious meals and snacks during gap periods. By working with state agencies, the pilot projects aim to reduce the level of food insecurity among children in the summer months.

Secretary Tom Vilsack today invited states to develop and test alternative methods of providing food for low-income children in urban and rural areas during the summer.