Good afternoon.
This is the regularly scheduled meeting of the Human Services Equitable Development and Renters Rights Committee.
The time is 2.02 p.m.
and we are in city council chambers on July 23rd, and I'm joined by Councilmember Juarez.
Thank you.
Thank you.
In today's meeting, we have just one item.
Should be a quick meeting.
We will discuss with representatives about their out of school, out of school time meal programs during the school year.
As we know, many Seattle students depend on free and reduced lunches.
And during the summer, that nutritional support is often not available.
And this program attempts to fill the void.
And so, we're happy to have people at the table.
Before that, we have public comment.
Do we have anybody's?
Ted, we're done.
And there's nobody signed up for public comment.
Nobody signed up for public comment.
So we'll go ahead and start with the item.
So please come.
I can do it.
Oh.
OK, great.
Thank you.
Welcome, everyone.
Please do one sentence introduction for the record, and then you're free to take it away.
Good afternoon.
Jason Johnson with the Human Services Department.
Pat Wells, Human Services Department.
Natalie Thompson, Human Services Department, Youth and Family Empowerment Division, Senior Planner.
And I'm Amy Gore from Council Central Staff.
Ted Redon from your office.
Nice to meet you, Ted.
All right, so I'm going to go ahead and kick us off.
Today we want to talk about and have a discussion about HSD's out of school time meal programs.
This will really be an opportunity to outline HSD's food and meal portfolio with a specific focus on after school meal programs and summer food service programs.
Together we call that out as the out of school time meal programs.
But we were going to talk about both together because they're a really important element of how we maintain nutrition and health for students who may otherwise supplement their food inside of school.
But given that school is out, it's important that programming is in place.
to make sure that they have the same level of access to that important midday meal.
Can I ask you just, I guess it's a parsing question.
So it's out of school time meals programs.
And what do we mean by time meals if you can explain that?
I assumed it was, I read it as out of school time.
Do you see what I'm saying?
What is the word time?
Yeah, so we're going to go into a level of detail about both.
And what you'll see is there's a summer meal program.
So that's time when school is not normally in session.
There's also after school time programs.
So that's meal and nutritional support out of school hours.
So we'll go into the details of programmatically what we mean when we talk about time and we talk about that level of access.
So I am, first just want to highlight that, you know, often I feel like I'm at this table to talk about homelessness and housing stability.
But there are many other bodies of work within the Human Services Department that are extraordinarily important.
This is a really highly qualified duo of experts, two superstars from our Youth and Family Empowerment Division.
That division, you know, we want, it's through investments and the work of that division that we want to ensure that young people are safe, that they're thriving, that the families have the support that they need.
to continue to grow and successfully become contributing adults.
We do that through food investments.
Most of the food investments in the department live inside of the YFE investment portfolio.
Not all of them.
There are some very specific or tailored food investments that help support people who are experiencing homelessness.
that we have in HSI.
And we have quite a substantial food and meal investment in our Aging and Disability Services Division to support older adults.
But most of our hunger strategy and those investments to combat hunger live within the Youth and Family Empowerment Division.
And I'm excited to be here at the table with two of that division's best.
Thank you, Jason.
So, as you know, the Human Services Department funds a range of food access and food security programs from Seattle's emergency feeding system, which comprises, which is comprised of food banks and meal programs to FreshBooks to Go and our low barrier food access opportunity fund.
All programs, as the slide states, strives to ensure all people in Seattle have self-determined access to healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate food.
So, as Jason mentioned, the majority of the contracts for our food access and food security programs are administered through the Youth and Family Empowerment Division, or at least a large portion of them are.
And today, as mentioned, we will focus on the Youth and Family Empowerment Division's out-of-school time program.
To your question, Council Member Sawant, when we talk about out of school time, it's really any part of the day that is not when children are not in school.
So it could be before school, after school, school breaks, summer and the like.
So we provide meals at all those times of day.
and weekends too, yeah.
So a few food security data points, which are important to reiterate today.
From the Healthy Food Availability and Food Bank Network Report, which I know you're very familiar with, but we just feel it's again important to highlight, roughly 13% of Seattle adults report experiencing food insecurity with Seattle families with children.
experiencing even higher rates of food insecurity of those families with children.
22% of families with young children and up to 51% of families with low-income children report food insecurity.
So in 2017, over 13,000 Seattle residents experienced food insecurity, yet their incomes were too high to qualify for food assistance benefits, and we consider those families in the food security gap.
So our food investments focus on any Seattle resident at risk of food insecurity, including those in the food security gap.
So, next slide.
Our Out-of-School Time Meals program has a particular focus on children.
So the Out-of-School Time Meals program is nestled in our Child and Youth Nutrition program.
The Child and Youth Nutrition program is a strong lineup of three programs.
Childcare Nutrition focused on children and meals in family childcare settings.
And of course, as mentioned, our after school meals program, as well as our summer food service program together are the out of school time meals program, which Pat will talk about further.
So all of these programs ensure access to meals where children are at, licensed childcare, community centers, cultural organizations, parks, community centers, and the like.
So they're offered year-round, including weekends, to ensure that children and youth who rely on free and reduced meals during the school year have continued access to meals during out-of-school time.
They're funded by both the state and the city.
While the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is a primary funder, they manage federal USDA dollars, which get passed through to us.
So we must ensure that our guidelines meet USDA regulations and guidelines as well in terms of meal patterns and monitoring.
One second.
Go ahead.
And also, Ted, do you have a question?
You seemed like it.
Go ahead, Council Member Borges.
I appreciate this chart.
I will tell you the problem I have when I see charts like this.
There are no numbers attached?
We have numbers.
That was a question that came from Amy.
We were going back when we were looking at the
on the food for children before school, after school, and on summers, and then we were trying to parse out, as we were moving forward on some of these issues, how much was coming from the feds and the state, I'm sorry, the general fund, and then the sugar tax.
And I know that you're going to come up on those numbers soon, so you can kind of give, and this is 2018, 17?
Correct.
18. 18 data.
So they're 18, it's 18 data.
And so you can kind of see the breakdown slide, but the hard numbers, which we can also provide in writing.
So for the afterschool meals program, this is minus staff costs.
So just the costs that get sort of passed through to the community and the cost of the program, again, minus staff costs, 193,751 for that first bar afterschool meals program.
The Child Care Nutrition Program is $1,112,837.
And the Summer Food Service Program is $597,274.
So just shy of $600,000, and we can provide those in writing too.
Thank you.
Yeah.
And then the Sweetened Beverage Shacks, just to note, has really played an important role in improving the meal quality for really all of these programs.
So those numbers get somewhat to the question that I was gonna ask because so of these three bars, the middle bar in terms of its actual quantity is 10 times as much as the first bar, right?
Correct, and at this point, and that's really because the afterschool meals program was just newly launched late last year.
So we anticipate that that program will continue to grow.
And then the summer meals program is like five times as much as the first bar, right?
And that's it.
Okay.
That's about accurate.
And then the gray is the state funds.
It's not like unfunded.
Correct, yeah.
Okay, cool.
I have another follow-up.
Sure.
Thank you, Natalie.
So the sweetened beverage shacks improved, you said, the quality of food, and this may be off base here, but did it improve the quality of how delivery and service?
Yes, so all of the above.
Yeah, that's a great question.
So just some concrete anecdotes to that.
So last year we added a hummus, a spicy hummus, and regular hummus dish at the request of the youth.
And they loved.
I'm probably going to lose some votes over that.
And I don't like kale either.
So I'm just going to put it out there.
No hummus, no kale.
I absolutely adore kale.
Wow, okay.
I will tell you, the youth enjoyed the spicy hummus.
They didn't enjoy the regular hummus so much, and so we kept that on the menu this year.
They did.
Okay.
Yeah, they did.
That got a thumbs up.
That's because they don't know any better.
Yeah.
So it's been able to add some That's funny.
So we've been able to improve the quality but also to increase some of the efficiencies with route planning and delivery.
That's what I was focusing on.
Thank you so much.
Sure.
So did it improve because there were extra funds to be able to use it?
Yes, so primarily, so what those extra funds did was to allow us to hire a year-round out-of-school-time meals coordinator.
And that was huge because what Alexis was able to do, number one, is and Pat will talk a little bit about this, start outreach much earlier for the Summer Food Program and also do much more systems and planning work before staff even started.
As you know, we have seasonal staff for the Summer Food Service Program, but to be able to do that systems planning around routes and deliveries was also very huge.
And you also focused on children that were already getting low income lunch and where the food banks were already putting together backpacks for children over the weekend, which was phenomenal for North Helpline.
So thank you so much for that.
Oh, that's great to hear.
Thank you.
Okay.
Am I on?
No, I don't think you can hear me.
Real quick before we move on.
Yes.
Do you have a sense of, in terms of that outreach, you know, helps get more people who qualify and should be part of the program into it, do you get a sense of how many families in Seattle that should be participating in or could or should be participating in the program do?
You know, a lot of programs like this, many people who are eligible don't wind up taking advantage of it.
Do you have a sense of how much?
Yes.
So, Pat, are you going to cover that or do you want me to take that question?
You can take that question.
Well, I guess for me it is, I can tell you how people qualify for the program and what we're doing to outreach, but we really, so that number, for example, for the summer food service program, it's based on the free and reduced lunch participants at the different neighborhood schools.
And so we know that all the children that are eligible for that, the free and reduced lunch program, don't necessarily take, take advantage of the summer meal for a variety of different reasons.
So we would have to do some research to say, Seattle Public Schools, will you please tell us how many youth are actually, and even they have admitted that even though they're youth that are eligible for free, they don't sign up.
They don't want, the families don't want to provide the paperwork.
So it's, we can give you, we could do research and find the number, but I don't know that we would know the hard exact number, but we are doing all the outreach that we possibly can to make sure that every family that wants to participate can.
All right.
Yes.
All right.
So I'm going to start with our child care nutrition program.
And we are serving 130 family child care home programs in our child care nutrition program.
We provide meal reimbursement for these so that the healthy meals that they provide to their to the children in their care.
We offer ongoing support for these in-home small businesses owners who are serving low-income families with tools for best practice recordkeeping, menu planning, and sound business practices.
The family home care providers serve an average of 6 to 12 children per week.
The family child care providers receive ongoing education to increase quality and variety of foods through one-on-one visits and workshops by the child care nutrition staff.
And because we receive funding from OSPI, the programs are located not only in Seattle but throughout King County.
As Natalie said before, our after school times program includes both the after school meals and the summer food service program.
In 2010, the Healthy Hunger Free Kids Act was passed, which made it possible for us to get meal reimbursement for throughout in all states.
So we added the after school meals program in 2018 to provide meals at after school programs and during the school breaks throughout the school year.
So examples of the after school programs would be tutoring, cultural enrichment, and those kinds of activities.
Then we, and I just say that the Summer Food Service Program is a pillar in YFE's food program portfolio that Natalie talked about earlier.
And HSD has been operating the Summer Food Service Program since 1977. So even though I have the gray hair, it was even before me.
All right, after school.
So as I said before, the After School Program was launched in October of 2018, and we were able to recruit five sites in low-income neighborhoods around Seattle.
And in this program, we serve school-age children everywhere from kindergarten to high school.
We're participating in tutoring programs as well as cultural enrichment activities after school and during their breaks.
And this school year, the 2018-19 school year, we served approximately 10,664 meals.
And the sites averaged 20 to 25 children and youth per week going to these locations.
Even though we only had five this year, they were diverse populations.
Our partners were East African Community Services, Refugee Women's Alliance, and three neighborhood libraries, South Park, High Point, and Broadview.
Four of the five of these school sites also serve summer meals, so it's a continuous comprehensive service.
This program has got off to a strong start, and we're planning to increase the number of sites in fall 2019. As Natalie said, we've hired a full-time, out-of-school-time coordinator, and they're working on recruiting more sites for our start in September 2019. Okay.
So our summer food service program.
The city of Seattle is the largest summer food service program sponsor in the state.
And in this summer, we have 120 sites across Seattle, which is a significant increase from previous three years.
And you'll see that in the next slide.
And in last year, we served 202, 629 meals to over 5,000 youth.
ages 1 through 18, and we provide meals in neighborhoods with a high percentage of free and reduced lunch participants as determined by their neighborhood schools, which I talked about earlier.
That's how we know whether or not a place, a spot can be, can have this service.
This is a low barrier program and no application is required at the open sites like the parks and places like that because the eligibility is based on the neighborhood school.
However, our closed sites must provide income information verifying that at least 50% of the participants are low income.
The Sweetened Beverage Tax funding has added more vegetables at their lunches, increased the whole grains of snacks, and replaced juices with fresh fruits at breakfast.
We partner with United Way of King County, which provides roughly 30 AmeriCorps volunteers to serve food and provide enrichment activities at the parks and library sites.
We contract with the Seattle Public Schools, which provides the meals and snacks.
Next slide.
So now we get into our statistics.
As you can see, our meals and sites have been decreasing from 2016 to 2018. So I know you want to know why.
So our hypothesis is that due to the changing demographic of higher income levels in Seattle neighborhoods, fewer areas meet the free and reduced lunch at neighborhood schools to qualify for this service.
In addition, in recent years, our funder, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, has been encouraging more community-based, ethnically focused, and grassroots organizations to become sponsors themselves to contract directly with OSPI.
Well, we think that's a good idea.
So we're also focused on recruiting ethnically focused and grassroots organizations that really aren't prepared to deal with the administrative burdens of paperwork from OSPI.
And I can tell you it's a lot.
Can I ask just a real quick question?
The graph on the left goes through 2018, and the graph on the right, which has the big, which has a bunch of extra sites, that's in 2019. Is there going to be, what's going to happen to the number of meals once you get to 2019?
We're hoping that with the increased sites, we will have increased meals.
And also, I'll go into a little bit more of why we think there's been a decrease.
So, we are hoping that some of these factors will not be in effect this year.
So, we've increased our size to 120 this summer and 50 are brand new to summer food service programs.
So, our outreach is working, I think.
And then the meals are provided in the libraries, parks, low-income housing, community centers, culturally specific child care centers, Seattle Public Schools summer programs, community organizations, and Tukwila Public School.
So, other factors which will address some of what you're asking, Ted, for reduced meals is that even though we partner with the Seattle Public Schools and we provide meals to their Jump Start and Summer Staircase Program, they have reduced the number of hours that they offer those programs.
So, if...
If a summer school, for example, for teenagers, if the program ends at 12, they're not going to wait around for a lunch.
They're going to go down to McDonald's or something like that.
So, yes.
And then the Jump Start program is only for one week.
But we do provide meals.
And then attendance can vary.
And I've been working on summer programs for years.
The weather is a big factor.
I don't know.
In Seattle, we're weather wimps.
And I think that goes on to our children.
So if it's too hot, they don't come out.
If it's too cold, they don't come out, no matter how wonderful the activity is.
And then last year, we had smoke from the fires in Canada.
So we had to close outdoor sites for safety.
And so hopefully there won't be any fires from Canada and the weather will be moderate enough that people will want to, children will want to come out and come to the sites.
Yeah, well maybe it'll come later.
Yes.
So that ends my presentation.
And for further information, we have a website, freesummermeals.org.
Or we're getting into the century is this, 21st century, we can text food to 877-877.
And they will tell you where locations are closest to your, to sites.
Okay.
And actually on that, do you often have that text service being used by people?
We haven't tracked it yet, but all of our monitors, we tested it out this morning just to make sure it's working.
So it could even be, if you live in Federal Way, you could text in your zip code and then they will tell you the programs that are close to you.
And can I ask a quick question on the previous slide?
I was just curious to see that the number of meal sites remain fairly constant.
I mean, obviously, they're not exactly constant, but very close to each other between 2016 and 2018. And yet, the number of meals served was sort of significantly lower in the years 2017, 2018. So in other words, more or less, the sites were kept consistent.
The intake was lower.
Weather.
The weather of Seattle.
Okay.
So who wants to take that one?
I can speak to that because so the number of meals served is actually fairly nuanced as you probably can guess.
And so, for example, we're very encouraged that we've increased by 20 sites the number of sites that we have enrolled this year, but we also know Seattle Public Schools, due to weather, extended its school year by a week, which meant our program started a week later, which could mean, again, lower meal counts.
So together with the number of kids served, the number of sites enrolled, as well as meal sites, these are data points that we look at together so that we can get a better picture of really what's happening in our summer, yeah.
And with the week extending for the school, presumably they were then receiving the after-school meals, which is counted separately?
Yes, yes.
Hopefully, though that again is still in start-up, so we have less of those, yeah, but that's true.
Okay.
And in what way is our out-of-school time meal programs coordinated with, or if they are, with other cities in King County, with the county itself?
Good question.
You want me to take that?
I'm sorry.
So I can take that question, too.
So we are part of what's called the After School Meals Task Force, which actually is a statewide provider network of out-of-school time meals.
So we sit, our supervisor, Tina Skilton, sits on the task force along with United Way of King County.
some other counties providing meals, as well as large food banks who are also out-of-school-time meal providers.
And so, we share information, coordinate, learn from each other.
Is that right, Pat?
Anything else you wanna add to that?
Okay, yeah.
So we do do...
a fair amount of coordination and at least info sharing.
So I do want to speak a little bit to Ted's question about enrollment and participation and we know that nationwide participation is fairly low for the summer meals program and the out of school time meals programs in general compared to the number of children and youth that receive free and reduced lunch in school.
And we think that's due to a number of factors.
But what we really like to focus on in our out-of-school time programs is what's within our span of control.
So in 2016, we had a graduate student intern cohort that really looked at strengths and barriers to participation, and they identified key factors that we really can work on including hiring a year-round coordinator so that we can get more sites and increase access points.
So we've been really trying to, and I'm happy to provide that report to, it's quite extensive.
They went out and surveyed 58 of our then 100 programs and asked really pointed questions about participation.
And so we know that actually Quality of meals matters.
Having a year-round person so that we can start recruitment and outreach and engagement matters, which we have done.
And so we're really trying to increase participation through the things that are within the span of our control.
So summer school length of time, less in our control.
But other programmatic factors, certainly in our control.
And I would also add that, especially for our summer food service program, our primary food provider is the Seattle Public Schools, and they have to prepare meals for large numbers.
And so when we start negotiating with them back in April, we give them a projected number of meals.
meals that we'll be providing, well, they go ahead and buy and purchase that food ahead of time.
They provide a menu, we approve it, and so one of the things we're always working with them is to get a more appealing menu, but there's only so much flexibility they have since they're preparing the meals.
They're ordering the food in advance and then having to prepare the meals for such a large number of of youth during the summer.
And I would also add that one of our recruitment strategies for the upcoming out of school time program is that we have a number of youth development contracts where we actually fund after school activities.
And so trying to work more closely with those organizations that it would be appropriate to also provide meals, better meals than chips as a snack while the youth are participating.
So that's another one of our strategies for the upcoming year.
I just want to go back to one of the slides just because of stuff like this.
My question is this.
So you said Seattle is the largest in the state for this program.
And so does that mean that we're the first to do this?
Are there other cities within King County that are doing it?
Because we know Food Scarcity is obviously everywhere.
So traditionally this program is offered by school districts.
I believe there's also a mandate that if that school districts have to provide meals for any purchase any youth that are participating in their their programs and so since 1977 we've been in partnership with the school district.
That's why there are because technically they should be providing the service, but by the city, our city providing this, we're broadening our reach.
So, around the state, there might just be a school district.
Like, for example, Auburn School District provides the service.
So, that's the difference.
You wanted anything else?
No, I was just focusing because, you know, we have so many cities within King County.
Right.
And it's a shame that Seattle is the largest in doing all of this.
So I was wondering what the other 38 cities were doing.
So.
Well, I drive around the county because I live outside of Seattle.
Sorry.
But and I've seen signs for summer food service program.
That's why if you text 877 877. and put in your zip code if it's outside of Seattle, they would give you another location.
Like I know when we tested it this morning to make sure it worked before I gave out this number, we put in a Federal Way zip code and we got locations in the Federal Way which we don't provide.
The reason why I share this, and Council Member Sawant will understand this as well, is if you serve on Seattle City Council, you also have to serve, I say have to, to King County Boards.
And we also serve, I serve on the Board of Health, Council Member Sawant and I also serve on the Puget Sound Regional Council.
Regional Policy Committee.
Yeah, that one.
So a lot of times we're representing the City of Seattle and we're trying to share with our colleagues from different cities like Auburn, Federal Way, Kenmore.
what we're doing, that we're not just a bunch of crazy radical Seattleites.
We actually have programs that work and do good things.
And so I know that you don't have that with you, but at some point, if you could share, if there is other information about what other cities are doing, this is something that I think we would like to bring up at King County.
Yeah.
Okay.
Thank you.
Yes.
And promoting the reality that These are programs in the interest of all low-income people, regardless of city boundaries.
It's, you know, it's for all the kids.
And there's a lot of families, unfortunately, that are in need.
And as you correctly said, Natalie, the work of making sure that these programs are enrolled in is an ongoing thing.
Because there are, it is, they are under-enrolled often.
And so that work has to keep on going.
I will say, too, one thing that we hear from our national colleagues that we are so very appreciative of within the City of Seattle is that it's very rare to have this blending of federal funding as well as city general fund, and in our case, Sweetened Beverage Tax Fund.
to supplement the operations of the program.
So many other cities just rely on the federal pass-through, which means that and have no city funding, which means it's a very bare bones.
We get to, you know, have hummus and Mediterranean pasta.
I'm just saying it right now, ribeye, that's all I'm going to say.
Leave it.
We might have to have a committee meeting just to discuss the menu.
We might have to get the kids here and get their opinion.
I'm sorry Council Member Morris, they may disagree with you.
Yeah, so that doesn't go on you know over our heads that the funding from the city makes that's a very important point and we definitely a point to be made at the Regional Policy Committee that These programs are greatly enhanced when cities also supplement the funds exactly The numbers are here.
I mean 200,000 meals a year that wouldn't happen without this program.
I mean that's substantial Right
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you very much.
Thank you for being here.
Just one question before you go, Jason.
Just on the Human Services Department Summer Youth Employment Program, I know Ted and my office have been urging you to make a presentation.
But I think what we heard from the department is that the mayor is making some adjustments.
And we are very eager to hear about the program.
I'm just curious.
Presumably these adjustments have been made, right, because we are in summer, so the programs are in action now?
That is correct.
So hopefully we can have an update, at least an email update that we can share with some of our constituents.
Yeah, I think that the...
Absolutely.
I think we have to coordinate the timing of such an update, but happy to come back and provide that.
That'd be great.
And just given that we are now...
soon going to be heading into August break.
It'd be great if Ted and you can coordinate in terms of getting an email update because it's, these programs are of great interest to a lot of people, but especially given that a lot of these after school programs, summer programs, both, you know, in terms of meals, but also activities, enrichment activities, are so relevant in the discussions about, well, how do we bring down youth involvement activities that are not going to be good for their future and how do we make sure they're enrolled in productive programs.
So, you know, just for us as an office to have information about that is extremely useful.
So that would be great.
Just quickly, this is for the, this is United Way.
This isn't, this is your program in here.
It is our program.
We partner with United Way.
So I see you have lawyers helping hungry children.
Yes.
And I see the child here has a D5 t-shirt on.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
And clearly the passion you have for this work shows up.
So thank you both very much.
And thank you, Jason.
Thank you.
And if there are no other items, meeting adjourned.