The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families (ACF), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), are notifying states that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) can be used to assist families through the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP).
Through this unprecedented collaboration, ACF and FNS are joining forces to help communities provide children with adequate, nutritious meals during the summer. The notice sent to States includes an explanation of how resources under the TANF Emergency Fund provided by the Recovery Act can be used to cover portions of costs associated with running a summer food service site that are not otherwise reimbursed.
States can seek 80 percent reimbursement through the Fund for a range of expenditures including the cost of compensation for staff support to provide supervision and programming at summer feeding sites, transportation services to transport food and/or children to feeding sites, recreational activities to attract more youth to program locations and meal preparation costs that are not otherwise reimbursed under the SFSP.
For more information and guidance on the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund please visit http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/
For more information about the SFSP please visit http://www.fns.usda.gov/cnd/summer/
