Governor O’Malley’s 15 Strategic Policy Goals
12. End Childhood Hunger in Maryland by 2015
In Maryland in 2007-2009, 14.3 percent of households with children were food-insecure. This was below the national average of 19.4 percent for those years. These represented 106,000 households each year and about 210,000 children lived in these food- insecure households.
To address this unconscionable problem, the O’Malley-Brown Administration has set a goal and is implementing a plan to become the first state in America to eliminate childhood hunger within its borders by 2015. Strategies toward this goal include ensuring that eligible families have access to the Food Supplement Program, Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and making sure all eligible children are eating breakfast and lunch in schools. Resources for reaching these strategies are below the map.
Resources for Parents
Find a Summer Meals Site Near You
Pregnant? You may be eligible for the Women, Infants and Children food program (WIC)
Need help buying food? See if you qualify for an Electronic Benefits card to buy food through the SNAP program
Read about the benefits of the free school breakfast program
Resources for Schools and After School Programs
Maryland is one of a limited number of states in the country with the At-Risk, Afterschool Meal Program. Find out how your school or program can become an Afterschool Meals Program provider
Do you operate a program that kids attend during the summer? Consider becoming part of the Summer Food Service Program at no cost to you.
Strategies:
To accomplish this ambitious goal, our efforts are focused on five core strategies:
- Ensure that all eligible families have access to, and are taking advantage of, the Food Supplement Program in Maryland;
- Provide all school children in Maryland with access to a healthy breakfast;
- Expand summer meals programs so that they are within reach of all children in need;
- Expand access to nutritious food through the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Child and Adult Care Food, and At-Risk Afterschool Supper Programs; and
- Enhance working families’ economic security through expanded utilization of the Earned Income Tax Credit and other programs.
Together, we have:
- Launched Public, Private Partnership to End Childhood Hunger by 2015.
- Initiated use of telephone interviews for Food Supplement Program applicants.
- Enlisted 40+ community based organizations to increase outreach for the Food Supplement Program.
- Initiated fully-automated food assistance internet application ‘SAIL’ system.
- Established “No Wrong Door” Partnership with advocates to address social service program access issues across state agencies, making it easier for Marylanders to sign up for various forms of social service assistance all at once and at one location.
- Initiated alternative breakfast delivery methods (‘Grab and Go’) to expand school breakfast participation in Maryland.
Read the more detailed plan to achieve this child health goal...
Download a flyer about summer food sites for schoolchildren and post it in your neighborhood
During the summer, children are at greater risk of going hungry when school meal programs end. The Summer Food Service Program fills the gap by serving nutritious meals for free or at a reduced price at various sites in Maryland. However, the program does not reach all eligible children, partly due to lack of public awareness of the program. Help us publicize the Summer Food Service Program.