1. Childhood Hunger in Nebraska
Presenting the partnership between the Omaha Public Libraries and Hunger Free Heartland

2. Our Mission
Hunger Free Heartland empowers communities to end childhood hunger in Nebraska.
Who is HFH
history and mission
What do we do
Educate Advocate Build Capacity

3. What is Food Insecurity?
Short Answer: When a child doesn’t know where their next meal will be coming from.
Long Answer: Food insecurity is when you are uncertain that you will have enough safe and healthy food that meets your cultural standards. Food insecurity can create a “domino effect” of negative consequences in life: low birth-weight and birth defects; obesity; mental health issues; dental health problems; poor educational outcomes; and long-term economic costs.

4. Life-long Negative Health Consequences:
Education
Economic
Childhood food insecurity can have lifelong negative consequences. Again, think of the pyramid of needs - sufficient nutritious food is essential for human development and survival. What do you think may be some effects of food insecurity? (field responses)
Health - Food insecurity leads to increased health problems, this means more doctors visits. Increased risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and asthma.
Education - Increased illness can lead to more absences, resulting in lower grades and test scores. When children are hungry, it is more difficult to focus, cognitive functioning decreases, and negative behaviors increase. Think of how you function when you are “hangry.”
Economic - More absences mean increased risk of dropout rates. Lower test scores/grades can limit educational opportunities post-graduation. While some are able to enter the workforce immediately after high school, salaries of people with degrees vs. no high school/GED have a gap of more than $10,000 after 10 years. This can also lead to generational food insecurity. What does this look like for families?

5. What does it look like? Might not be obvious
Food insecurity can be found in our neighbors, our family, our friends – food insecurity can happen to anyone at any time, including ourselves.

6. reduced food insecurity
Research said investing in these 5 areas could lead to a significantly improved outcome:
reduced food insecurity
Input
Annual
Food Insecurity Metric 1
5 Areas
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Factors
Outside our control 3 4
Emergency food, financial mgmt, low food prices, SNAP, and school meals
SBP
& 2
School Breakfast & Lunch 5
Gundersen, October 2012

7. School Meals (Breakfast & Lunch)
Help out families
Reduces stigma for children when everyone participates.
Connects schools with local businesses - increases community relations.
48th in breakfast participation

8. Summer Meals
Help feed children when school is out of session for the summer.
219 Nebraska locations in 2016.
Nebraska ranks 50th in the United States in Summer Meals Participation

9. Summer Meals at the Library
Built positive relationships with adults and families
New library users
Increased program attendance
Improved library image
Is there a need in the community for this program?
Where else are summer meals being served in our community? (Current food truck locations? KCK)
Is this program right for our library? Is it right for our library right now?
Can our facility accommodate becoming a summer meal site?
What assets (including summer reading and other programs) does the library already have in summer? How can we leverage those assets and what do we need to do to supplement those assets in order to be able to operate a summer meal program?

10. How we have partnered The Holling Heights SFSP Partnership
Kick-Off Event
Outreach Table
Enrichment activities
Arby’s Meal Cards
HFH Intern Assistance
Enrichment activities
outreach/marketing - esp. In schools
Arbys, ways to leverage support
YA’s involvement - get local high schoolers involved

11. How can you get involved
Be a resource
Text line
Locator
Marketing
Kickoffs
Spike events
Food Pantries
Serve meals!
Spikes
Kickoffs
adult meals
Food Pantry Connections

12. Hunger Free Heartland Toolkit
Marketing
Enrichment Programming
Funding
How to become a sponsor/site
Securing support
go over the process (outline)
address concerns
Biggest concerns-who can they contact for partnerships
Grants they can apply for
Other state orgs
Typically, libraries that offer summer meal programs operated as summer meal sites. A summer meal site is the physical location where the meals will be served. Site staff are tasked with handling and serving meals, monitoring food to ensure it complies with health and safety regulations and other program rules, such as tracking the number of meals served, and record-keeping. Summer meal sites do not have to pay for the meals that they serve.
The summer meal sponsor, often a school district, city/county agency, or nonprofit organization, acts as the administrative and fiscal agent for the program. The sponsor provides the meals that are served at the site. The meal service must comply with requirements specified by USDA and the state agency. Learn more about who is eligible to be a sponsor and how sponsorship works here. A small number of libraries are now starting to become meal sponsors as well as meal sites. To find out more, and to be connected with libraries that have become meal sponsors, please contact us.

13. More resources! http://frac.org/programs/summer-nutrition-programs

14. Final Thoughts
Don’t make assumptions about your community - Do the homework
Privacy extends beyond the library doors

15. Thank you! Amy Wenzl Youth Services Librarian Office: 402-444-4849
Sarah Liewer
Program Coordinator
Office: