No Kid Hungry Summer Planning Framework
The purpose of your plan is to align the work of many different groups toward a common purpose. Plans
have common elements, starting with visions and goals and working down to the level of specific action
steps. Below are elements that you can develop with your collaborative to help focus and guide your
work.
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Vision: Your vision is the picture of the world you want to create through your work (i.e., No
child goes hungry in the summer).
Assessment: Either prior to or as the first part of the planning process you will want to collect
information to help you establish baselines for goal-setting and identify your greatest challenges
and opportunities.
Goals: The goals you set define the change you want to see based on your collaborative efforts
(i.e., Increase the number of summer meals served in 2015 by 10% compared to 2014). When
writing goals, try to keep them SMART: Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, TimeBound.
Strategies, Tactics and Action Steps: A successful plan will include strategies (what you aim to
do), tactics (how you will carry out strategies), and specific actions steps that can be assigned to
a person and deadline. See below for an example.
Target Areas: Developing geographic targets (or priorities), such as counties or school districts,
for your state will help collaborators understand how to prioritize their efforts and resources.
Work Areas: To help organize your strategies, you can establish specific work areas for the
collaborative. The sample agendas in the Creating and Managing the Plan section include work
areas, but you can adjust based on the needs of your collaborative.
Example: Engaging sponsors
Strategy
Tactic
Retain previous
Track sponsors intentions
years sponsors by to return
communicating
with them all year
Share grant opportunities
with all sponsors
Action Steps
Develop survey
Send survey to sponsors
Review responses
Follow up with an email or
call to those in danger of
leaving the program
Send link to grants
resource on NKH webpage
Share new grant
opportunities via email as
they are made available
Lead
Due By
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Collaborative Planning for Summer Meals Success
More at bestpractices.nokidhungry.org
Collecting Data
Pulling together different data will help you understand the summer environment and plan strategically.
You can use this data to set baselines for current performance, assess the greatest needs for program
improvements in your state and determine the right types of goals and targets for your plan. State
Agencies, sponsors, community organizations, schools and other stakeholders hold different pieces of
data that can help you in this endeavor. The below table indicates the type of information you can
collect around summer meals, the source of the data, and the implications for planning.
Data
Meals served over the
summer, broken down by
month and type of meal
Name and/or number of
sites and sponsors
Schools/Districts Free and
Reduced Price Eligibility
Location of sites
Locations of eligible areas
Sponsor plans and needs
Purpose
This data can be used to assess the change
from the previous year and set goals for the
coming year
This data can be used to track retention and
growth within these stakeholders and set
goals for continued growth
This data can indicate the population size of
an area as well as the level of need within
the population
This data can be mapped and used to
identify gaps in areas with low-income kids
This data can help you consider the
opportunity to have new sites and
understand areas that likely have need
You can use a survey to understand a
sponsor’s plans to return to the program
and existing plans for or interest in growth.
Stakeholders
State Agency or sponsors
State Agency
State Agency (usually
available for download
on website)
USDA Capacity Builder,
State agency or sponsors
School districts,
FRAC Summer Food
Target Mapper
Sponsors, NKH/FRAC
Summer Meals Sponsor
Survey
Setting Goals
The purpose of setting goals is to define the change you want to see in the program. Good goals are
enough of a stretch to motivate, but not so unrealistic that they feel impossible. Goals should be
informed by data, including previous performance in the state, areas of the greatest need, and the
resources available to increase access to summer meals.
It may be helpful to set multiple goals to define growth in different areas. Consider setting the following
types of goals to guide your work:
 Increase in total children participating in summer meals (note: before setting a participation
goal, it is important to agree on how you will calculate participation)
 Increase in total meals served, a specific type of meal served, or meals served within a specific
month
 Increase in sites and sponsors
 Retention of sponsors from the previous year
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Collaborative Planning for Summer Meals Success
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Identifying Target Areas
Setting target area help you set a clear path from your current performance to reaching your goals.
Targets identify priorities for your resources, inherently making some locations or strategies more
important than others. In identifying targets, you should consider:
 Areas with a high level of need
 Areas with a high density of low-income kids.
 Areas with gaps in services
If you are working with mobile programs, you can also review our Mobile Meals Playbook for advice on
selecting target communities.
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Collaborative Planning for Summer Meals Success
More at bestpractices.nokidhungry.org