State, Local and Tribal Agencies (Respondents)

OMB Control No: 0584-XXXX Expiration Date: xx/xx/xx

Appendix E10. Site Supervisor Key Informant Interview Discussion Guide

INTERVIEWER: Review data collected from quantitative survey and keep on hand when conducting this qualitative interview.

DATE OF INTERVIEW: [MM/DD/YYYY]

INTERVIEW START TIME:_________ INTERVIEW END TIME: ____________

INTERVIEWER ID:_______ NOTE TAKER ID: _______

INTRODUCTION (3 MINS)

Hello, I am [NAME] from Insight, and I am calling about the Summer Meals Study. May I speak with:

Name of site supervisor

R available 11

R lives here – needs appointment 12

R lives at another number or address 13

Never heard of R 14

Phone company recording 15

Answering machine 16

Retry dialing 17

REFUSED 77

DON'T KNOW 99

IF RESPONDENT IS AVAILABLE:

I would like to ask you some questions about the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)/Seamless Summer Option (SSO) program, to gain better understanding about program operations and factors that affect the decision of sponsors, sites, and households to participate in the program.

Your participation in this interview is voluntary. The information you provide will be kept private and will not be disclosed to anyone outside of the research team, except as otherwise required by law. You have the right to stop at any time or skip questions. Whether you decide to participate or not will not affect any government benefits or services you or your site receives – either now or in the future.

As described in the system of record notice (SORN) titled FNS-8, USDA/FNS Studies and Reports published in the Federal Register on April 25, 1009, volume 56, pages 19078-19080, FNS and contractors working on their behalf may collect and analyze this information for research purposes and are required to have safeguards in place to keep data private. See https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-1991-04-25/pdf/FR-1991-04-25.pdf)

The interview should take about 1 hour.

Do you agree to participate?

• YES

• NO  ADDRESS ISSUES/CONCERNS ABOUT STUDY. CODE AS REFUSAL.

Thank you. Before we begin, I would like to introduce my colleague, [NAME] also from Insight. [NAME] will be taking notes while we talk. With your permission, we would also like to record this discussion. The recording will be transcribed so that we can recall exactly what was said and correctly summarize the information you provide. The recordings, transcripts, and any notes we have will be stored on Insight’s secure server and will be destroyed after the project is complete.

Do you have any questions before we begin?

INTERVIEWER: ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT WESTAT/STUDY/TOLL-FREE NUMBER, ETC. AS NEEDED.

Do I have your permission to record this discussion?

• YES

• NO – clarify if willing to continue without recording but OK with note taking. Otherwise end interview.

IF NO, ADDRESS ISSUES/CONCERNS ABOUT STUDY. CODE AS REFUSAL.

INTERVIEWER: Turn on recorder and begin interview

SECTION A. SITE PARTICIPATION FACTORS

I would like to begin our discussion by asking about <SITE NAME> and the reasons that <SITE NAME> provides [Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)/Seamless Summer Option (SSO)] meals.

A1. Can you tell me whether <SITE NAME’S> primary purpose is to offer meals, or are the meals only one component of what you offer?

[NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: For example, a camp could operate primarily to provide programming/activities to children and the meals are only one aspect of their programming. In contract, a sponsor/site could only operate to provide meals.]

A1a. Can you tell me why <SITE NAME> participates in the [Summer Food Service Program/Seamless Summer Option]?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

What are the main reasons <SITE NAME> decided to participate as a site? Free meals? Activities for children?

Would your operations continue without SFSP/SSO?

A2. What specific group of children do you have in mind to attend the meal site or program?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Is your target audience…

• …Children in the area?

• …Children enrolled in a specific program such as a camp or summer reading program?

• [FOR SFA’s: Children that attended the school during the school year?]

• …Some other subset of children?

A2a. As far as you know, has the group of children you target to attend [SFSP/SSO] program changed over time? How?

A2b. Do you feel you are successful in serving your target audience for [SFSP/SSO]? Why/why not?

A3. Does <SITE NAME> offer activities for children who eat the summer meals in addition to providing meals and snacks?

IF YES ASK: Who offers the activities for children who eat the summer meals, <SITE NAME> employees or another organization?

THEN CONTINUE WITH A4 AND A5 THEN ASK A6

IF NO: GO TO A6

A4. What role, if any, do staff from <SITE NAME> play in determining if there are activities or programs offered for these children?

A5. What types of activities does <SITE NAME> offer for children other than providing meals and/or snacks?

IF ACTIVITIES OFFERED:

A5a. Have activities or programs changed over time? How? Why?

IF NO ACTIVITIES OFFERED CURRENTLY:

A5b. Have you had activities in the past? Do you think more children would attend if there were activities?

A6. Who is involved in advertising the [SFSP/SSO] program and/or the other activities to families with children so that they will attend (site or sponsor)? What role do staff at <SITE NAME> play?

[TAILOR BASED ON PRIMARY ACTIVITY OF SITE—MEALS OR OTHER PROGRAMMING]

NOTE TO INTERVIEWER: IF SITES DO NOT OFFER ACTIVITIES IN ADDITION TO MEALS, ASK THIS ONLY FOR SUMMER MEAL PROGRAM. IF SITE OFFERS OTHER ACTIVITIES, ASK FOR SUMMER MEAL PROGRAM AND OTHER ACTIVITIES (e.g., sport camp, bible school).

PROBE IF NEEDED:

What role does [REFER TO EACH PERSON, GROUP, OR ORGANIZATION MENTIONED] play?

IF NOT MENTIONED:

What about …sponsor? ….advocacy groups? …State agency staff? …Others?

IF SPONSORS PROMOTE:

What role does the staff at <SITE NAME> play in advertising the SFSP/SSO program?

A7. What aspects, if any, of the [SFSP/SSO] are promoted to encourage families with children to participate?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Availability of free meals and snacks?

Activities?

Availability of nutritious meals and snacks?

Other aspects of the program?

A7a. Which is more important in your advertising? (Activities or free meals?)

A8. What have you done to get the word out about your [SFSP/SSO] program?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

How are families given information about the food?

Are they provided the menu in advance?

Do you wish you used other methods to promote the program? Which ones and why?

What makes it not possible for you to use these methods?

A8a. Have you advertised the program on…

• …Social media?

• …Flyers or other printed material?

• …A toll-free line?

• …any other methods?

A8b. Have any of these methods been effective? How do you know?

A8c. Are any of these methods not effective? How do you know?

A9. What schedule or timeline does your organization follow for advertising the [SFSP/SSO]?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

When do you start?

How long does the advertising last?

How has that schedule worked out?

What, if anything, would you change about the schedule? Why?

A10. Who decides the number of days or weeks the site will stay open and serve [SFSP/SSO] meals over the summer?

A10a. What factors are considered when making that decision?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Does this site consider…

• …When other programs at the site are open?

• …Availability of staff?

• …Availability of site facilities?

• …Costs?

• …Summer break for local schools?

• …Other meal options available in the area?

• …Some other factors?

A11. In prior summers, has your site been open longer, about the same, or for a shorter period of time?

IF LONGER OR SHORTER:

Why has that changed?

A12. Would you like to increase the number of days or weeks that you offer meals each summer? If so, what would help you keep the site open for more days or weeks?

A13. Has <SITE NAME> experienced any challenges with the requirement for serving meals in a congregate setting? By congregate we mean eating at the site.

PROBES IF NEEDED: Do you have challenges with…

• Finding enough space for children to eat together?

• Providing shelter from the heat/rain?

• Attracting children to the site to eat there?

• Safety of children while at site?

• Children preferring to eat off site?

SECTION B. OBTAINING MEALS

Now let’s talk about the meals at <SITE NAME> and where you get them.

B1. Who decides whether <SITE NAME> will serve breakfast, lunch, snack, and/or supper?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

How are these decisions made?

[IF SITE:] B1a. Why did you decide that the site would serve <breakfast/lunch/snack/supper>?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

• What factors were important in that decision?

  • Timing? Limit on total meals that can receive reimbursement? Popularity of certain meals with children? Other factors?

B2. Would you like to increase the number of meal services you offer each day? If so, what would help you offer more types of meals?

PROBES:

• Why haven’t you served more meal types?

• Have you reached the USDA limit of meals you can serve each day?

• Would children come to eat the meals if you served them?

• Is staffing a challenge?

• Other reasons?

IF SITE IS NOT PRIMARY MENU PLANNER:

B3. Meals at <SITE NAME> are [provided by a vendor/company or are prepared by the site/sponsor]. How would you describe your site’s involvement in the decision to [use a vendor/self-prepare]?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

How do you work together? What does that look like?

When are decisions made about using a vendor or preparing meals yourself?

Has your role in deciding how meals are bought or made for the site changed over time?

IF SITE IS PRIMARY MENU PLANNER AND SITE USES VENDOR:

B4. Meals at <SITE NAME> are provided by a vendor. Please walk me through the process of how the decision was made to use a vendor for meals, instead of preparing meals yourself.

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Who made the decision?

B4a. What factors were considered when deciding whether to purchase the meals from a vendor instead of preparing your own meals?

PROBES:

How does your organization consider…

• Facilities at the meal service site? (kitchen, equipment, storage, etc) IF YES: What type of facilities did you have? What facilities are needed to prepare meals on site?

• Cost of meals? IF YES: What alternative meal service arrangements did you consider? How much more cost effective was your choice of vendor?

• Number of children enrolled or expected to be participate in the program? IF YES: What process did you use to estimate the number of meals you would need? Did you find your estimate to be on target?

• Expected changes in daily or weekly attendance of children at the site?

• Availability of kitchen staff to prepare meals? IF YES: Were you able to explore multiple staffing sources (for example, school or organization employees, volunteers, temporary employees)?

• Some other factors?

B4b. Which factor is most important in deciding how you make or buy meals for <SITE NAME>? Why is that most important?

B5. How satisfied or dissatisfied is <SITE NAME> with the available vendors in your area?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Why? (For example, cost, meal quality, number of vendors to choose from, meal delivery options)

B6. Would you prefer that staff at <SITE NAME> prepare your own meals? Why/why not?

B6i. What would you need to be able to prepare your own meals?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

• Equipment? Staff expertise? Facilities? Other?

IF SITE IS PRIMARY MENU PLANNER AND SITE IS SELF-PREP:

B7. Meals at <SITE NAME> are prepared by the site. Please walk me through the process of how the decision was made to prepare your own meals, instead of buying meals from a meal vendor or company.

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Who made the decision?

B7a. What factors were considered when deciding whether to self-prepare meals instead of purchasing the meals from a vendor?

PROBES:

How does your organization consider…

• Facilities at the meal service site? (kitchen, equipment, storage, etc) IF YES: What type of facilities did you have? Did you need?

• Cost of meals? IF YES: What alternative meal service arrangements did you consider? How much more cost effective was your choice of vendor?

• Number of children enrolled or expected to be participate in the program? IF YES: What process did you use to estimate the number of meals you would need? Did you find your estimate to be on target?

• The consistency or variability in daily or weekly attendance of children at the site?

• Availability of kitchen staff to prepare meals? IF YES: Were you able to explore multiple staffing sources (for example, school or organization employees, volunteers, temporary employees)?

• Some other factors?

B7b. Which factor is most important in deciding how you make or buy meals for <SITE NAME>? Why is that most important?

SECTION C. PLANNING MENUS

Now let’s talk about the menus for <SITE NAME>.

IF SITE IS NOT PRIMARY MENU PLANNER:

C1. How is <SITE NAME> involved in the menu planning process, if at all?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

What do you do? (for example, review menus, provide suggestions, provide feedback on popular and unpopular foods, etc.)

When are you involved?

Do you have staff who are dietitians or nutritionists?

ASK REMAINING QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION ONLY IF SITE IS PRIMARY MENU PLANNER:

C2. What is your menu planning process for <SITE NAME>?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Who participates in the menu planning process?

In planning menus, what is the role of…

• …Staff within your organization?

• …Sponsor staff?

• …State agency staff?

• .. Any others who participate?

IF THEY USE VENDED MEALS

C2a. How does the vendor participate, if at all, in the menu planning process?

C3. What is the timing of the menu planning process?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

When did the menu planning process begin for the most recent year of [SFSP/SSO]?

When does menu planning start?

How long does the planning process take?

C4. What resources does your organization use in planning menus?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Do you use USDA or state provided nutrition information or sample menus?

Which resources are especially helpful? Why?

What else does your organization need for menu planning, that you don’t currently have?

C5. Thinking more about how you plan menus, what factors are most important?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

What about meal pattern requirements? Facilities? Staff? Sponsor guidance? State guidance? Equipment? Children’s feedback? Cost?

Why are these important?

How are they considered?

C6. What does your organization use as the basis for defining what “healthy meals” are?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Has your organization developed its own definition of “healthy meals,” or adapted one from some other source? How do you define “healthy meals”?

IF ANOTHER SOURCE:

Which source?

C6a. What guidelines, if any, does <SITE NAME> use to set standards for “healthy meals?”

C6b. What do you do to provide healthy meals?

• Fresh foods?

• Variety of foods?

• Certain types of foods? (For example, fruits, vegetables, whole grains)

C7. How much focus is placed on serving “healthy meals”?

C7a. Is the focus limited to ensuring the meals meet the meal pattern requirements?

C7b. Do you have a dietitian or nutritionist review the menus?

C7c. What challenges, if any, do you have in serving healthy meals?

C8. When planning menus for <SITE NAME>, how are food preferences of children taken into account?

C9. How does <SITE NAME> monitor how children react to menus/new menu items?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

For example, taste tests, surveys, food plate waste?

C10. When planning menus for <SITE NAME>, how do you plan meals to accommodate local foods and cultural preferences of your participants?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

What are some examples of local preferences you incorporate?

How do you get input from the children or community about cultural foods to consider?

C11. When planning menus for <SITE NAME>, do you use USDA foods? [IF NEEDED: USDA FOODS ARE “COMMODITIES” OR FOODS PURCHASED BY USDA SUCH AS FRUITS, VEGETABLES, MEATS, CHEESE, AND GRAINS THAT ARE PROVIDED TO SUMMER MEAL SITES TO SUPPORT THEIR MEAL SERVICE ]

IF THE SITE USES USDA FOODS:

C11a. How are USDA Foods used in meals?

C11b. How easy or difficult is it to incorporate USDA foods into the menus?

C11c. What is <SITE NAME’s> experience with using USDA foods in the menus?

C11d. How does using USDA foods impact the bottom line?

C11e. Which USDA foods would you like to use, but are not available in your State?

IF USDA FOODS ARE NOT AVAILABLE OR USED:

C11f. How do you think you would use USDA foods if they were available in your State? What impact would this have on your menus?

IF SITE CONSIDERED LOCAL FOODS IN MENU PLANNING:

C12. How do you incorporate locally-produced foods into the meals?

C13. What do you consider “local foods” for your program?

…in the State?

…in the county?

…other area?

C14. Are you aware of any State or regional program to promote local foods?

C15. What are the benefits of obtaining and using local foods?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Are there benefits such as the…

• …Opportunity to provide fresh food?

• …Opportunity to support the local economy and farmers?

• …Opportunity for education about food, etc?

C16. What are the challenges in obtaining and using local foods?

PROBES IF NEEDED:

Do you face challenges such as…

• …Finding local farmers?

• …Unpredictability of obtaining the foods?

• …Higher costs?

SECTION D. MEAL SERVICE

Now let’s talk about the meals.

D1. What are the participants’ reactions to the meals that are served?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Do participants like the meals? How do you know?

• Do participants tell you what they think of the meals?

• How much food is thrown away?

D2. ASK ONLY IF NOT ALREADY COVERED: What changes, if any, have you noticed in daily participation based on the types of food served?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Do more participants show up on days when certain meals are served?

IF YES:

D2a. What kinds of meals and snacks seem to be related to higher participation (more participants showing up)? Why?

D2b. What characteristics of those meals and snacks explain the better attendance?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Hot meals (i.e., meals with at least one component that is heated)? Pizza? Hamburgers? Other meals?

D3. Have any changes been made to the foods served in response to feedback from children? What were they?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

How has that worked out?

D4. What challenges, if any, do you have in serving special meals for children with food allergies or other types of special dietary needs?

PROBE IF NEEDED: Do you serve many children with special dietary needs?

IF SITE PROVIDES “EXTRA” FOODS WITH MEALS:

D5. Why do you serve extra foods for free in addition to the meal?

[portion sizes are too small for some children; funding is available to buy them, etc.]

D5a. What kinds of “extra” foods do you serve?

D5b. How frequently do you serve them?

D5c. Do all or only some children take the extra foods?

IF SITE OFFERS A LA CARTE FOODS:

D6. How frequently do children buy the foods sold in vending machines and snack bars?

D6a. How does this affect how many kids take meals and how much of their meals they eat or throw away?

D7. Who decides which foods will be sold as a la carte?

D7a. Are the a la carte foods considered to be healthy or not healthy?

Why?

D7b. What are some examples of the a la carte foods offered at this site?

SECTION E. SUMMER FOOD PROGRAM OVERALL EXPERIENCE

The last topic I’d like to cover today is <SITE NAME’s> overall experiences as a participant in the summer meals program.

E1. For <SITE NAME>, what is the greatest benefit of participating in [SFSP/SSO]?

E2. What is the greatest challenge <SITE NAME> faces in serving summer meals?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

• Staff?

• Training?

• Budget?

• Equipment?

• Facilities?

• Program rules?

• Menu planning?

• Food costs?

• Transportation?

• The requirement that children must eat meals at the site?

• Shelter from the heat or rain

• Ensuring that the site is safe for kids to come and eat their meals

E2a. What makes this the greatest challenge? Are there any other challenges you considered, but decided not to mention? IF SO: Why?

E3. Overall, how would you characterize <SITE NAME’S> experience with the summer meals program?

PROBE IF NEEDED:

Has it been a positive or a negative experience? Why?

E4. Would you recommend or not recommend the program to other sites considering participation, or not? Why?

Thank you for participating in the Summer Meals Study.

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 60 minutes per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Services, Office of Policy Support, 3101 Park Center Drive, Room 1014, Alexandria, VA 22302 ATTN: PRA (0584-xxxx*). Do not return the completed form to this address.