The annual SCP-VISTA Summer Associate Program was designed as a short-term, eight-week community service intensive intended to provide direct support to anti-poverty efforts on the Plateau, with a special focus on alleviating child hunger and reducing summer learning loss.
In 2016 the program began a flagship partnership with Sewanee Dining to implement and operate the South Cumberland Summer Meal Program (SCSMP), a large-volume, regional distribution of no-cost, healthy meals via the FNS / USDA Summer Food Service Program. During its seven years of operation, this partnership helped to meet food availability needs during the summer months of June and July – a crucial time frame for food security on the South Cumberland, when the ‘safety net’ of K-12 school-year meals is not in place and child hunger rates typically rise.
As part of their overall support of food security efforts, the SCP-VISTA program staffed and coordinated SCSMP, while a rotating, full-year VISTA for Hunger Relief assisted with research, training, and sustainability efforts. Each summer a cohort of students, community members, and food allies served as AmeriCorps VISTA Summer Associates, delivering and distributing meals to youth at community partner sites in Franklin, Marion, and Grundy counties.
When not distributing meals, Summer Associates served with the many nonprofits, social services, and governmental agencies scattered across the Plateau region. Under the direction of community partners, Summer Associates served a variety of needs: designing and leading K-12 educational activities, creating outreach materials for nonprofits, assisting with research on topics related to community development and poverty alleviation, engaging in community education events and resource fairs, community gardening, affordable housing repair and construction, and more.
