Assemblywoman Pilar Schiavo, D-Chatsworth, took a tour on Wednesday of School Day Cafe’s Valencia facility to learn more about the school meal program.
Schiavo expressed her desire to make sure the program was getting all that it needs from the state, especially now, as she noted that rising food costs have made meals unaffordable for many families.
“Families are really struggling, and food insecurity is very real for a lot of families, even here in Santa Clarita,” Schiavo said after going through the facility on Wednesday. “We want to make sure to support programs that are ensuring that kids get healthy food every day.”
Schiavo and a few of her staff members spent about an hour with Brittany Young, director of child nutrition programs at School Day Cafe, and other representatives of the organization, going through the Valencia facility and learning more about what happens there on a daily basis.
According to its website, School Day Cafe is a program of the Santa Clarita Valley School Food Services Agency that serves an average of 22,000 free nutritious meals during the school year across 37 campuses. With over 150 employees, the program strives to contribute to students’ health, well-being, and their ability to learn.
Young added that since the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of the state’s Universal Feeding program — which gives all students free, healthy meals — participation in School Day Cafe has significantly grown, with breakfasts up 92%, lunches up 36%, and snacks and dinners up 662%.
During the tour, Young led Schiavo and the group through the test kitchen where chefs test recipes, the prep areas, the bakery, the freezer and refrigerator rooms, the overstock area and the loading dock where trucks pick up food between 4 and 5 a.m. weekdays to deliver to schools in the Castaic, Newhall, Saugus and Sulphur Springs school districts.
Throughout the regular school year, the School Day Cafe facility is usually much busier than it was on Wednesday, Young said. However, the program is still up and running for the summer, as School Day Cafe participates in the Seamless Summer Option, offering free meals to children aged 18 and under at community pick‑up sites like community centers and libraries.
During Wednesday’s tour, Schiavo asked Young whether the School Day Cafe program was at risk of losing state or federal funding. Young assured her there were no cuts this year and none expected in the near future.
Schiavo also spoke with Elizabeth Donis, the registered dietitian at School Day Cafe, about upcoming federal nutrition rules that’ll limit the amount of sodium and added sugars allowed in school meals each week.
“In 2027, that’s when the food diet regulation goes into effect,” Donis told the assemblywoman. “We’re starting to see that in some of the products that are coming out. So, yeah, we’re just keeping on top of all those standards … We’re making sure that kids aren’t getting too much of those things that they’d normally get in heavily processed foods.”
According to Young, School Day Cafe is proactively updating its recipes and training staff to not only meet but also exceed standards and stay ahead of any further United States Department of Agriculture updates.
Susan Weiss, director of operations and fiscal for School Day Cafe, took part in the tour on Wednesday. She spoke about the importance of the program.
She explained that they serve breakfast to around 9,000 students each school day.
“Sometimes it’s the only meals they have in a day,” she said. “Even in these districts. We have pockets here in Santa Clarita where you will see there is a food insecurity. We help with our after-school snack programs, our supper programs, and the lunch and the breakfast. We think that we provide a pretty good day’s worth of meals for those kids.”
After the tour of the facility, Schiavo applauded the School Day Cafe program for the “amazing work” they’re doing. She was impressed with the number of meals they get out each day.
She spoke about how rising food costs are making it hard for some programs in the state to stay afloat — like a day care center she visited on Tuesday, where the owner isn’t even able to pay herself. Schiavo said that’s why the support and services offered by School Day Café matter so much.
“There are so many things that are connected to having healthy food available,” she said. “This is a critical lifeline for those kids and families in a time when they need it, and I’m very happy that even in a hard budget year, the state of California continues to invest in this program and programs like it to make sure that kids get a hot meal every day — healthy, good, delicious food — so they can learn and grow and play and be successful.”
For more information about School Day Cafe, go to SCVSchoolNutrition.org.
