Next week is the last week of school—and that means summer is almost here! While that often means vacations, camps, and carefree evenings, for many of our young people, it also means less access to all the vital services available during the school year.

We know that good nutrition is essential to a child’s growth and development. When school is out of session, it becomes much more difficult for students who are eligible for free or reduced cost school meals to get the nutrition they need. That is why Baltimore City's Summer Food Service Program provides free breakfast and lunch to help children get the nutrition they need to learn, play, and grow.

Last summer, we served over 1.1 million meals, covering about half of the students who are eligible for free school lunch. This summer we want to increase that number, and we have set a goal to reach 60 percent of those eligible for free summer meals. I know we can get there if we continue to work together. 

But it’s not just our children who have trouble accessing food. Right now, one in four Baltimore residents live in a food desert, where accessing healthy food is an everyday struggle. To help close this immense gap, this week we released the 2015 Food Environment Map Report. This report analyzes Baltimore’s food environment in an innovative, hyper-local way to offer the data and tools we need to better coordinate our efforts. I am confident that this report will serve as a national model, as it helps guide strategies, priorities, and policies to make our city a healthier place.

Without growing healthier communities, we cannot live up to our greatest potential as individuals or as a city. With our commitment to expanding summer meals for children in need and our ongoing efforts to stamp out food deserts across Baltimore, we can ensure our children spend their summer having fun and learning, not worrying about where their next meal will come from.