The Summer Meals Student Workforce Toolkit A Comprehensive Guide for Recruiting, Training, and Managing Student Workers in Summer Meals Programs.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Why Hire Student Workers - Learn about why bringing youth employees into summer meals programs can enrich the programs and improve participation.
2. Recruitment Best Practices - Learn best practices from the beginning to the end of the hiring process, including guidance about the job description & outreach efforts, the job application process, and the job interview.
3. Employee Orientation - Learn about how to create a robust onboarding experience, including seting expectations and guidelines, providing an overview of organization-wide policies, and training and educating workers about summer meals.
4. Engaging Student Employees - Learn about the importance of providing student employees with learning and growth opportunities while they are supporting the summer meals program.
5. Close-Out Process - Learn about gathering feedback and celebrating student employees once the summer meals programs end.

WHY HIRE STUDENT WORKERS

The importance and value of incorporating youth voices into summer non-congregate programs, via seasonal job opportunities for high school and college students, cannot be understated.

Work programs aimed at engaging youth employees allow organizations to increase their capacity while giving high school and college students tangible experiences in a work environment. Organizations may find hiring and retaining long-term, full-time staff challenging due to circumstances beyond their control, e.g., economic uncertainty, lack of available workforce, and competition from other job opportunities. High school and college students can fill that gap.

To be successful, student jobs must be symbiotic and provide mutually beneficial outcomes for all parties. High school and college workers can build strong relationships with elementary, middle and high school students participating in federal nutrition programs, as they are often closer in age to the kids and teens in the community than other staffers. High school and college students can also reflect the communities they work in so younger students can see themselves in the programs.

High school and college students provide a valuable perspective on the meal programs. Based on their age and experience, they can provide new and innovative ideas to improve aspects of the meal programs, and have the potential to address challenges and barriers in new and exciting ways.

High school and college age students often have trouble finding seasonal jobs in their communities and these jobs also offer students an opportunity to learn more about their communities and issues of food insecurity that they might not even be aware of.

RECRUITMENT BEST PRACTICES

It’s important to start recruiting high school and college workers several months before the summer season starts because it may take time to find high quality candidates. It’s recommended to start posting the job description and job application to get the word out between January and April.

UNIONS: Organizations need to check with their unions to find out if they have any restrictions on hiring students for work. Some union contracts state that if they cannot find enough union workers to fill open positions, they will then recruit student workers.

Job Description & Outreach

The job description should include all requirements and expectations, including hours, professional expectations, physical requirements, prohibited behavior (e.g., cell phone usage), payment structure/option, and appropriate dress code. It should also highlight the benefits of working on summer meals. High school and college students may not realize that in addition to a paycheck, working on summer meals can help them to learn a trade, build their network, and gain valuable experience to support their future job endeavors.

Here is a sample JOB DESCRIPTION. If it’s helpful, please download it and customize it with your program’s information. The job description should include a link or QR to the application.

The job description should be distributed in multiple places and given to different stakeholders throughout the community that can distribute it to their networks via emails, social media, and word of mouth, such as:

• Schools/Technical schools/Local Colleges
• School Counselors
• School Public Relation and Communication Offices
• National Honor Society
• Athletic Coaches and Sports Teams
• Job Fairs
• Libraries
• Corner Stores
• Health Department
• Parents
• Teachers
• Students
• District/Organization Employees

Here is a more in-depth list of RECRUITMENT POSSIBILITIES.

SOCIAL MEDIA is a great way to spread the word about open positions and connect with students. Creating marketing materials with basic information, including a QR code, website, or phone number so interested students can find out more, can go a long way in terms of recruitment. HERE ARE EXAMPLES of social media materials created by school nutrition departments that advertise open positions. While not all of these examples are for summer meals, they still showcase how to use graphic design, utilize choice wording, and provide the essential information to share on a social media post. Additionally, School Nutrition Association’s SN Plus published From “Help Wanted” to “Talent Found”, an article detailing the use of social media for recruitment that provides best practices and examples of social media posts.

In addition to the job description, it can be helpful to provide talking points for parents, teachers & coaches, such as:

• Summer meals work can provide extra cash during the summer months,
• You will directly be impacting your community in a positive way,
• It’s part-time work, so it won’t take up the entire summer break, and
• You’ll gain valuable experience to put on your resume.

Here is a full list of TALKING POINTS.

Job Application

The job application can be posted online via Google docs for easy access and smooth application. The online application should contain several important questions that will help determine appropriate candidates for the job. Some questions to ask are:

• What is their age?
• If they are required to drive as part of their role, ask if they have a Driver's License.
• Why are they interested in the position?
• Do they have three references that can speak to their character and professionalism?
• Do they plan on taking vacation time during the summer months?
• Does your county require a work permit for youth workers?
• How do they prefer payment? Some students may have bank accouts to facilitate direct deposit, but other students will need to use pay cards, pre-paid debit cards, or payment services - like Venmo or Paypal, which do not require a bank account.

Determine if requesting a resume and cover letter are appropriate for this role, and consider that for many students, this may be their first job, and therefore the students applying may never have written a resume or cover letter before now.

Here is an example of an ONLINE JOB APPLICATION using Google.

Job Interview

Once online applications have been submitted, the next step is to review applications and choose several top candidates to interview. An in-person interview or a video call is best, as it's important to see the candidate, which will make for a more personal interaction. You can also better assess how they present themselves in the interview if you can visually connect with them and hold a dialogue.

Here are some questions to ask candidates to help you assess whether they would be a good fit for your summer meals program:

• Why are you interested in this job?
• What skills do you bring to this job?
• Do you understand the physical job requirements, e.g., loading/unloading boxes, packing food, being outside on hot days, working in a cooler/freezer, etc.?
• Do you understand the dress code and food safety requirements, e.g., dressing appropriately to meet families and perform physical labor, not wearing long nails, nail polish, etc?
• How would this experience impact you or your awareness of food insecurity?
• What are you hoping to learn in this role?
• What are your long-term goals?
• How well can you cook or are you interested in learning how to cook? Please rate on a scale of 1-5.
• What are some strengths and weaknesses you bring to this work?
• What is your learning style?
• How could we support you and your learning style in this role?
• What are some barriers that would prevent you from accepting this job? i.e. having to go to summer school, summer camps, vacation scheduled?
• What are your favorite things to cook at home?
• Are you comfortable with not having access to your cell phone during working hours?
• Do you have transportation that would allow you to come to work early in the morning?
• What excites you about this opportunity?
• What scares you about this opportunity?
• Do you currently (or have you in the past) eat/eaten school breakfast or school lunch at your school?

Using a scoring rubric might help evaluate top candidates. Here is an example of a SCORING RUBRIC.

References: Once you’ve narrowed down your search to a few candidates, part of the interview process will be to connect with the references each top candidate provided. Here is a list of questions to possibly ask references:

• How do you know the candidate?
• What are this candidate's strengths?
• How would you rate their communication skills?
• How does this student interact with others?
• Would you trust this person in this role?
• Are they a leader?
• How does this student interact with others?
• What was one of their most significant accomplishments?
• What reservations do you have about this person for this role?
• Does this candidate have a good attendance record?
• Can you describe their work ethic?
• Would you re-hire this candidate? Why, or why not?
• What were their key responsibilities?
• How does this student interact with others?

Here is a SAMPLE REFERENCE DOCUMENT to use.

EMPLOYEE ORIENTATION

Once students are officially a part of the summer meals team, plan to include them in a robust orientation, as many students, especially high school students, will have never held a job before and will not be familiar with professional standards or norms.

General Information

• Expectations of the role - the employee should get clear information about how their time will be spent while on the job, day-to-day and throughout the summer months, including the tasks that they will be responsible for, the schedule they will be on, who they will report to, and any other duties that might be assigned to them.
• Kitchen Safety, Health & Sanitation - If employees are expected to be around food, they need to be aware of state health code, including what is prohibited, such as jewelry, finger nail polish and long fingernails, false eyelashes, open-toed shoes, etc. If students are expected to work in a kitchen, having them get a ServeSafe Food Handler certification, which lasts three years and costs $15, can be considered part of their professional development, and they can use the certification in other jobs.
• Teamwork Mentality - student employees may never have worked in a professional environment where teams work together before, so it’s important to explain how their role impacts that team, how all team members have specific roles, and how team members work together, collaborate, and ultimately help each other.
• Customer Service - if employees will be interacting with families in the community, they need to be onboarded about how to act and communicate appropriately. Teach students about politeness, active listening, being engaged and positive, and using neutral, non-offensive language. Students need to know how to handle questions from the community about program access.
• Menus and Meal Counts - educate employees about the summer meals menu guidelines and why the nutrition standards are important. Additionally, if students will be counting meals, give them proper training on how to perform that task and the importance of accurate counting.
• Facility Tour & Staff Introductions - all employees should have a facility tour and meet all staff to feel a part of the team and be comfortable in the work environment.
• Adult Staff - adult workers need to be trained on how to work with student employees and to respect that this might be their very first job. Patience and understanding can go a long way.

Organization-Wide Policies

• Dress Code - students may not know what a professional dress code looks like, so be explicit with what is expected, and what is not allowed, especially if they will be representing the organization externally, e.g., no short shorts, no clothing with logos or writing that might be offensive, etc. The dress code should be weather appropriate and appropriate for lifting and moving boxes, e.g., no open-toed shoes, no jewelry, etc. The importance of wearing non-slip sole shoes. Letting the student know that they will be required to wear a hairnet and apron.
• Professional Conduct - students may never have worked in a professional environment before, so they may not be aware of how the conduct is different from school or home. Provide clear guidelines around professional conduct, what is expected, and what is prohibited, e.g., not being on your cell phone or earbuds during working hours, no sexual harassment, not using curse words or disrespectful language, must show up on time, must call your supervisor if you are sick rather than just not showing up, etc.
• Social Media & Email Guidelines - Employees need to know if they are allowed to post about the summer feeding program. If student employees will be posting on social media and sending out emails on behalf of the summer meals organization, they need specific guidelines about what is appropriate to post, and the type of language to use to reach broad audiences and families. Here is MEDIA RELEASE LANGUAGE to use if you plan on using family images in public materials.
• Protocol & Procedures - If the organization has an employee handbook, provide that to the student employee and have the student fill out a form signifying they have read and understand the contents of the handbook. Provide student employees with clear directions on:

1. Clocking in and out of work (on time), and expectations for transportation to and from work
2. Call out procedures (call-in sick; schedule vacation time/get vacation time approved, if allowed)
3. Filling out a time sheet
4. Breaks during work (restroom, lunch, etc.)
5. Chain of command
6. Paycheck protocol

Trainings and Education

Summer meals and diversity, equity and inclusion trainings are required of all employees to help expand understanding of the food safety net and the experiences of the families participating in summer meals programs. Providing information for new hires around why it's critical to create healthy, equitable communities where no one goes hungry, is a building block to lasting change. Inequities and systemic racism perpetuate unjust societal frameworks, and education is needed to inform everyone about the key drivers of poverty if we want to end it. The resources below provide a robust overview of summer meals and diversity, equity and inclusion in relation to federal meals programs.

Summer Meals:

• Summer Food Service Program Overview
• Summer Meals Fact Sheet
• Non-Congregate Summer Meals NKH Webpage
• Rural Non-Congregate Summer Meal Programs: Understanding the Caregiver Experience
• Rural Non-Congregate Summer Meals Webinar Series

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion:

• Fostering Health Equity Through the Out-of-School Time Meal Programs - This resource highlights many EDI practices that could be useful in any school meals program. The lessons and shared strategies can be used across various programs and including summer meals.
• Planning with Purpose: An Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Checklist - This checklist helps you prioritize and embrace equity, diversity & inclusion (EDI) within your organization’s event planning process. Use this checklist as a tool to assist in identifying potential gaps and informing your organization’s equity lens.
• Conversation Starters for Designing More Inclusive School Meals Programs - This resource includes a section on asking families and students how to create a more inclusive school meals program which can be applied to summer meal programs as well.
• Designing a Meal Program that Reaches Everybody - Use the questions in this resource as prompts to take a step back and evaluate whether your meal program is designed to reach every child in your community.
• School Nutrition Equity in Nebraska - This resource from Nebraska Appleseed shares its equity dialogue with school districts and communities across the state. This resource provides tools and examples for school districts to make their nutrition programs more equitable for all students.

Acronym List - most students will be unfamiliar with terms used for summer meals and safety net programs, so this will be a useful resource.

ENGAGING STUDENT EMPLOYEES

Even though the student employees are hired to support the summer meals work, there is also an opportunity to support their learnings and growth as well. Here are some examples:

• Give creative control over a task or project, while still providing guidance and limitations. For example, have student employees create a feedback survey for families. The guidance and limitations could be that the survey has to be 3 to 5 questions, and one question must pertain to the meal pick-up logistics. Employees can give the survey to families during meal pick-up and record answers on an ipad in real time.
• Give tasks to student employees that capitalize on their strengths (with prompts and deadlines). For instance, an employee who is particularly good at photo and video work could be assigned to take photos and videos of the program. The prompt could be that the photos must capture the production process (receiving bulk items and packing meals), and all pictures must be taken by Thursday of that week. Or, a student employee might be great at designing promotional materials. Have that employee design a flier detailing what local produce is in the meal pick-up for a specific week, and the health benefits of that produce.
• Solicit feedback from student employees. For example, have employees review the weekly menu and ask for feedback.

Document the Work: The summer meals season goes by fast! Documenting the great work that is happening in real time may not be a top priority with all the other things you have to manage. Utilizing student workers to help capture the work is a great way to involve them. This includes collecting photos and videos of the summer meals program. Be sure to get media releases from families if you plan to share images publicly.

CLOSE-OUT PROCESS

Once the summer meals program ends, take the opportunity to celebrate student employees and gather feedback about their experience.

Celebration Ideas:

• Throw a good-bye party - this celebrates the student employees and solidifies that they have been a part of the team.
• Post on social media - post on social media about the student workers, their impact, and their accomplishments while on the team.

Gather Feedback via Exit Interviews:

• In-person or via video chat - schedule time to connect with student workers either in-person or via video chat to ask specific, open-ended questions about the student employee’s experience working in the summer meals program. (sample exit interview questions are below)
• Online - create an exit survey in google forms (or another online platform) using specific, open-ended questions, about the student employee’s experience working on the summer meals program.

Sample Exit Interview Questions:

• What positive contributions did you bring to the summer meals program?
• What did you learn while you were working here?
• What would you change about the program?
• What part of the job did you like the most?
• What advice would you give to student employees next summer?
• What was your favorite task and why?

Require a final project detailing their experience:

If time allows, have the student employee create a PPT presentation or a blog post that details their experience, what their accomplishments were, and how they contributed to the work. The presentation can be shared with community members or other staffers, and the blog post can be shared publicly. Here is a blog post example.