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The Camp Youth Mentor (YuM) Project: Engaging High School Students as TANF-Funded Youth Mentors in the USDA Summer Food Service Program to Improve Nutrition and Health

Award Number: R01HD120343
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/14/2026
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2031

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The Camp Youth Mentor (YuM) Project: Engaging High School Students as TANF-Funded Youth Mentors in the USDA Summer Food Service Program to Improve Nutrition and Health - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Today, 9.3 million US children experience food insecurity, and teens are particularly challenged. Poverty is a key driver of food insecurity. Teen employment has been linked with increased household food security. Food insecurity increases the risk for poor nutrition and physical health. Food insecurity also negatively impacts mental health, especially teens in which food insecurity has been linked with suicidal behaviors. During the summer, when school is out of session and children lose access to the USDA school meal programs, rates of food insecurity, poor dietary patterns, and inappropriate weight gain accelerate. The USDA Summer Food Service Program (SFSP) acts as a summer food safety net for children (up to 18 years) when access to school meals is lost. The SFSP provides healthy meals and snacks, and SFSP sites are encouraged to offer programming. The SFSP has demonstrated protective effects on child food security, dietary intake, and BMI. However, SFSP participation rates among teens are low due to the perception that the SFSP is for younger children and poor engagement methods for older children. Our pilot work demonstrates that when income- eligible teens are engaged in the SFSP by employing them as paid (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF) mentors to children, teens experience improvement in their nutrition and physical/mental health. Additionally, children attending the SFSP experience a greater benefit when programming is delivered by a teen vs an adult. The objective of this project is to test the efficacy of Camp Youth Mentor (YuM), an 8-week summer intervention that trains and employs teens as paid (TANF) mentors to children enrolled in the USDA SFSP and is designed to improve teens and (downstream) children’s nutrition and physical/mental health. Camp YuM will be tested in teens and children residing in low-income households of metropolitan Columbus Ohio where rates of child food insecurity are consistently higher than the national average. This project will provide a highly scalable model via existing federal programs (SFSP and TANF) that can be applied to other communities across the country to address the problem of summer hunger and poor health in today’s most nutritionally challenged youth.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $654,186 )
2026	2026	OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, THE	1960 KENNY RD	COLUMBUS	OH	43210	FRANKLIN	USA	Child Health and Human Development Extramural Research	000	1	9/14/2026	NEW	$654,186
														Subtotal = $654,186

Grand Total All Awards = $654,186

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The Camp Youth Mentor (YuM) Project: Engaging High School Students as TANF-Funded Youth Mentors in the USDA Summer Food Service Program to Improve Nutrition and Health

Award Number: R01HD120343

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/14/2026

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 08/31/2031

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