PHILADELPHIA – In light of the City and State emergency closures, the City, School District of Philadelphia, Philadelphia Housing Authority and several charter schools have created a new list of schools and community sites that are distribution points for student meals. These additions also come with changes to the days in which meals will be available for distribution.

School meal sites and schedules will change beginning Monday, March 23. In addition, Parks & Recreation sites are no longer distributing student meals beginning March 23.

All meal sites will continue to be open from 9 a.m. until noon, but the locations and frequency of distribution are changed. Revisions to the meals distribution program include:

• School District sites (49 total) will be open Mondays and Thursdays only. Families can pick up three grab-and-go bags per student/child on these days.

  • School District sites will continue to make available the K-12 Learning Guides, optional resources to help reduce learning regression while students are out of school due to efforts to reduce the spread of COVID-19 throughout the Philadelphia region.

• Charter school sites (25 total) are also open from 9 a.m. until noon. Families are encouraged to check the charter schools websites for days of meal distribution.

• Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) community centers (6 total) are also open from 9 a.m. until noon. Families are encouraged to visit http://www.pha.phila.gov/ for days of meal distribution.

The following 80 schools and Philadelphia Housing Authority locations are distributing meals, beginning March 23, 2020:

District schools open Mondays and Thursdays, 9 a.m. – noon.

Families will receive six meals per student—3 breakfasts and 3 lunches

Charter school locations open on varying days from 9 a.m. to noon. (contact schools or visit their websites for exact days):

The Philadelphia Housing Authority has six community centers open for “grab-and-go” meals for breakfast and lunch from Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to noon beginning on March 23.

A list and interactive map of the 80 sites are available on phila.gov.

“We realize the important role the District plays in keeping the safety net intact for our students and we will continue to encourage families to visit these meal distribution sites,” said Superintendent William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D. “We are also ensuring that our Learning Guides will be available at each school site because we remain committed to  supporting our families during this difficult time and urge them to take advantage of any and all resources provided throughout the city.”

Deputy Mayor Cynthia Figueroa said, “Making sure children and youth have access to meals is critical especially at this time. Just this week, over 18,000 children received 42,365 meals at all of our sites citywide. It’s one way we can take care of each other, and we’re thankful for the many staff who have worked together to make sure kids have access to meals while schools are closed.

Meal and activity sites were selected based on neighborhood needs, size of facilities, and a desire to be geographically spread throughout the city.

Please note that beginning March 23, recreation centers will no longer distribute student meals.

Health Dept. update: Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley today announced 23 additional presumptive confirmed cases of COVID-19 novel coronavirus in Philadelphia. That brings the number of confirmed cases to 67.

Business owners or managers who have questions about restrictions can email vbeoc@phila.gov. Residents or employees who believe a business is in violation of these restrictions are urged to contact 311. Restaurants may provide food through online, delivery, pickup, or walk-in ordering only. Dine-in service is strictly prohibited. The City has posted a list of available resources to help businesses impacted by the closures.

Resources for workers have been added to the phila.gov/covid-19 page. The blog post will be updated with additional resources as they become available. The post includes a survey for workers affected by COVID-19 to gain more information about the impact.

Residents with questions can call the Greater Philadelphia Coronavirus Helpline at 1800-722-7112. The Helpline, free and available 24/7, is staffed by trained healthcare providers and is for anyone in the Greater Philadelphia area, including the public and help answer all of their questions about the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Residents can get COVID-19 updates sent to their phones. Text COVIDPHL to 888-777 to receive free alerts with information and updates from the Health Department. Information is also being updated daily on the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s webpage www.phila.gov/covid-19.

Notes to media: Starting Saturday, March 21, 2020, the daily 1:00 p.m. press briefings will move to a virtual platform Zoom. Virtual press conferences allow safe social distancing as advised by the CDC. Members of the media will be able to ask questions through Zoom during the Q&A portion of the briefing.

To download the plugin needed for Zoom, visit https://zoom.us/download. The platform can be accessed both via smartphones and computers. The link for the Zoom meeting room will be sent daily in the media advisory. We appreciate your patience as we stand up this new platform.

These updates will continue to be live-streamed via the Department of Public Health’s Twitter (@PHLPublicHealth) and Facebook accounts, and broadcast on PHLGovTV, Comcast channels 64 and 1164, and Verizon channels 40 and 41.

Due to the volume of press requests related to COVID-19, members of the media are asked to hold all City-related questions for those daily briefings. Emailed press questions should go to press@phila.gov.