Finding a Solution to School Shaming

"Far too often in school cafeterias across the country, a student is served a lunch, only for it to be thrown away because he or she does not have money in the lunch account or in hand to pay for the meal. Some school districts also reportedly stamp children’s hands or make them wear stickers that say “I need lunch money” — ostensibly to remind a parent or guardian to put funds in a student’s lunch account.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is requiring school districts to establish a policy by July 1 for the 2017–2018 school year for how to handle situations when students do not have money to pay for their meal. Alternatively, states can set a policy for all school districts to follow, or set guidelines that local policies must meet. Though USDA has not prescribed what school districts can and cannot do, this is an important opportunity for states, school administrators, advocates and other stakeholders to establish policies that protect children and prevent stigma in the cafeteria."



Source: The Hill, 5/11/17, Read More >

'Lunch Shaming' Will Soon Be Regulated

"Every day in this country students come to school without a way to pay for lunch. Right now it's up to the school to decide what happens next.

With policies to handle unpaid meals all over the map, the USDA, which administers the federal school meal program, will soon require that all school districts have a policy on what to do when kids can't pay — a growing problem.

By July 1, those policies must be in writing and communicated to staff, parents and the community."

Source: NPR, 4/17/7, Read More >

No Meals May Mean No Snow Days

"When school districts decide to stay open during inclement weather, many parents assume that it relates to the roads.

But there’s another reason schools are reluctant to grant snow days: Their students may have little to eat at home. According to the Agriculture Department, 20 million students receive free lunch, and 11.7 million receive free breakfast, at school."



Source: The Washington Post, 3/15/17, Learn More>

Metropolitan AME Zion Church Show of Support

This month, the Metropolitan AME Zion Church in Hartford, held their Christmas Concert to benefit Foodshare. Our President and CEO, James Arena-DeRosa had the opportunity to speak with attendees about our work, sharing how fellow church members could stay involved in fighting hunger here at home.

Thanks to to their overwhelming generosity, we will be able to provide over 3,000 meals for our hungry neighbors this winter and get people connected with longer-term support through programs like SNAP, school breakfast and lunch programs.

Thank you Metropolitan AME Zion for supporting Foodshare this holiday season!

No to Expansion of School Meals

"A bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that would have made changes to the $22 billion federal program that distributes free and reduced-priced meals in schools is officially dead, according to bill sponsor Pat Roberts, Republican U.S. senator from Kansas.

The school lunch, breakfast, and summer meal programs will continue to operate under the policies set in 2010 under the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act."

Source: KBIA, 12/8/16, Read Full Article >

New Britain City and Schools Face Hunger

Despite New Britain schools entering their second year providing free breakfasts and lunches to all students, many families with young children are still food poor and must often make difficult choices on what types of food to eat.

Twenty-three percent of city residents, 16,441 people, live below the poverty level. More than 300 students are identified as homeless. In addition, 65% of the district’s 10,000 students are on SNAP (food stamps).

To address these poverty and hunger issues, the city, schools and nonprofits have teamed up to provide food resources, whereby any student from any city school can walk in and get a meal; and offering breakfast and lunch at many sites in the summer when school is out. Beginning next month, a newly designed $100,000 food truck will deliver free food to areas in the city deemed to have the most residents in need. 

Source: New Britain Herald, 10/28/16, Hunger in New Britain

Senate Places A Hold On Revised Child Nutrition Bill

One provision has hung up a Senate vote to reauthorize the Child Nutrition Act. The provision aims to strengthen the process school districts must use to ensure that only poor and near-poor children get their meals free or at very low cost. The districts must then verify family incomes of the 3,000 applications they’ve approved, or 3% if that’s less.

Source: Poverty & Policy, 10/11/16 Child Nutrition Bill

U.S Schools Celebrate National School Lunch Week

More than 50 million children around the country attend schools that participate in USDA’s National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs. Not only are their meals full of nutritious foods,  99 percent of schools nationwide have reported that they are successfully meeting the updated nutrition standards. Their entire learning environment fosters healthy habits now and throughout the rest of their lives.

Source: Food Research & Action Center, 10/2016  Read More... 

Success with Universal Free Meals in Bristol

We recently received some great news from Greg Boulanger, Director of Food Services in Bristol and Hunger Action Team (HAT) member: 

"Since the start of the 2016-17 school year, two Bristol elementary schools provide meals under the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). We call it 'Universal Free Meals.' As expected we have seen a large increase in participation with breakfast and modest increase with lunch."

According to initial reports:

• West Bristol increased breakfast by 185% and lunch by 20%
• E.P. Hubbell increased breakfast by 100% and lunch by 15%

In early spring, Greg asked Bristol HAT members to help him encourage parents of school age children to find out if they were eligible for School Meals or SNAP. He had determined that 3 of his schools were very close to meeting CEP eligibility, but he needed about 200 more families to tip the school eligibility scale. The SNAP Outreach programs at both End Hunger CT! and Foodshare played a role in assisting many parents to access SNAP, which in turn made them automatically eligible for free school meals. The result of these efforts, along with others, is that two of the three schools are now under CEP.

Congratulations to Greg and many thanks to Laura, her volunteers and our colleague/HAT member Shannon Yearwood at EHC!

Learn more about Community Eligibility Provision >

Safety net outcomes in Connecticut

Federal and state safety net programs lift around 420,000 Connecticut residents out of poverty and reduce the state’s poverty rate from 22.7% (before counting government benefits and taxes) to 10.9%. Many of those who benefit are children: the safety net lifts about 84,000 children above the poverty line, reducing their poverty rate from 20.7% to 10.3%. Social Security is the strongest link in the net lifting nearly 280,000, mostly elderly, people above poverty and reducing the elderly poverty rate from nearly 50% to just under 13%. SNAP helps an estimated 70,000 rise above poverty by assisting about 440,000 people a month, including 160,000 children.

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 8/2/16, Safety Net in Connecticut

Eliminating Hurdles to Summer Meals

The National School Lunch Program reached 22 million school-aged children with free or reduced-price lunches in 2015.

But what happens to all those children when the school doors close?

The Urban Institute reports that about 2.6 million children take part in the Summer Food Service Program. That means the program is reaching a little more than 1 in 10 of the children eligible for the benefit. Several barriers are getting in the way nationally: Limited eligibility for parents and caregivers, the lack of sponsorship and suitable program sites; lack of transportation in rural areas, and older kids being embarrassed to be seen receiving free meals are all hurdles to delivering the benefit to children in need.

The result? Higher rates of food insecurity during summer months. And a 2007 study published in the American Journal of Public Health suggests that children are more vulnerable to obesity during the summer months, as families turn to cheaper and less-nutritious food to stretch limited dollars.

To fight this trend, the Urban Institute reports, agencies are thinking outside the lunchbox to reach children facing food insecurity over the summer.

One demonstration project by the USDA that provides SNAP assistance benefits via electronic cards has shown promise in reducing food insecurity. The Obama administration has proposed phasing in this approach in the Fiscal 2017 federal budget, but lack of cooperation from Congress could derail the plan.

Another three-year pilot program launched by Feeding America and funded by the ConAgra Foods Foundation is bringing separate agencies and stakeholders together during the summer months. For example, a food bank in greater Cincinnati is working with partner agencies to create a culinary summer camp that provides teens with seasonal jobs and programs teaching younger kids about healthy eating and cooking skills.

Community Eligibility Cutbacks?

A discussion draft of the child nutrition reauthorization bill that the House Education and Workforce Committee may soon consider includes a provision that would severely restrict schools’ eligibility for community eligibility, an option that allows high-poverty schools to provide school meals at no charge to all students.

Currently a school qualifies for community eligibility if 40% of its students are automatically qualified for free school meals based on their participation in another anti-poverty program. The proposal would raise that threshold to 60%. If the proposal becomes law, 7,022 schools now using community eligibility to serve nearly 3.4 million students would have two years to reinstate paper eligibility applications and return to monitoring eligibility in the lunch line. Another 11,647 schools that qualify for community eligibility, but have not yet adopted it, would lose eligibility.

Source: Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, 4/18/16, Community Eligibility

Connecticut Schools Near the Top of the Nation for Fewest Students in Poverty

A new study by the National Center for Education Statistics finds that for the first time in at least 50 years more than half of the country’s public school students qualify as low income students. For almost half the states, the majority of students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Connecticut is one of only 10 states have low-income student populations below 40 percent. But that’s hardly good news: in Connecticut, more than one out of every three students in our public schools (36 percent) and qualifies for free or reduced lunches and other federal school meal programs. The problem is made worse by the fact that so few schools participate in some of those federal meal programs. Read more.

New FRAC Report Explores Extent of and Causes of Participation Shifts in School Lunch

The number of children participating in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is changing in ways that reflect events other than changes in nutrition rules, finds a new analysis (pdf) by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC). The data analysis shows that lower family incomes and improvements to the eligibility process for school meals have led to a continuous increase in participation among low-income children; and rules on pricing of meals for other children have contributed to a multi-year decline in participation for those with higher family incomes. FRAC also noted these changes both are part of longer trends. Read more...

70 Languages Spoken in West Hartford Schools!

West Hartford Hunger Action Team members, including Growing Great Schools, West Hartford Nutrition Services and Morley School PTO are trying new ways to ensure that language is not preventing families from taking advantage of the school breakfast and lunch programs. With 70 different languages spoken in the public schools, a new communication and promotion program is being developed, which includes posters, flyers, and applications in the top 10 languages spoken across the 14 public schools in West Hartford. Videos for both parents and children are also being developed in these languages. Project updates and details can be found at ItsCoolTo EatInSchool.com. If you're interested in forming a Hunger Action Team or joining an existing one, please click here.

Below are the top 10 languages spoken in West Hartford schools along with the word “Breakfast” translated into each language.

Language	Primary Country where Language is Spoken	# of Children using this Language	“Breakfast” Translation
Spanish	Puerto Rico + 20 countries	650	desayuno
Vietnamese	Vietnam	208	bữa ăn sáng
Mandarin	China	192	早餐
Portuguese	Portugal	123	café da manhã
Russian	Russia	89	завтрак
Nepali	Nepal	83	नाश्ता
Urdu	India	72	ناشته
Malayalam	India	42	ബ്രീക്ഫസ്റ്റ്‌
Arabic	Egypt + 24 other countries	39	إفطار
Punjabi	India	28	ਨਾਸ਼ਤਾ
Remaining 59 Languages		1,526

SCHOOL LUNCHES MORE NUTRITIOUS THAN HOME-PACKED

Approximately 60% of the more than 50 million public elementary and secondary education students obtain a substantial portion of their daily calories from school lunches. Researchers from Virginia Tech recently compared school lunches with packed lunches and found that school lunches have greater nutritional quality. Specifically, they found that both packed and school lunches almost entirely met nutrition standards, except school lunches were below energy and iron recommendations, while packed lunches exceeded fat and saturated fat recommendations. The findings suggest that nutrition education programs targeting children, parents, and perhaps even school policy should be encouraged to promote healthier packed lunches.

 

Source:  Rudd Center, 11/3/14, School Lunch

HOW SCHOOL LUNCH BECAME POLITICAL BATTLEGROUND

When Michelle Obama started Let’s Move!, her campaign against child obesity, in 2010, the members of the School Nutrition Association were her natural allies. The average weight of the American child had been climbing at an alarming rate since the 1980s, and now one in three American kids was obese or overweight. In a war to fight against childhood obesity, school cafeterias would be a perfect place to wage it. But to pass a bill, the White House needed to enlist not only Democrats and Republicans in Congress but also the manufacturers who supplied food to schools, the nutrition experts who wanted it to be more healthful, and the cafeteria workers who would have to get children to eat it.  Few people understood how to accomplish those trade-offs better than Marshall Matz, lobbyist for the School Nutrition Association, who advised his “lunch ladies” to support the legislation. But, when the government began turning the broad guidelines into specific rules with specific consequences for specific players, life became more difficult. What began as a war on obesity turned into war among onetime allies. 

Source: New York Times, 10/7/14, School Lunch Battles

CHILD NUTRITION LAW REAUTHORIZATION

Every five years, Congress must reauthorize child nutrition programs.  During this process, Congress will debate new funding levels, ways to strengthen and improve the programs, and develop new policies to make sure our nation’s children have access to healthy, nutritious food.  The current bill, the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, is set to expire on September 30, 2015. Next year, the following programs are up for renewal: 

▪      The Summer Food Service Program: Provides free meals and snacks to low-income children during the summer months.

▪      Child and Adult Care Food Program:  Provides nutritious meals and snacks to children and adults in designated child and adult care centers, as well as snacks and suppers to children in afterschool programs. 

▪      WIC: Provides nutritious foods and nutrition education for low-income, at risk women, infants.

▪      National School Lunch and Breakfast programs: Provides nutritionally balanced meals to qualified children each school day. 

Source: Feeding America, 9/14, Child Nutrition Programs

SCHOOLS CAN IMPROVE HELP FOR HUNGRY KIDS

The National School Lunch and Breakfast Programs have been feeding millions of children for decades.   On a typical school day in 2013, more than 30 million— nearly three in five — students ate a school lunch.  Over 70% of those children — more than 21 million — received a free or reduced-price meal.  That means that more than two in five students benefited from free or reduced-price lunches on a typical day last year. But some children who could benefit from free school meals miss out because their school district doesn’t automatically enroll them as required. States can improve their processes for automatically enrolling children for free meals when their family receives SNAP benefits.  School districts can make sure they are identifying children who homeless or in foster care so that they begin receiving free meals immediately during a period of family turmoil. And a new policy allows schools to begin feeding low-income children as soon as they receive an application, even if they have a processing backlog. 

Source: Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, 9/8/14, School Meals

MISSISSIPPI CO-OP HELPS STATE MEET NEW SCHOOL MEAL RULES

School systems around the country are struggling to meet new federal school meal regulations while grappling with reduced revenue from declining participation in school lunch programs.In the 2012-13 school year, 47% of school meal programs lost money and 90% reported higher food costs, according to the 2013 Back to School Trends Survey. But Mississippi schools are prepared to meet the new rules thanks to the state’s Statewide Purchasing Cooperative, which helped the state negotiate lower prices for nutritious foods. Created in 1992, Mississippi’s Statewide Purchasing Cooperative was the nation’s first statewide child nutrition purchasing organization. By pooling buying power, Mississippi can easily negotiate cheap prices and find respected sellers of fresh, locally grown produce and whole-grain products.

Source: Clarion-Ledger, 7/28/14, School Meal Costs