From Moms Rising (https://www.momsrising.org/):
Free school meals for all children, which have been in place for the past two years because of the pandemic, are ending next month. And, at the same time, gas, rent, and grocery costs are soaring. This combination of events is leading to a hunger crisis that will only worsen next month, and is already propelling many families to visit food pantries for the first time and others to have to rely on food pantries even more. [1]
Luckily, the House Committee on Education and Labor has released the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act, which offers comprehensive, evidence-driven solutions for addressing this hunger crisis. This bill would meet the needs of so many families who are still struggling to put food on the table.
Urge Congress to quickly pass the “Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act” to dramatically reduce child hunger at https://action.momsrising.org/sign/healthy_meals_healthy_kids!
The Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act is long overdue; Congress has not reauthorized federal child nutrition programs for seven years! And because of rising meal costs and higher rates of food insecurity, families need help now more than ever. Among its many provisions, this proposed child nutrition reauthorization bill would dramatically expand school and summer meal access for students, increase WIC eligibility to age six, help prevent school lunch debt and the shaming that accompanies it [2], and provide an additional reimbursable meal to children in a full day of care to meet their growing needs.
Members of Congress have the opportunity to greatly reduce the number of hungry children in the U.S. Let’s make sure that they take advantage of this opportunity and pass the bill!
Specifically, the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act will:
- Expand access to school meals by expanding the Community Eligibility Provision so more school districts can provide free meals and ensuring children on Medicaid are automatically certified for free school meals.
- Address unpaid school meal fees by providing protections for children and families with these fees and requiring school districts to take steps to determine if families who are accruing school lunch debt are eligible for free or reduced-price meals.
- Preserve the future of school meal programs by increasing the reimbursement rate for lunch by 10 cents and providing commodity support to the School Breakfast Program.
- Modernize the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) by expanding WIC eligibility to age six, improving access to telehealth to reduce the physical presence requirement, and expanding the Breastfeeding Peer Counselor Program to ensure more mothers have access to breastfeeding support.
- Address food insecurity during the summer by expanding access to summer meals and creating a nationwide Summer EBT program, which would help close the summer meal gap, and give the USDA waiver authority during federally declared emergencies.
- Improve school meal capacity and sustainability by providing grants to purchase kitchen equipment, supporting farm to school programs, and incentivizing cooking from scratch.
- Allow for one additional reimbursable meal for children in a full day of care, giving children a full day’s worth of meals they need to grow.
- Create a pilot program to allow Tribal governments to express their inherent sovereignty in food and agriculture by administering the child nutrition programs. [3, 4]
Urge Congress to help end child hunger by passing the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act now!
Structural racism plays a major role in food insecurity that cannot be overstated. According to a May 2020 report from the Urban Institute, Black and Hispanic households with children reported food insecurity rates that were double those of white households with children. [5] The Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act would go a long way toward addressing these racial inequities in food insecurity.
Together we are a powerful voice for children and families!
References:
[1] Demand at food banks is way up again. But inflation makes it harder to meet the need. [2] Without free school meals for all, many fear lunch debt will return ‘with a vengeance’ [3] Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act Fact Sheet [4] The Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act: FRAC’s Complete Summary [5] Congressional Democrats push to expand access to free school meals
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