Guest Post: Jessica Pino-Goodspeed, Hunger Solutions New York
More than 930,000 children in New York State live with food insecurity.
That’s nearly one million kids who go to bed hungry, who go to school with an empty stomach, or whose meals often consist of nothing more substantial than ramen noodles.
Growing up with inconsistent access to good nutrition can have lasting effects. Cognitive development, mental health, and physical health can all suffer. Food insecurity is linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes, nutritional deficiencies and negative behavioral, social and academic outcomes.
Many New York State Schools in high-poverty areas help alleviate the damaging effects of food insecurity by providing students with access to healthy meals through the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). CEP eliminates redundant paperwork and provides all students with a free, nutritious breakfast and lunch at school each day.
School meals make a difference. Research confirms that kids who eat them show improved cognitive function, attention and memory; are more likely to have a lower body mass index and less likely to be overweight or obese. They are more likely to arrive at school on time, to behave, and be attentive in class.
Schools eligible to provide free meals through CEP are located in some of the state’s most impoverished communities. They must meet stringent guidelines, but the eligibility criteria could get even more restrictive under the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016 (H.R. 5003), introduced on April 20 by Rep. Todd Rokita (R-IN).
The bill proposes to substantially reduce the number of high-poverty schools eligible to implement CEP. In New York State, 427 schools currently participating, and their 129,270 students, would be removed from the program. An additional 775 would no longer be eligible to participate in the future.
Other damaging provisions included in the bill would: weaken evidence-based school nutrition standards for meals, snacks and beverages; dramatically increase verification requirements on school meal applications; inadequately invest in summer food programs; and deny child care centers and day care homes a snack reimbursement for children in care for long hours.
Congress reauthorizes the set of child nutrition programs once every five years. Instead of using this opportunity to improve the programs that sustain our youth, this bill would be devastating to the health of our most vulnerable children. Please join Hunger Solutions New York to oppose this bill by sharing our call to action; adding your organization’s name to a sign-on letter to the NY Congressional Delegation and to a nationwide effort. We must encourage our members of Congress to fight for a child nutrition reauthorization bill that protects kids, especially the children who rely on federal nutrition programs to stay nourished and healthy.
Hunger Solutions New York promotes awareness of hunger, participation in hunger assistance programs for all who are eligible, and public policies that contribute to ending hunger. We also raise awareness of the health, economic and educational benefits of anti-hunger programs. For more information, visit www.HungerSolutionsNY.org and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.