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ACNJ Press Release

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NEWS

 

   

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

November 21, 2016

Contact: Nancy Parello|(908) 399-6031|nparello@acnj.org

 

Fund would help feed hungry children

 

A new fund would leverage federal dollars to feed more children who face hunger by expanding school breakfast and summer meals in towns across New Jersey, under legislation unveiled today.

The Nourishing Young Minds Initiative Fund would be established in the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to help defray the costs of effectively implementing the federal school breakfast and summer meals programs in high-poverty communities. 

The fund would be used to inform parents about the availability of federal child nutrition programs in their schools and towns. Dollars would also be earmarked for startup or expansion costs associated with serving breakfast after the bell and summer meals, under the legislative proposal.

An alarming 340,000 New Jersey children face hunger each year, threatening their health and ability to succeed in school, according to Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap 2016

While New Jersey schools have made progress in serving breakfast to more children, less than half of low-income children received school breakfast in 2016, according to Advocates for Children of New Jersey’s recent report, Healthy Food, Strong Kids.  

At the same time, just 19 percent of eligible children received summer meals in 2015 – the latest year for which data are available, according to the non-profit organization’s 2015 report on summer meals.

“Despite the tremendous progress we have made in serving school breakfast to more children, about 300,000 low-income students are still missing out on this all-important morning meal,” said Cecilia Zalkind, president & CEO, Advocates for Children of New Jersey, which co-chairs the New Jersey Food for Thought Campaign. “This fund will help to build on our successful efforts and ensure that every single child starts their school day with the nutrition they need to grow and learn.’’

The Food for Thought Campaign, a coalition of anti-hunger, health, nutrition and child advocates, have worked closely with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture to help schools and municipalities provide breakfast and summer meals to children.

This partnership has resulted in a 77 percent increase in the number of low-income students eating breakfast at school since 2010 – the year before the campaign launched, according to ACNJ’s report.

This growth was largely the result of more schools serving breakfast after the bell, typically in the classroom during the first few minutes of the school day, said Adele LaTourette, director, New Jersey Anti-Hunger Coalition, which also co-chairs the New Jersey Food for Thought Campaign. Previously, schools primarily served breakfast before school when most children had not yet arrived, which is an ineffective way to reach hungry students, she said.

In addition, the campaign and the agriculture department are working together to increase child participation in the summer meals programs, which helps to fill the nutritional gap for children who rely on school meals during the academic year. Last summer, the number of meal sites grew 21 percent, from 1,100 in 2015 to 1,350 in 2016, according to preliminary data from the New Jersey Department of Agriculture.

Still, logistical challenges in implementing both programs, as well as costs associated with start-up and expansion, frequently prevent schools and municipalities from taking advantage of the federal dollars available to feed hungry children.

“This fund recognizes the success of this partnership and will provide the state support needed to continue expansion of federal child nutrition programs so they reach more kids in need,” Zalkind said.

“We know that tens of thousands of New Jersey children face hunger each and every day,” LaTourette added. “This is unacceptable anywhere, but especially in a state as wealthy as New Jersey. This legislation is a great step toward solving childhood hunger and we applaud the sponsors for making anti-hunger initiatives a statewide priority.’’

The legislation is sponsored by Senate President Steven Sweeney, with Senators Teresa Ruiz and Ray Lesniak as co-sponsors.

Learn more the Food for Thought Campaign.

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The NJ Food for Thought Campaign is a coalition of education and anti-hunger organizations, child advocates, state agencies and national organizations. The campaign has successfully increased student participation in the federal School Breakfast Program and is now working to expand summer meals to more children across New Jersey.

 

 

 

 

 


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