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John,
Back-to-school season is in full effect! Students are breaking in new clothes, gathering their school supplies, and getting back into the swing of their school-day routines. But some students aren’t able to have a carefree return to school because they are confronted with their lunch debt from the previous year. This is unacceptable; no child should have to return to school with lunch debt. Chip in $5.19 to help eliminate lunch debt for students as they return for the 2019-2020 school year.
Too often, students whose families have low incomes are shamed by school administrators because they can’t afford to pay for lunch. Sometimes, students are even prevented from having a hot meal at lunchtime, or they’re forced to throw out their lunch entrées. At Minnesota’s St. Paul Public School, for instance, students’ unpaid school lunch debt can result in extreme consequences. Seniors were prevented from graduating at the end of the year. That’s not okay, and we at Color Of Change want to help shift the unjust status quo. Chip in $5.19 to make sure that students are able to go back to school this year without lunch debt.
Students and their parents don’t deserve to be shamed because they can’t afford the cost of lunch, and they definitely don’t deserve to have lunch debt from previous school years haunting them. This is unfair, and it disproportionately impacts the Black and Latinx students whose families have low incomes due to systemic economic barriers. This inequity is why we want to clear students’ lunch debt altogether.
When Color Of Change members band together, we’re able to fight back against systems that hurt our people. And schools inflicting lunch debt on low-income students and their parents year after year, adding to the pressures our communities already experience, hurts our people. Chip in $5.19 so that students and their families do not have lunch debt following them into a new school year.
Until justice is real,
—Brandi, Rashad, Arisha, Evan, Johnny, Future, Samantha, Eesha, Marcus, FolaSade, Jamila, and the rest of the Color Of Change team
References:
- “Warwick School Committee approves policy ending ‘lunch shaming,’” WPRI.com, May 15, 2019, https://act.colorofchange.org/go/135889?t=10&akid=35516%2E4731121%2EPDP2Rq.
- “Officials, advocates push for Minnesota law to keep students from being denied diplomas over school lunch debts,” Star Tribune, May 10, 2019, http://act.colorofchange.org/go/135890?t=12&akid=35516%2E4731121%2EPDP2Rq.
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Help keep our movement strong.
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