Friend,

If your schedule is anything like mine – especially during the beginning-of-the-school-year scramble! – you may have missed this opportunity to take action urging Congress to pass the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act this fall.

→ Please take a moment to tell Congress: Because of rising food costs and increasing numbers of food insecure families, the time is NOW to pass the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act!

The recently released USDA annual food security report shows that hunger fell in 2021 compared to 2020. [1] This reduction was due in large part to the temporary expansion of federal nutrition programs last year, including boosts to SNAP benefits, free school meals for all children, and flexibilities to the WIC program that made it more accessible to more families. Now that many of these pandemic waivers and expansions have ended the number of hungry families in our country will rise again unless Congress takes quick action to pass the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act.

Let’s make sure that our Members of Congress learn from what worked in 2021 to reduce hunger by passing the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act!

Even though hunger fell last year, the report shows that 1 in 10 households in America still experienced food insecurity in 2021. The report also shows that food insecurity rates in Black and Latinx households last year were triple and double the rates of White households, respectively. The Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act contains many provisions that would provide food for these households and would address the unjust racial disparity in food insecurity.

Tell Congress: Take meaningful action to reduce the racial hunger gap by passing the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act!

Together we are a powerful voice for children and families!

- Jessica, Elyssa, Hanna and the whole MomsRising/MamásconPoder team

P.S. – MomsRising and Mamás con Poder are talking to the USDA, HHS, HUD, and more for a #FoodFri chat on Friday 9/23 at 1 pm ET all about the 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health happening on Wednesday 9/28, including what to expect and how families can get involved! RT, help us spread the word, and join us for this conversation on Twitter."

References:

[1] Statistical Supplement to Household Food Security in the United States in 2021

---------- Forwarded message ---------
Date: Aug 17, 2022, 6:11 p.m.
From: "Jessica, MomsRising" ([email protected])
To: Friend
Subject: Friend, tell Congress to seize this opportunity to reduce childhood hunger!

Many moms know first hand how difficult it is for children to grow and learn when they are hungry. TAKE ACTION

Dear Friend,

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! 

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.  

Tell Congress: Because of rising food costs and increasing numbers of food insecure families, the time is NOW to pass the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act!

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.

Tell Congress: Take meaningful action to reduce the racial hunger gap by passing the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act! 

Together we are a powerful voice for children and families! 

-Jessica, Elyssa, Hanna and the whole MomsRising team

P.S. Your experiences are powerful. Would you be willing to share your story about how universal free school meals would help your family? If so, please click here, and thank you!  

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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