Policy – FoodCorps

COVID Ushered in Enthusiasm for Universal School Meals. Will They Get Federal Support in the Childhood Nutrition Reauthorization?

FoodCorps — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 17:35:05 +0000

Lela Nargi for FoodPrint

If there’s one thing school nutrition directors are looking forward to this upcoming school year it’s returning to the normalcy of feeding kids back in the familiar setting of the cafeteria. “These professionals worked so hard to overcome so many different challenges when schools closed abruptly at the start of the pandemic, and they can’t wait to interact with students and families in a different way than loading food and groceries in the trunk of a car,” says Laura Hatch, co-vice president of impact for school food nonprofit FoodCorps. “They did heroic work, but they’re exhausted.”

Little wonder. In some cases in a matter of 24 hours, school nutrition directors pivoted everything about their operations in March 2020, moving from in-person meals to grab-and-go bags that could be picked up curbside, distributed to neighborhoods via school bus routes, or delivered directly to families. They did get a lot of legislative help: Thanks to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, dozens of waivers were able to be issued by the USDA. These allowed schools to eschew things like handing meals over to children only (as opposed to parents and caregivers) and the usual congregate feeding mandates; states could also provide pandemic EBT cards to fill in grocery gaps beyond the reach of school-provided breakfasts and lunches.

But figuring out how best to respond to a need that only grew as weeks went on was hardly a simple task, and the difficulties were myriad and varied, says Hatch.

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Will the U.S. Finally Take a Holistic Approach to Ending Child Hunger?

FoodCorps — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 17:54:24 +0000

Lisa Held for Civil Eats

Over the last 18 months, an alarming rise in child hunger—over 17 million children did not have consistent access to enough food in 2020—caught the attention of many federal lawmakers, prompting them to call for an overdue evaluation of the country’s child nutrition programs.

In March, the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry kicked off a process that involves updating a broad collection of child hunger and nutrition programs. Child Nutrition Reauthorization (CNR) is supposed to occur every five years, but Congress hasn’t reviewed it since 2010, when President Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act made historic changes to school meal nutrition standards.

Now six years late, lawmakers and advocates say the COVID-19 pandemic and a racial justice reckoning have created the political will to not only ensure that the country’s young people are fed, but that the programs also address systemic inequalities. The Biden administration is supporting decisive, progressive action.

“Among other things the pandemic revealed about our country was the fact that there is pervasive inequality, especially racial inequity, and then the crucial role that federal programs can play during a national crisis,” said Mamiko Vuillemin, senior manager of policy and advocacy at FoodCorps, an organization that works to improve school meals and food education. “We definitely see school food as a way to address racial injustices and inequalities that we have in this country.”

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Four Things President Biden Can Do for Students’ Wellbeing

FoodCorps — Mon, 11 Jan 2021 20:59:22 +0000

By Mamiko Vuillemin and Timothy Barchak for Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity

After a tumultuous election season, former Vice President Joe Biden is the president-elect of the United States.

In the past, Biden has vowed to invest in schools, students, and local food systems. Furthermore, Biden’s predecessor, President Donald Trump, spent much of his four years in office undermining access to healthy food and making it harder for families to put food on the table. The first 100 days of Biden’s presidency are an opportune time for the president-elect to take steps toward ensuring all our nation’s kids have access to delicious, nutritious food at school.

Here’s what the new administration can do for kids and families.

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Government Shutdown: What It Means for Food and Nutrition Policy

Kumar Chandran, Policy Director — Mon, 14 Jan 2019 15:50:47 +0000

At the time of publishing this article, the government shutdown has dragged on long enough to get itself named the longest in history. Here, we share how the shutdown is impacting a few of the policy areas that we at FoodCorps track closely. We also recognize that while this shutdown is causing 800,000 federal workers to go without pay—many of whom live paycheck to paycheck—it is also putting strain on the communities we serve and showing up in ways big and small across the country. For example, the New York Times recently covered how the shutdown is having a negative impact in indigenous communities.

Basics: What’s a Government Shutdown?

To keep federal agencies running, Congress passes spending bills that divvy up slices of the proverbial pie (our tax dollars). When Congress fails to pass spending bills, a shutdown happens. Right now, we’re in a “partial” shutdown, because Congress has passed spending bills that provide funding for approximately 75% of the federal government. Which means that many government agencies are open, including (importantly for FoodCorps) the Corporation for National and Community Service, which runs AmeriCorps. During federal government shutdowns, some activities of those shuttered agencies remain in operation because they are considered vital for health or safety—for example, Transportation Security Administration staff show up to provide security in airports even though they are not being paid.

If this shutdown drags on for weeks or (and let’s hope it doesn’t come to this) even months longer, there is a possibility that families served by these programs could suffer negative consequences.

Impact on Food and Nutrition Policy

Unfortunately, Congress did not pass the spending bill that covers agriculture funding, which means that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is not currently operating. However, the nutrition assistance programs operated by the USDA, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) and school meals, are not impacted due to this lapse in funding—at least for the moment.

If this shutdown drags on for weeks or (and let’s hope it doesn’t come to this) even months longer, there is a possibility that families served by these programs could suffer negative consequences. For SNAP, the USDA initially announced that they had funding to cover benefits for January, but they wouldn’t respond to inquiries about funding for February. After much media and advocate attention to the uncertainty for February benefits, the USDA then announced a plan that would enable SNAP participants to access benefits in February. However, advocates remain concerned about the impact on families if the shutdown drags into March.

As for school meals, the federal government reimburses schools for the meals they serve to students, but those payments operate on a one month delay. Because of this lag time, the impact of the shutdown on schools and students is delayed. According to the USDA, school meal programs should be unaffected through March. If the shutdown persists after that, the impact is unclear. This would be an unprecedented situation as no prior government shutdown has lasted that long. We will continue to monitor this situation and provide updates to share with our sites and partners if the shutdown persists.

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Top 4 Things to Know About the Farm Bill

Kumar Chandran, Policy Director — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:43:16 +0000

Think the Farm Bill doesn’t affect you? Think again. Most people know the Farm Bill as covering agricultural laws and farmer subsidy payments. But it also covers a whole lot more, and impacts everyone who eats in this country—in other words, everyone.

Congress is in the midst of renewing the Farm Bill, which gets updated every five years. Here’s a primer on why you should care and how to get involved in the conversation.

1. The Farm Bill is about so much more than farms.

The farm bill covers a wide range of federal policy, including conservation, nutrition assistance, research, trade, and more. The biggest funding allocation within the farm bill is nutrition assistance in the form of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. At FoodCorps, one of our core values is that healthy food has healthy roots. Because the farm bill covers so many areas related to how and what Americans eat, it is a great opportunity for Congress to ensure our food system is equitable and just.

2. SNAP works.

SNAP currently helps one in eight Americans put food on the table. Almost half (44%) of SNAP participants are children. Studies demonstrate that SNAP reduces hunger, lowers health care costs, and has a positive lifetime impact on children. Even so, research shows that SNAP benefits are currently inadequate, delivering only a modest allotment of approximately $1.40 per person per meal.

Myths about who receives SNAP benefits abound. SNAP reaches key vulnerable populations: 78% of SNAP households include a child, an elderly person, or a person with disabilities, and 84% of all SNAP benefits go to such households.

If we believe that all kids deserve the chance to grow up healthy, well nourished, and ready to learn, we need a strong nutrition safety net to help families having a hard time making ends meet.

3. The farm bill also plays a role in school nutrition.

While the majority of school meals policy falls under a separate federal policy process, the child nutrition reauthorization, the farm bill does have an influence on school meals. First, many kids are eligible for free school meals because their household participates in SNAP through a process called direct certification. Proposed cuts to the farm bill would mean millions would no longer be eligible for SNAP (more on that below), cutting access to free school meals for an estimated 265,000 children who rely on the cafeteria for the majority of their daily calories.

If we believe that all kids deserve the chance to grow up healthy, well nourished, and ready to learn, we need a strong nutrition safety net to help families having a hard time making ends meet.

Second, the farm bill covers the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). Focused on serving limited-resource elementary schools, the FFVP is a school-based program that provides kids from low-income households with healthy, fresh fruit and vegetable snacks beyond breakfast and lunch time. Because the schools participating in the FFVP often serve families with limited access to healthy, fresh produce, these snacks are often the only fresh produce these children have access to beyond school meals. The FFVP helps FoodCorps service members introduce kids to different varieties of fresh produce and our service members use the program as a tool for hands-on nutrition education.

Unfortunately, some are trying to expand FFVP offerings to include canned, frozen, and dried fruits and vegetables. FoodCorps opposes these efforts: the USDA recently evaluated a pilot program to incorporate canned, frozen, and dried fruits and vegetables into school meals and found that overall consumption of fruits and vegetables dropped; as it turns out, students and parents prefer fresh produce.

4. Congress is working on the farm bill right now.

Both the House and Senate have passed very different versions of the farm bill. Last week, the House narrowly approved its version, which would worsen hunger and nutrition by cutting SNAP for millions of people with low incomes, and also taking hundreds of thousands of kids off of free school meals that provide their daily nourishment. The bill could also undermine the healthy school meal reforms implemented over the past few years and open the FFVP to canned, frozen, and dried products, risking the progress we’ve made to help kids be healthy. This bill would further fail to invest in efforts to develop local and regional food systems, which are critical to connecting schools and kids to healthy food every day.

Meanwhile, just yesterday, the Senate passed an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that maintains and preserves critical nutrition programs. It’s not perfect, but the bill does include important funding and policy improvements for conservation, local and regional food systems, socially disadvantaged farmers, and more.

One thing is certain: FoodCorps will continue to urge policymakers to reject the House Bill and pass a final bipartisan Farm Bill that protects the health and well-being of our nation’s youth.

What’s next?

As you might remember from your high-school civics class, when the House and Senate pass different versions of a bill, they meet in a “conference committee” to hash out the differences. Given the chasm that exists between the two versions of the bill, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the legislative conference.

One thing is certain: FoodCorps will continue to urge policymakers to reject the House Bill and pass a final bipartisan Farm Bill that protects the health and well-being of our nation’s youth.

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Policy Brief: House Farm Bill Fails, National Service Funding in Jeopardy

Kumar Chandran, Policy Director — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 21:41:23 +0000

Farm Bill: House bill failed!

Thanks to the efforts of a diverse coalition of advocates from all across the country who care about nutrition, conservation, sustainable agriculture, and rural communities, the House’s historically bad farm bill proposal did not garner enough votes to pass. Earlier in May, in a somewhat dramatic scene on the floor of the House of Representatives, all Democrats and 30 Republicans provided enough votes to prevent the bill from passing.

Click here to see how your Representative voted. And, if you don’t know who your Rep is, click here to enter your address and find out.

There has been a lot of punditry and analysis on why the bill failed, but here is one particularly interesting take, putting the House vote in a historical context.

What’s next?

There’s still a number of stops ahead on the long road to getting a farm bill signed into law.

The latest reports are that the House will vote again on the farm bill on June 22. As that date gets closer, we will be back in touch on possible actions. It will likely be a close vote again.

Meanwhile, the Senate continues its bipartisan work to draft its version of the farm bill. The timing for when that will be released is uncertain, but it could be in early June. And, ultimately, the House and Senate will need to reconcile any differences between bills that either chamber approves before it is sent to the President for signature.

Appropriations Update

AmeriCorps funding

As we reported in past updates, the President’s budget proposal for the 2019 federal fiscal year again called for eliminating all funding for national service, including AmeriCorps. The President’s 2018 budget proposal also called ending federal support for national service and Congress wisely rejected that proposal on a bipartisan basis. FoodCorps is working with fellow national service organizations to call on Congress to again reject this proposal. The House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees that deal with AmeriCorps funding are likely to take up this issue later in June. We’ll keep you posted as things develop.

Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program funding

The Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program is a top priority for FoodCorps and was funded for the first time ever in the FY2018 Omnibus appropriations bill that Congress passed earlier this year. With this funding, USDA will be establishing a competitive grant program that provides much-needed funds for organizations that deliver hands-on nutrition and food education, promote farm to school programs, and improve school food environments to help kids grow up healthy — organizations like FoodCorps. We anticipate that USDA will release an call for proposals for this funding opportunity later this spring/early summer.

But, Congress needs to allocate funding for this program every year. Earlier in May, the Senate Appropriations committee approved an agriculture spending bill that included $1m in funding for the Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program. However, the House version of the ag funding bill did not include this funding. As the appropriations process unfolds over the coming months, we’ll be working to ensure that this program continues to be funded into the next federal fiscal year.

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Policy Brief: Proposed Farm Bill Changes Jeopardize Health of Low-Income Families

Kumar Chandran, Policy Director — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 14:38:22 +0000

Earlier in April, the House Agriculture Committee released its long-awaited draft of the farm bill and voted the bill out of committee on a party-line vote. Unfortunately, as expected, the Committee’s bill would worsen the nutrition and health of millions of low-income Americans. By proposing significant, harmful cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Congress would leave behind large numbers of families across the nation. The bill also includes negative changes and cuts to other programs, as we’ll discuss below.

SNAP cuts would eliminate critical support for millions of struggling Americans

SNAP currently helps 1 in 8 Americans put food on the table. Research shows that SNAP benefits are already inadequate, delivering only a modest allotment of approximately $1.40 per person per meal. We cannot afford to further limit these benefits for the most underserved families. Studies demonstrate that SNAP reduces hunger, lowers healthcare costs, and has a lifelong positive impact on children.

The proposed cuts have far-reaching impacts. Not only will millions of struggling Americans lose access to these vital nutrition benefits, hundreds of thousands of kids will also lose access to free school meals.

Many kids are automatically eligible for free or reduced-price school meals simply because their household participates in SNAP. For some of these children, school breakfast and lunch are the only full, balanced meals they have access to. We cannot allow our children to go hungry at school or at home.

At FoodCorps, we work every day to connect kids to healthy food in school so that they are well-nourished and ready to learn. Our work teaching hands-on lessons in gardening and cooking, as well as the work of other organizations striving to keep kids healthy and fed, is undermined when our students cannot eat well at home. We oppose these cuts to SNAP and urge lawmakers to abandon these harmful proposals and focus on policies that will truly improve the health and nutrition of low-income Americans.

Other proposed changes would undermine nutrition and healthy food systems

The House Farm Bill would also make changes to the successful and popular Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP) – a program that provides free fresh fruit and vegetable snacks to students in schools whose populations predominantly come from low-income families. As discussed in this article featuring our own Cecily Upton, co-founder and VP of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, the bill undermines the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program by opening the door to processed food. These forms of processed fruits and vegetables include canned, dried, frozen, and pureed without any consideration for nutrition standards.

Poliquin’s proposal opens the door to more processed food that students don’t need, without any consideration for nutrition standards.

The FFVP is proven to increase consumption of fresh fruits and veggies, provides strong nutrition education in the classroom, and, for many participants, is their only exposure to fresh produce. FoodCorps service members use this program as a key tool to expose kids to a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. An evaluation of a pilot program that tested inclusion of processed fruits and veggies found that: fruit and vegetable consumption decreased, variety did not increase, and students and parents preferred fresh. We believe Congress should reject these proposed changes and keep the program fresh!

Outside of nutrition policy, the House Farm Bill also disappoints. One of our core values at FoodCorps is that healthy food has healthy roots. Unfortunately, proposals in the House Farm Bill undermine this value with reductions in funding for, or elimination of, programs that support local/regional food systems, conservation, organic agriculture, and sustainable agriculture. For much more information on these issues, check out the statement and blog post series from our friends at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (an alliance of which we are a member).

What’s next?

The full House of Representatives is expected to vote on the farm bill in the coming weeks, and we’ll keep you posted for advocacy opportunities as a floor vote approaches.

Meanwhile, recent news reports indicate that the Senate is working in a bipartisan fashion to draft their Farm Bill proposal, although the timeline for when that will be released is not certain.

Join our coalition

We are working with a group of advocacy organizations in the anti-hunger, nutrition, environment, and sustainable agriculture fields to enlist a wide variety of groups to sign on to a letter opposing the House Farm Bill. If your organization is interested in joining, please sign on.

Child Nutrition Wins in the Empire State!

In brighter news, New York Governor Cuomo and the state legislature passed a budget in late March with a number of wins for school nutrition. As we reported earlier, Governor Cuomo introduced a “No Student Goes Hungry” package of proposals in December to improve student health in New York. A number of these proposals were included in the enacted budget that will:

provide support for Breakfast After the Bell programs in high-need schools thereby ensuring more kids begin the school day well-nourished and ready to learn
address “lunch shaming” by establishing a policy that makes certain children without money for a meal, or with unpaid school meal debt, are not singled out, provided a lesser meal, or otherwise treated differently
expand the Farm to School Program and incentivize the use of farm-fresh, locally grown foods in schools.

The new state budget will make K-12 schools that purchase 30 percent of their lunch ingredients from New York farms eligible to receive a state reimbursement of $0.25 per meal — four times the amount that is currently provided per meal. The 2018-19 State Budget also doubled state funding for Farm to School grants to $1.5 million.

American Farmland Trust led a coalition of groups, including FoodCorps, to advocate on these improvements and issued this press release including a quote from us and other partners on these important investments.

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FoodCorps Opposes SNAP Cuts in Draft 2018 Farm Bill

FoodCorps — Fri, 13 Apr 2018 17:57:17 +0000

Yesterday, the House Agriculture Committee released its long-awaited draft of the farm bill. Unfortunately, as expected, the Committee’s bill would worsen the nutrition and health of millions of low-income Americans. By proposing significant, harmful cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, Congress is leaving behind large numbers of families across the nation.

SNAP is a highly effective and efficient program that currently helps 1 in 8 Americans put food on the table. Research shows that SNAP benefits are already inadequate, delivering only a modest allotment of approximately $1.40 per person per meal, and we cannot afford to further limit these benefits for the most underserved families. Studies demonstrate that SNAP reduces hunger, lowers health care costs, and has a positive lifetime impact on children.

The proposed cuts have far-reaching impacts. Not only will millions of struggling Americans lose access to these vital nutrition benefits, but also hundreds of thousands of kids will lose access to free school meals. Many kids are automatically eligible for free or reduced-price school meals simply because their household participates in SNAP. In some of these households, school breakfast and lunch are the only full and balanced meals children receive for the day. We cannot allow our children to go hungry at school or at home.

At FoodCorps, we work every day to connect kids to healthy food in school so that they are well-nourished and ready to learn. Our work teaching hands-on lessons in gardening and cooking, as well as the work of other organizations striving to keep kids healthy and fed, is undermined if our students cannot eat healthily at home. We oppose these proposed cuts to SNAP and urge lawmakers to abandon these harmful proposals and focus on policies that will truly help improve the health and nutrition of low-income Americans.

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Policy Brief: Take Action to Protect the Local FARMS Act

Kumar Chandran, Policy Director — Wed, 28 Feb 2018 18:52:01 +0000

This month’s policy brief is a call to action on two things: funding for national service and showing support for the Local Food and Regional Market Supply (Local FARMS) Act of 2017, which helps communities prosper through farm to fork investments, helps consumers access fresh, healthy food and reauthorizes and strengthens the Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program. This program would help connect kids to healthy, locally produced foods and teach them about where their food comes from. Read on to learn how you can advocate on behalf of national service funding and strong local food systems.

The President’s federal fiscal year 2019 budget again calls for eliminating the Corporation for National and Community Service which funds AmeriCorps and other national service programs. Congress ultimately decides what gets funded, not the President. Therefore, we need you to contact your members of Congress and urge them to reject the President’s budget proposal. Last year, thanks to the advocacy of over 250 alumni and friends of FoodCorps, we were able to beat back this harmful proposal. Please lend your support and email your legislators now!

The Local Food and Regional Market Supply (Local FARMS) Act of 2017 encourages communities to prosper through farm to fork investments, enables farmers to reach growing new markets, and helps consumers access fresh, healthy food and farm products. The bill also reauthorizes and strengthens the Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program, which would help connect kids to healthy, locally produced foods and teach them about where their food comes from. Senator Susan Collins (ME) recently became the first Senate Republican co-sponsor of the bill. Take action today to thank Senator Collins for her leadership, and urge key Members of Congress to co-sponsor this important legislation. Note that if you are not a constituent of the legislators targeted for this campaign, you will not be able to complete the action, however, anyone and everyone can sign on to the petition in support of the Act here!

If you’d like to learn more about the Local FARMS Act of 2017, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition has some helpful materials here.

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FoodCorps Applauds Student Advocacy for Safe Schools

FoodCorps — Wed, 21 Feb 2018 19:51:21 +0000

In 2012, 20 young children and six staff members were shot and killed at a school in Newtown, Connecticut. Since the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, over 400 people have been shot in schools, including the 17 lives recently lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Florida. In the short history of FoodCorps’ work, our staff and service members have experienced lock-downs, counseled students through active shooter drills, and seen members of the communities we serve lost to senseless violence.

FoodCorps stands with all those who are mobilizing to seek solutions to the crisis of gun violence in our nation’s schools. We see and feel the toll it is taking on students, both those with lived experience of gun violence and those who now live under the threat of that violence, and we believe with deep conviction that the nation must take action to make this violence stop. America’s children deserve their schools to be safe places––oases of health and learning where every student feels secure and supported, and where hatred and violence have no place.

FoodCorps admires and applauds the students, teachers, school leaders, and parents who are seeking action from the policymakers we count on to protect us. Student safety is a foundational part of the future FoodCorps wishes to see in the world, and common-sense gun safety legislation––legislation that puts fewer guns into schools rather than more of them––is an important step toward keeping our children safe.

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