05/25/2022
Hunger Solutions New York and Community Food Advocates are launching a statewide campaign for Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids. We invite you to join to ensure that all students across New York State have secure, equal access to school meals at no cost.
Add Your Support Here:
I Support Healthy School Meals for All: https://bit.ly/3sSOgnq
Register for the Campaign Launch Webinar
Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids
June 14, 2022 at 1pm
Register Here: https://bit.ly/3LSpVVu
School meals are among the farthest reaching and highest impact anti-hunger programs. To offset growing rates of child food insecurity during the pandemic, the federal government allowed all schools to serve meals at no cost to all students nationwide. As these flexibilities are set to expire at the end of June 2022, New York cannot move backwards to an inequitable, inefficient, and stigmatizing tiered payment system that leaves many behind. Providing free meals for all students — regardless of income — is a proven strategy to reduce food insecurity, improve mental and physical health, support students’ ability to thrive academically, and bolster educational, health, and economic equity.
New York must take action to establish and fund a permanent, statewide Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids program to ensure every student has access to a healthy breakfast and lunch each day. Before the pandemic, 60% of all NYS schools — including New York City, Buffalo, and Rochester — were able to provide free meals to all students using the Community Eligibility Provision, and will continue to after June 2022. Enacting this new policy would close the gap for remaining schools, expanding access to free meals for nearly 800,000 students across 2,000 schools statewide. A state-level guarantee provides long-term stability for all NYS schools, making their school nutrition programs financially whole, and ensures sustainability for free meals for all future generations of NY students.
We are calling on parents, students, educators, labor, healthcare professionals, anti-hunger organizations, and advocates to join the Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids campaign to ensure free breakfast and lunch for all K-12 students across the state.
𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲
• Join our efforts — complete this sign-up form to be added to the campaign mailing list and to indicate the type of involvement you and/or your organization want to have. Sign up here: https://bit.ly/3wQAzpV
• Register for the Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids kickoff Webinar on June 14, 2022 at 1pm. Register here: https://bit.ly/38RYr4B
𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗔𝗹𝗹 𝗡𝗬 𝗞𝗶𝗱𝘀
Over the past year, Hunger Solutions New York and Community Food Advocates have advocated alongside New York School Nutrition Association, Equity Advocates, and other key partners to secure Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids in the state budget. Momentum is growing:
• Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas introduced a bill (A9518) and Senator Michelle Hinchey also introduced a bill (S9144) to establish Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids.
• More than 150 leading state education associations, anti-hunger groups, child nutrition advocates, and school districts signed on to a letter urging Governor Hochul to include this critical investment in the state budget.
• NYS Educational Conference Board, a consortium of the 7 leading education associations in the state, called on lawmakers to provide Healthy School Meals for All NY Kids.
• Other states — including California and Maine — have acted to provide free school meals for all students in their states, building national momentum. New York will join six other states — including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont, Massachusetts, Colorado, and Maryland — with active legislative campaigns for permanent Healthy School Meals for All programs.
Funding for this campaign is made possible by the New York Health Foundation (https://nyhealthfoundation.org). We thank NYHealth for recognizing this critical moment to secure free, healthy school meals for all students, and funding this campaign to support continued advocacy in our state.
𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗧𝘄𝗲𝗲𝘁𝘀
• New York can and must take action to ensure every student has access to a healthy breakfast and lunch each day. Join the #HealthySchoolMealsForAllNYKids campaign: bit.ly/HealthySchoolMealsNY
• Nearly 800K students in New York State will lose access to free school meals in June. Join the #HealthySchoolMealsForAllNYKids campaign in working to secure access to school meals for ALL NYS students. bit.ly/HealthySchoolMealsNY
• Federal waivers allowing NYS students to access free school meals are set to expire in June. Join the #HealthySchoolMealsForAllNYKids coalition to work to ensure that all students across New York State have secure, equal access to school meals. bit.ly/HealthySchoolMealsNY
• Universal free school meals in NYC increased student participation in school lunch by 26,000 students daily. School meals are a game-changer for schools. Join the fight to include free school meals across NYS in the FY2024 Budget. bit.ly/HealthySchoolMealsNY
