Episode 67: Let’s Rid of Hunger by Providing Healthy School Meals for All

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About the Podcast

Crystal FitzSimons leads the Food Research and Action Center’s (FRAC’s) work on the child nutrition programs that serve low-income children. She’s a policy expert; strategist working toward program improvements; trainer; resource developer for national, state, and local organizations; and so much more! Today, she helps us take a closer look at the legislation behind free school meals for all students.

About Crystal FitzSimons

Crystal leads FRAC’s work on the child nutrition programs that serve school-age children. She analyzes policy to advocate for legislative and regulatory improvements to increase low-income children’s access to the nutrition programs; develops strategy and direct field efforts to achieve program improvements; provides technical assistance; conducts training; and develops materials for national, state, and local organizations. Crystal is the author or co-author of numerous publications, including FRAC’s annual participation reports on school breakfast, summer nutrition, afterschool suppers, and community eligibility. She frequently speaks at national and state conferences and meetings. Her previous work experience includes the Center for Community Change as a policy analyst on transportation issues and Housing Comes First, Missouri’s statewide low-income housing coalition, as Director of Tenant Organizing. She holds a B.A. in philosophy and sociology from Carroll College and an M.S.W. from Washington University.

Discussion Takeaways

  • Is it time for the community to take responsibility for what kids are eating when they’re not at home?
  • Squashing out stigma surrounding food insecurity for school age kids can help facilitate a better relationship between school foodservice, school board, students and parents. If everyone participated the federal school meals program, shaming would be gone.
  • Here is a brief on how a few of the current federal school nutrition programs works. Free school meals are provided to kids who live in households below 130% of the poverty line (an annual income of less than $35,000 for a family of four) and those living at 130-185% below poverty line (annual income of less than $35,000-$49,025 for a family of four) receive meals at reduced price at 30 cents per meal. Not addressed within these programs are the families between 185-300% of the poverty line (an annual income of $49,025-$79,500 for a family of four) who often struggle with food insecurity. Providing free meals for all students would reduce the burden for all families within these income brackets.
  • The School Nutrition Association estimates that 75% of schools have school meal debt in 2019. The federal nutrition assistance programs strive to ensure that this debt doesn’t occur.
  • During 2021, all schools provide free meals for all students. States across the country are leading campaigns to continue this provision. But, the hope is to make it federal law, so it can be applied nationally for eligible schools.
  • School meals are one of the healthiest meals kids going to get. The recently applied school nutrition standards make school pizza of the past look so different than It’s now topped with turkey pepperoni on a whole wheat crust with sprinkles of low-fat mozzarella.
  • A delay in processing school meal support applications and shaming those families who cannot pay for their kid’s school lunch bill can cause kids to fall through the cracks without nourishment. This is why people are advocating for free school meals for all. It reduces administrative and economic burdens that regularly schools face.
  • We need to continue to effectively build the programs that were created during the COVID-19 emergency: Electronic Benefits Transfer programs replaced of school meals, providing money for food to families of kids who did not receive the free school meals during the pandemic; broadening reach of summer and afterschool meals by creatively delivering food to all; strengthening community eligibility programming that allows all students in a school to get free lunch if their school has at least 40% of their students are identified as living in low-income households; securing a better relationship between state and city education government departments and the schools they provide funds to; and so much more.

Name

Crystal FitzSimons

Supplemental Material

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#1 tip to improve access to healthy food

We are all able to weigh in with our congressional representation. So many kids are being nourished by school foodservice workers and community members, but their work is supported by federal dollars. We need to let our representatives know we care for these issues and want to make sure their effective.

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Each week on the Food Dignity® Podcast, the Food Dignity® Movement’s Clancy Harrison hosts a wide variety of hunger experts and other people making changes on the frontlines. Join us as we dive deep into conversations that will change the way you think about food insecurity.

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