Advocates are calling on state lawmakers to increase free meals at colleges, a program that got here into place throughout the pandemic and is much more vital now with meals insecurity charges even larger than earlier than COVID hit.
“One of the hard lessons of the pandemic is that it showed just how important school meals are for children and their families,” mentioned Erin McAleer, president and CEO of Project Bread, a Boston-based nonprofit that gives meals to hungry households in Massachusetts.
Initially backed by Congress, the newest finances from Capitol Hill doesn’t embody funding for the Universal Free School Meals program, which lawmakers had permitted after the pandemic knocked out what is commonly the one supply of meals many children have, specifically the meals they’ll get at college.
With the federal program set expire on June 30, advocates are asking the state lawmakers to step in and make common faculty breakfast and lunch everlasting.
“School meals ease the financial burden on families that are really feeling the squeeze when they have to feed their children and pay for rent and electricity,” mentioned Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, govt director of the Children’s Health Watch, a analysis program headquartered at Boston Medical Center. “If families are financially strapped, that’s a huge support. And if all youngsters receive free meals, it eliminates the stigma many would feel if they were the only ones receiving free food.”
The meals have been a important useful resource for the one in 5 households with youngsters and one in three households of shade, McAleer mentioned.
Last month, House lawmakers on Beacon Hill permitted a finances proposal that features $110 million to increase free faculty breakfast and lunch. While the availability wouldn’t be everlasting, it will lengthen this system for the following faculty 12 months.
The Senate has but to approve a finances proposal of its personal. Senate President Karen Spilka didn’t return calls or emails Thursday.
If the availability passes each branches, 400,000 Massachusetts college students would proceed to have entry to free faculty meals within the upcoming faculty 12 months, McAleer mentioned.
Research reveals that entry to free meals reduces anxiousness, improves take a look at scores and helps maintain struggling households afloat, Ettinger de Cuba mentioned.
“If the Senate and House both approve one-year extensions of the program,” she mentioned, “we’ll positively maintain combating to make the extension everlasting.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”
