Aug 29, 2022

True Cost of Food Report from The Rockefeller Foundation Reinforces Benefits of Healthy School Meals for All

Millions of children eat school breakfast and lunch daily at schools across the nation. To better understand the far-reaching benefits of the School Nutrition Programs, The Rockefeller Foundation and The Center for Good Food Purchasing published True Cost of Food: School Meals Case Study in November 2021. The report used a True Cost Accounting methodology, which considers the multiple dimensions of a food product, program, or system, to examine the School Nutrition Programs.

Aug 23, 2022

Help Make Healthy School Meals for All the New ‘Normal’ in Maryland

MDHS Senior Anti-Hunger Program Associate

For many students in Maryland, the back-to-school season is an exciting time of reconnecting with old friends, meeting new teachers, and shopping for school supplies. But for families struggling with food insecurity, the start of school may also bring an added sense of relief in knowing that their children will have access to a critical resource typically not available over the summer — healthy free school meals.

Aug 22, 2022

Healthy School Meals for All Advances Racial Equity

There is considerable evidence of the effective role that school meals play in alleviating poverty and food insecurity, supporting good nutrition, boosting learning, and improving health outcomes. However, nearly 60 percent of children just above the cutoff for free school meals are children of color. Healthy School Meals for All can serve as a critical tool in the fight to achieve racial equity, improving educational and health outcomes for students, particularly Black and Latinx students, by allowing schools to offer breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost.

Aug 18, 2022

Continuing SNAP Procedural Flexibilities

During COVID-19, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has had enhanced authority from Congress to grant state SNAP agencies greater flexibility on enrollment procedures. In new policy guidance, FNS has clarified that, even after the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration (PHE) and its enhanced authority ends, it can use its normal waiver authority to approve requests for continuation of some of those workarounds.