Coughlin, Lampitt & Jasey Bill to Establish the “Working Class Families Anti-Hunger Act” Advances (TRENTON) – Designed to allow more working-class students to be eligible for the free breakfast and lunch option and create a pathway to a universal school meals program, a bill requiring free school breakfasts and lunches to be provided for[.]
Pandemic SNAP changes should stick around, NJ group says nj1015.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from nj1015.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Too many kids go hungry: Make SNAP benefit increase permanent | Editorial
Updated Mar 15, 2021;
There are many aspects to American Rescue Act, the massive relief bill signed by President Biden, that will be debated until the last gong of eternity.
But count this among the reasons he had to go big: One year into the pandemic, food insecurity has soared, with 42 million Americans expected to experience it in 2021, according to Feeding America, the non-profit colossus.
That includes 13 million children or 1 in 6 that will go hungry. There are 365,000 food-insecure kids in New Jersey alone.
So it is reassuring that the stimulus bill took some aggressive steps toward reducing food insecurity and child poverty, but there are miles to go before we adequately address the linchpin of this country’s moral frailty.
NJ schools skipping mandate to serve breakfast, group says
By the start of the 2019 academic year, 661 New Jersey schools with a high percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals were required by state law to provide breakfast daily to their students once the school day began.
But new findings from a state-by-state report suggest many New Jersey schools did not abide by that mandate.
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According to a report released by the Food Research & Action Center, New Jersey experienced an 8% drop in the number of low-income children who received a free or discounted breakfast in September through February of the 2019-2020 school year, prior to closures caused by the COVID-19 crisis.