Tell Congress to Pass a Child Nutrition Reauthorization Now
Nearly 12 million kids struggle to know where their next meal will come from, impacting everything from health and learning to development and success. In the summer months, child hunger spikes as children lose access to school meals. It’s vital that our lawmakers take action to ensure no child in the U.S. faces hunger at any time of the year.
CNR is the process Congress uses to update the child nutrition programs, including the School Breakfast Program (SBP), National School Lunch Program (NSLP), summer and afterschool nutrition programs, the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
Email your Representative to pass the Healthy Meals, Healthy Kids Act today!
Protect and Strengthen Federal Nutrition Programs
The Food Bank, as a member of the Feeding America network, seeks alignment with their legislative priorities. These include:
- Protect nutrition programs through the federal budget process;
- Protect and strengthen federal nutrition programs;
- Support policies to increase food donation and reduce food waste;
- Reduce hunger through federal appropriations;
- Strengthen tax policies supporting charitable donations;
- Strengthen and protect federal nutrition programs through administrative actions.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP)
- Obtain $100 million for TEFAP Storage and Distribution Funds (providing funds to help pay for storage and distribution of the commodities provided by the government).
- Provide full funding for Section 32 so that USDA can provide market support through bonus commodities for TEFAP when prices are low.
- Encourage the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to apply bonus TEFAP purchase criteria as generously as possible and make specialty crop purchases for TEFAP to increase the availability of TEFAP commodities.
Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)
Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG)
Summer Food Service Program (SFSP)
- Streamline regulations for community-based providers so that they can feed children year-round
- Align the area eligibility requirement for summer feeding and educational programs to allow more learning programs to offer meals in the summer
- Provide a Summer electronic benefits transfer (EBT) grocery card to families with children eligible for free and reduced-price school meals during the summer months and when schools are closed to supplement their household food budgets
- Allow kids to consume meals off-site, which would enable communities to adopt innovative program models to reach children who lack access to a summer feeding site
National School Lunch Program (NSLP)
- Strengthen access to and quality of school meals to support reducing child hunger, improving nutrition and health and supporting learning.
- Make the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program permanent for all out-of-school time throughout the year. Out-of-school time would qualify as any time schools close: summer, weekends, as well as temporary and indefinite school closures.
Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
School Breakfast Program (SBP)
- Strengthen access to and quality of school meals to support reducing child hunger, improving nutrition and health, and supporting learning.
- Make the Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT) program permanent for all out-of-school time throughout the year.Out-of-school time would qualify as any time schools close: summer, weekends, as well as temporary and indefinite school closures.
Child and Adult Care Feeding Program (CACFP)