Earlier this year, advocates from across the country gathered in Washington, DC, for a lobby day and congressional briefing in support of child nutrition programs. The event, led by CSPI and the American Heart Association, brought together National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity (NANA Coalition) members and other partners from across the country to educate Hill staffers on child nutrition programs (with an emphasis on school meals) and urge Congress to protect critical child nutrition program funding and access. Just prior to the April event, the USDA made devastating cuts to Patrick Leahy Farm to School and Local Food for Schools Programs, hampering schools’ efforts to serve fresh and healthy school meals.

What’s at stake for child nutrition?

The USDA administers 16 nutrition programs, 9 of which serve children. These programs help ensure kids get the nutritious foods they need to grow and thrive throughout childhood and into a healthy adulthood. These programs include the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and School Breakfast Program (SBP).

Established in 1946, NSLP serves almost 4.9 billion lunches to 30 million students annually. With a federal budget of $17.8 billion, it is the second-largest nutrition assistance program behind the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP. The SBP operates in about 90,000 schools, serving over 2.5 billion breakfasts to 15.5 million participants.

The school meal programs predominantly serve children from lower socioeconomic status households, often for free or at a reduced price, and provide the most nutritious source of food kids consume. Thus, school breakfasts and lunches play a critical role in advancing nutrition security.

Despite the benefits of these programs, earlier this year, Republicans in the House Ways and Means Committee proposed drastic “cost-saving” measures that would have limited access to free school meals. These included requiring universal income verification for students’ families and changing eligibility requirements for the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows schools to provide free meals to all students regardless of family income. The nutritional quality of school meals is also at risk via standalone legislation and appropriations policy “riders”—both of which seek to circumvent the science-based nutrition standards school meals must follow while prioritizing food industry handouts above child health. The threat of these riders will continue through the appropriations process, likely through September of this year.

NANA is fighting back

At the helm of protecting these programs is the NANA Coalition, the nation’s largest nutrition coalition, which comprises more than 500 total member organizations at the national, state, and local levels. NANA promotes a better understanding of the importance of healthy eating and physical activity within Congress and federal agencies while striving to cultivate champions for nutrition, activity, and chronic disease prevention. One of NANA’s recent victories was successfully advocating for added sugar limits for school meals. Wins like this are accomplished through collective strategic efforts including Hill visits, sign-on letters, educational opportunities, and action alerts.

NANA on the Hill

The event began with a congressional briefing titled Nourishing the Future: How Child Nutrition Programs Shape Our Kids’ Health and featured a panel of four child nutrition advocates: pediatric cardiologist Dr. Geoff Rosenthal, school food director and city councilwoman Toni Jackson, advocate and mom Katie Herndon Dawkins, and nurse and mom Mindy Beyer. More than 25 Hill staff and partners were in attendance. The experts discussed the benefits of child nutrition programs with a focus on the importance of school meals, the CEP that allows students to access healthy foods, and the ramifications of halted Farm to School program funding. Panelists ensured that briefing attendees understood that these programs reduce stigma, promote equity, fight hunger, and are linked to better health outcomes.

Actual school meals were served at the briefing, effectively bringing the school cafeteria to the Hill to show how nutritious and delicious school meals can be.  On the menu were plant-based Asian veggie and chicken Philly sub sandwiches - both on whole grain-rich buns and served with fresh fruits, vegetables and low-fat and nonfat milk! Lunches were provided by Fairfax County (VA) Public Schools Food and Nutrition program and kindly delivered by Design Cuisine Catering. These entrees meet the current federal nutrition standards that school meals must follow.

After the briefing, advocates took to the Hill for 31 meetings with House and Senate offices, led by 18 advocates from 11 states! These visits prioritized legislators with leadership positions on the committees that oversee child nutrition programs. Advocates spoke to policymakers about the importance of school meals for all, CEP, protecting science-based nutrition standards, local food for schools, nutrition education like SNAP-Ed, and more. This was also an opportunity for advocates to provide resources from nine NANA organizations covering nutrition standards, healthy school meals for all, and more.

As one advocate from the nonprofit The Food Mill in Columbus, Georgia put it, "The increased success of programs when they are designed to combine education and access is probably the area I am most tenacious in advocating for as it relates to health outcomes for children and adults. Day in and day out over the last five years I have seen this model work.”

What’s next?

CSPI and NANA are closely monitoring reconciliation and appropriations negotiations. Thanks in part to our efforts and our coalition partners, Congress is no longer considering cuts to CEP in Reconciliation. Several other cuts remain on the table for school nutrition though, including eliminating school kitchen equipment grants, funding for technical assistance to schools, and continued cuts to Farm to School grants. We continue to share with offices the impact of these cuts on child health and urge them to prioritize investments in child nutrition.  

How you can help

Do you care about healthy school meals? Has your family benefited from this program? Let your representatives know! Visit CSPI’s Take Action page to share your support for child nutrition and other important hunger relief programs!