January 11, 2017

NJ lawmakers to consider new fund to feed kids

Tomorrow, the New Jersey Senate Education Committee will consider a bill that would dedicate state dollars to feeding children who face hunger and help bring more federal dollars back to New Jersey. The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 12 at 10 a.m. in the Statehouse, Committee Room 6.

Under the bill, S-2819, the Nourishing Young Minds Initiative Fund would defray the costs of effectively implementing the federal school breakfast and summer meals programs in high-poverty communities, helping to increase the number of low-income children receiving these meals. Because towns are reimbursed based on the number of meals served, this would bring more federal dollars into New Jersey communities to feed hungry kids.

Read the legislation.

Summer Meals Service Trainings Planned

The New Jersey Department of Agriculture will begin providing trainings on Feb. 1 to local sponsors of the federal Summer Meal Service Program, which provides the highest federal meal reimbursements to schools, municipalities and community programs that provide meals to children in the summer.

Now is the time to begin planning your summer meals program. For schools, the Department of Agriculture has created a tool to help you get started. Get started with summer meals.

All other potential sponsors should contact the department at 609-292-4498 or email SFSPCommunication@ag.state.nj.us. 

Atlantic County Convenes First Food Summit

The “Nourishing Communities: Ingredients for Success” Summit, held Jan. 9, brought together local and county officials, community organizations, state agencies and advocates for an informative event focused on how communities can work together to create a seamless nutritional safety net for children and adults. Information about school breakfast, summer meals, farm-to-school, healthy corner stores and other topics was shared, with participants committing to take steps to combat hunger in their communities.

ICYMI: School Breakfast Underachievers: Is your district on the list?

Each year, ACNJ publishes data on student participation in the federal School Breakfast Program for all districts with at least 20 percent of students eligible to receive free or reduced-price school meals. In our annual report, we also identify districts with high poverty and low school breakfast participation. Boosting breakfast participation is as simple as changing the time when meals are served from before school --- when students have not yet arrived – to “after the bell” during the first few minutes of the school day.

View “Underachievers” List.

Find out how your district is doing in serving school breakfast.