For Immediate Release: March 27, 2023
Media Contact: Adam Keigwin | akeigwin@actumllc.com | (916) 256-5758
No Kid Hungry Issues Over $300K in Grants to Help Ensure Free Meals For Kids
The California State Legislature Unanimously declared March 6-10th as School Breakfast Week Pursuant to ACR 33 by Assembly Speaker Designee Robert Rivas
Sacramento, Calif. – No Kid Hungry, a national campaign to end childhood hunger, has awarded over $300,000 in grants to schools and community organizations in California that are working to provide free meals for kids and families. The grants have supported efforts to ensure children have access to nutritious meals at school, at home, and in their communities.
“School meals are the first line of defense against child hunger,” said No Kid Hungry California Director Kathy Saile. “Right now, families are seeing shockingly high prices at the grocery store, at the same time that pandemic era CalFresh benefits have just expired, making it more important than ever that they can access free meals at school. These grants will help schools expand their operations to offer no cost meals to all students, while also supporting the local organizations who have stepped in to ensure families have nutritious food as they recover from the devastating natural disasters that have hit our state in recent months.”
The grants are part of No Kid Hungry’s ongoing efforts to address childhood hunger in California and across the country. One of the key focuses of the campaign is to increase access to school breakfast programs, which are proven to help improve academic performance, attendance, and behavior. Thanks to California’s Universal Meals Program, all California schools are able to offer free breakfast and lunch to all students for the first time this school year.
Saile expressed pride in their organization’s support for efforts aimed at providing free meals to children in California and beyond. The grants being awarded will play a crucial role in ensuring that every child has access to the nutritious meals they need to learn, grow and achieve their dreams.
No Kid Hungry has provided an additional $326,760 in grants to the following California school districts and community organizations:
Eastside Union School District (Lancaster, CA)
United Way of Kern County (Bakersfield, CA)
La Familia Counseling Center (Sacramento, CA)
Celebration Nation (San Jose, CA)
Chemehuevi Indian Tribe (Havasu Lake, CA)
Imperial Valley Food Bank (Imperial, CA)
Sick N’ Tired Sobriety and Transformation Recovery Home (San Bernardino, CA)
Boys & Girls Clubs of Kern County (Bakersfield, CA)
River City Food Bank (Sacramento, CA)
Boys & Girls Clubs of the Los Angeles Harbor (San Pedro, CA)
Chowchilla Union High School District (Chowchilla, CA)
Los Angeles Unified School District (Los Angeles, CA)
Mixteco/Indigena Community Organizing Project (Oxnard, CA)
Earlier this month, Assembly Member Robert Rivas introduced ACR 33, proclaiming March 6-10, 2023 as National School Breakfast Week. The unanimously passed proclamation recognized the importance of school breakfast for student success, and the invaluable work of school nutrition teams to plan, prepare and serve meals to thousands of students across the state each day.
“Access to nutritious food is critical for a child’s development and wellbeing,” said Speaker Designee and Assemblymember Robert Rivas. “Students should be fully focused on learning, not having to worry about where their next meal is coming. That is why I am grateful for my colleagues’ support in unanimously passing ACR 33, officially recognizing National School Breakfast Week and the importance of school nutrition programs to student success.”
The text of ACR 33 is as follows:
WHEREAS, “National School Breakfast Week” is observed annually to promote the importance of a nutritious breakfast to pupil health and learning, and to recognize the critical role of the federal School Breakfast Program in meeting the nutritional needs of children across the United States; and
WHEREAS, An estimated one in eight children in the state live in food insecure households, meaning that they do not have consistent access to adequate food for an active and healthy life; and
WHEREAS, The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic challenges have heightened economic hardship among many families in the state, especially within communities of color, with an estimated 1,100,000 California children having faced hunger in 2022; and
WHEREAS, School nutrition programs provide vital healthy meals to pupils every schooldays, nourishing pupils; and
WHEREAS, Increasing access to school breakfast helps pupils excel academically and supports their ability to learn and perform, such as with better test scores, improved concentration, and fewer absences and class disruptions; and
WHEREAS, School breakfast participation also helps improve pupils’ overall diet, builds healthy and lifelong eating habits, improves food security, and advances child health and well-being; and
WHEREAS, School breakfast will continue to play a critical role in keeping pupils nourished through the 2022–23 school year and beyond, and making breakfast a part of the school day, commonly known as Breakfast After the Bell, is an effective way to ensure that more pupils realize the benefits of breakfast; and
WHEREAS, The Legislature and Governor Gavin Newsom recognized the critical need to ensure healthy meals for all California pupils and enacted the Free School Meals for All Act of 2021 so all pupils will have access to free school meals, including breakfast, beginning in the 2022–23 school year; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby proclaims March 6, 2023, to March 10, 2023, inclusive, as School Breakfast Week; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes the critical role of the federal School Breakfast Program in meeting the nutritional needs of pupils; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes the invaluable service of school nutrition staff who work tirelessly to administer the federal School Breakfast Program, even amidst unprecedented challenges; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
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About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But millions of kids in the United States live with hunger. No Kid Hungry is working to end childhood hunger by helping launch and improve programs that give all kids the healthy food they need to thrive. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization committed to ending hunger and poverty. Join us at nokidhungry.org.
Last reviewed: March 28, 2023