End Hunger for Children and Families
End hunger for children and families:
- Create policies and procedures that are client- centric. (i.e. Individuals employed in shift work jobs cannot easily answer telephone calls. Failure to answer call forces individual to go to the “back of the line”).
- Support and advocate for the expansion of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Women, Infant and Children) programs.
- Ensure the ease of SNAP/WIC enrollment by increasing positions in Family Services Division and creating an online enrollment system and implement “presumptive eligibility” into SNAP for all children on free and reduced lunch.
- Identify students, before the end of the school year, who need summer feeding programs and link families to available food resources.
- Coordinate region wide, summer food programs and dinner food programs including a regional volunteer recruitment effort to staff summer and dinner programs.
- Broadly examine food insecurity in the region with a goal to end hunger in the region.
- Encourage institutions and non-profit organizations serving youth and families to incorporate a two question, food screening tool to determine if a child/family are at high risk of hunger.
- Educate schools with 40%+ students determined eligible for free and reduced lunch that they
are eligible to participate in the Community Eligibility Provision Program (CEP).
Take Action
Change your environment
Build trauma-informed communities and spaces.
Support great school climates
While policy changes are important to changing the landscapes of our schools, it is only effective when paired with culture changes. Engage with your child’s school to facilitate a great school climate and culture for all students, teachers and administrators. This can take the form of attending PTA meetings, starting discussion groups with other parents, or…