Students who do qualify for free school meals still fall through the cracks because of poverty stigma, and administrative and language barriers that prevent families from applying. A recent Siena poll found that 77% of registered NY voters support state funding for Healthy School Meals for All. Strong support held across party lines, with 63% of Republicans in support, and across geography, income, race, and age.

“Children who are not well fed cannot be well read. Addressing hunger in our state is a moral imperative and a matter of public health. The connection between access to healthy food and better health outcomes is clear. Advocates like the American Heart Association understand that providing healthy universal school meals to all students has incredible health, academic, and economic benefits for families.”

— Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas

Legislative Priorities:

• Universal School Meals: An estimated 320,000 students across New York still lack access to free school breakfast and lunch. Even after the Governor and state legislature provided $135 million last year in the state budget to expand free school meals, more than 650 schools are still unable to offer universal school meals at no cost. In those schools, up to 24% – nearly 1 in 4 – of their students may be from low-income households, but the school community still cannot leverage last year’s funding for expanded free meals. These schools are  largely in suburban communities, including on Long Island, the Hudson Valley, and Western New York where families are struggling as already high costs of living continue to rise.

• SNAP for Puerto Rico: As citizens of the United States of America, Puerto Ricans deserve the full benefits of SNAP. More than 40% of the Puerto Rican population lives under the federal poverty line, which is four times higher than the U.S. national average of 12.8%. see letter

• Nutrition Outreach Education Program: We must also fund the Nutrition Outreach Education Program, which expands the number of New Yorkers who can  access SNAP and  provides a twenty-seven times return on investment. These measures would have incredible health, academic, and economic benefits for families. Every young student should be able to access healthy breakfast and lunch at school for free, and every SNAP recipient should be able to recoup their stolen funds.