Groups unite to urge US to expand food aid to schoolchildren

NEW YORK A high-level coalition of educators, activists and philanthropists, including the American Federation of Teachers, NAACP and the World Central Kitchen charity, urges Congress to expand and expand emergency provisions that allow school districts across the country to feed millions of children during the coronavirus pandemic.

We urge you to quickly pass legislation to address the hunger crisis in the country, the group wrote in a letter. This is a national humanitarian crisis that requires immediate action and innovation on several fronts.

The July 6 letter is addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer, and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy. It was handed over to The Associated Press Thursday in an attempt to pressure lawmakers to act on the HEROES Act.

Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.7 million school employees, told the AP that she and the signatories hoped for immediate help and a long-term structural overhaul of the school. food in America.

In a terrible pandemic with terrible unemployment, with terrible food insecurity, why aren’t we doing more? she asked. It’s really about rethinking our public goods, our public institutions, to be a real safety net for people.

Another signatory, Chef Jos Andrs, founder of World Central Kitchen, which has distributed 35 million meals since the start of the pandemic, said: “We have to be bold. If we don’t do it now, when ? ”

The pandemic has killed more than 150,000 people in the United States, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University. It has closed schools and businesses and devastated the economy, costing tens of millions of people their jobs. President Donald Trump has pushed for schools to reopen, even threatening to withhold federal funds from districts that remain closed despite concerns from health officials over the spread of the deadly virus.

During the pandemic, the US Department of Agriculture issued a series of waivers to make it easier for schools and community organizations to serve free meals under federal nutrition programs. These waivers have enabled a variety of innovative strategies, such as the drive-through collection of children’s meals by adults, the lifting of zone eligibility rules to reach more families, and the distribution of several days of meals at a time.

The group is pushing the Republican-led Senate and Trump to pass the HEROES law, which extends unemployment benefits to some workers and extends the rules under which school districts can distribute food in emergencies. The measure has already been passed by the Democratic-led House.

The coalition is also seeking a 15% increase in food stamp assistance, also known as SNAP, and an extension of the program that allows children eligible for free or reduced school meals to benefit from food stamps. ‘additional dietary benefits.

The letter was signed by a broad coalition of advocates and social groups, including the Hispanic Federation, the National Immigration Law Center, the Emerson Collective, Share Our Strength and Hunger Free America.

The coalition letter points out that six in ten students in California and Kentucky qualify for federally subsidized meals, while in New York the number is just under half of all students. Pelosi and McCarthy represent California, McConnell represents Kentucky, and Schumer is from New York.

Andrs told the PA he hoped $ 900 million could be set aside for school meals and waivers could be given to poor families. But he also argued that the money needs to be invested long term in farmers to bring them into the equation.

I don’t think we want to see footage of an America with long lines of cars waiting for their weekly box of fruits and vegetables. This shouldn’t happen, he says. Let’s try a three-dimensional, 360-degree approach.

The coalition said it believes schools often with the largest kitchens in the neighborhood should be turned into community kitchens during times of crisis.

There is so much food insecurity in the country at the moment, why can’t we more vigorously use school kitchens in conjunction with restaurants and other places? Weingarten asked.

Andrs said school meals shouldn’t be political. There are hungry children in the Red and Blue States, he said. But he specifically called McConnell for failing to address food issues in the Senate or in his own state. I expect better from a leader like him, Andrs said.

In response, a representative for McConnell said on Thursday the senator was proud to have helped push through $ 25 billion in food aid earlier this year under the CARES Act. The representative also highlighted comments McConnell made to PBS on Wednesday in which he said it was extremely important to ensure children are well fed.

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Mark Kennedy is at https://twitter.com/KennedyTwits.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

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