Supporting Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act
Adopted at the 89th%20Annual%20Meeting in 2021
WHEREAS, child nutrition programs are critical for our nation's health, economy and national security; and
WHEREAS, regular access to healthy and affordable meals has been proven to be one of the strongest predictors of improved school performance, improved health and sound childhood development; and
WHEREAS, research shows that childhood hunger and food insecurity have a range of negative impacts on the health, academic performance and overall well-being of children; and
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic spike in the rate of children experiencing hunger and food insecurity, peaking at 18% of families with children reporting their household did not have enough to eat in December 2020 according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and also created challenges to safely accessing child nutrition programs; and
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an ongoing increase in the scope and scale of children experiencing hunger and food insecurity with the most recent estimates from Feeding America showing that 13 million may face hunger in 2021 compared with the 11 million who experienced hunger in 2019 according to USDA (an all-time low); and
WHEREAS, child nutrition programs are the front line of defense against childhood hunger and food insecurity, promoting healthy eating and providing healthy, nutritious food for the nation's children through the following programs: National School Lunch Program (NSLP), School Breakfast Program (SBP), Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), Seamless Summer Option (SSO), and Special Milk Program; and
WHEREAS, millions of children depend on these programs, including the 21.5 million low-income children who participated in the school lunch program and the 12.4 million who participated in the school breakfast program in the 2018-2019 school year, as well as the 6.3 million mothers and children who received food and nutrition education through WIC and 2.8 million children who ate summer meals in 2019; and
WHEREAS, children living in poverty also face an elevated risk of hunger and food insecurity with summer being the hungriest time of the year; and
WHEREAS, participation in the summer meals programs declined sharply from 2015 to 2019 (from 185.3 million in 2015 to 167.4 million in the summer of 2019), yet COVID-19 waiver flexibilities led to a 160 percent increase in summer 2021; and
WHEREAS, the 2021 Child Nutrition Reauthorization offers an opportunity to improve and strengthen the Summer Food Service Program by making permanent the COVID-19 waiver flexibilities that help to better reach children and by including provisions that would increase access and reach more kids through streamlining, reducing administrative burdens, and providing program flexibility, giving them the access to quality meals that they have during the school year; and
WHEREAS, the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 has improved the nutritional standards for school nutrition programs and as a result, kids have access to increased fruits, vegetables and whole grains but less sugars, fats and sodium, and that Congress has the opportunity to ensure that children continue to have access to nutritious and quality meals to help prevent childhood hunger and obesity; and
WHEREAS, an adequately funded and evidence-based reauthorization bill can reduce childhood hunger and food insecurity in America, help reduce childhood obesity, improve child nutrition and health, and enhance healthy child development and school readiness; allowing children to reach their full potential; and
WHEREAS, Congress has a unique opportunity in the upcoming reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act to improve access and nutrition for millions of children, particularly low-income children,
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to streamline and simplify provisions governing the summer meals program in order to reduce administrative burden, bureaucracies and duplications in program administration and operation during the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to allow for more flexibility around where children are able to access and eat summer meals, by allowing for non-congregate models in communities where summer meals sites are not available and lowering the threshold required to operate sites open to all children; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to permanently authorize the operation of the Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer for Children (SEBTC) program, make program funding mandatory and expand the reach of the program to kids eligible for free or reduced-price school meals in all states, tribal nations and localities in order to close the summer meals gap; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to permanently authorize the Pandemic EBT system beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing authorities to quickly deliver increased nutritional aid during times of crisis; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to expand the well-documented benefits of Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows schools to serve meals at no charge to all students if enough are identified as qualifying for other assistance programs, by lowering the minimum identified student percentage (ISP), increasing the ISP multiplier, expanding direct certification with Medicaid data nationwide, and supporting the improvement of direct certification systems; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to simplify the school meals programs and support students from financially strapped working families by eliminating the reduced-price category for school meals; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to increase the flexibility of WIC appointments through increased access to remote appointments and extended certification periods as well as to support equitable access to the WIC food package through modernization efforts that increase access to online ordering, online purchasing, and delivery; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to invest in the ability and resources of states and cities to provide access to healthy and affordable meals before, during and after school for all children, all year long; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors urges Congress to protect, strengthen and improve the child nutrition programs through a Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act that builds on the Healthy, Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010 to ensure that low-income children continue to have access to nutritious meals throughout the year; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that The United States Conference of Mayors supports the enactment of a Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act that ensures low income children's improved access to and participation in child nutrition programs, and, that it includes the policy goals stated above.