BOSTON – Some 880 high-poverty schools in the Commonwealth may be eligible for a program that would feed all their students breakfasts and lunches, eliminate the stigma that such singled-out students sometimes face and do away with much of the paperwork and application hassles.

The difficulty is making sure all the schools know about it and act on it by the end of this month.

Justine Kahn, director of Food Education and Policy at Project Bread, says among the results of what's known as the Community Eligible Provision (CEP) will be increased participation in classroom breakfasts because all children will qualify and none could be branded or labeled.

"We consider that sort of the gold standard approach to school breakfast because it does eliminate stigma and it ensures that all kids have access to school breakfast," she says.

Kahn and other advocates are reaching out to the eligible schools and districts, hoping to get them to commit to CEP by the end of June in order have the program up and running in the 2014-15 school year.

Kahn says countless studies have shown the benefits of helping feed underprivileged schoolchildren.

"They behave better,” she stresses. “There are fewer trips to the school nurse's office or the school principal's office because they're able to concentrate and they're focusing on their work and not their hungry stomachs.

“And so any program that is going to increase participation in school breakfasts certainly will have an impact on education. "

A new study shows CEP has been a success in six states and the District of Columbia, which were the first to implement it.

Pat Baker, senior policy analyst with Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, says a selling point of CEP for school administrators is a streamlined qualification process.

"It would be terrific if all 880 schools on the state's list actually decided to send in a letter saying, 'We're interested in this, tell us more,'” she says. “Those schools may well find to their surprise that this is going to work for them and it's going to be a heck of a lot easier on their staff to administer."

Interested schools and districts are asked to contact the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Baker has no time for an argument that helping feed schoolchildren is something the government shouldn't be spending money on.

"Well, federal, local, state money is used to educate kids, and if kids are hungry, they're not going to learn,” she points out. “So we're wasting educational dollars trying to teach children who come to school or are in school hungry."



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Groups working to end hunger in Nebraska are reaching out to all parts of the state to train food insecure people to advocate for others facing similar issues.

The advocacy group Nebraska Appleseed's Food Access Community Advocates Cohort educates people over nine months how to build advocacy, community organizing and storytelling skills, so they are better equipped to understand policies affecting the state's most food insecure people.

Megan Hamann, senior community organizer of food and nutrition access for Nebraska Appleseed, said having experienced hunger puts them in a better position to understand and talk about policy issues affecting hungry people in Nebraska.

"They have this lived experience that is really useful, I think, when it comes to making sure that our decision-makers know the impact of the policies they are considering," Hamann explained.

Nebraska Appleseed will start taking applications for new program participants Friday.

Hamann pointed out the number of food insecure people in Nebraska is greater now than it was during the pandemic, when demand at food banks was already high.

"I think with the passage of the recent federal budget reconciliation bill, we are looking forward to a period of time where that need is going to reach new extremes," Hamann projected.

This will be the fourth year of the cohort program. Many past participants have taken leadership roles in their communities and are now leading local efforts to educate others about the best ways to address food insecurity.


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It has been about three weeks since the Rowena Fire in Oregon's Columbia Gorge was put out, and the local food bank remains vital to recovery efforts.

The fire burned 3,600 acres in Wasco County, destroying 56 homes and 100 other structures.

Breen Goodwin, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Food Bank, said they are always prepared to assist during disasters with ready-to-eat emergency food boxes and water. She added many displaced families are living with relatives, in hotels, or camping and remain uncertain about their next steps.

"It is difficult in a community of our size to absorb housing needs for that many families who have lost homes," Goodwin acknowledged. "That next step of the recovery process of truly: 'How are those families being supported with more long term recovery efforts?'"

Breen pointed out the food bank has been serving as a distribution site to hand out supplies from Adventist Health of the Columbia Gorge and other organizations who donated nonfood items, including air purifiers, generators, hygiene supplies and stuffed animals for kids.

One of the biggest challenges, Breen noted, is keeping a supply of drinking water flowing once people start to return home.

"We're able to drop full pallets of water directly into the impacted communities because most of the time the drinking water is no longer safe until enough testing has been done," Breen explained.

The Columbia Gorge Food Bank is one of 21 regional food banks in the Oregon Food Bank Network. Breen emphasized the number of people visiting the food bank rose to about 6,500 per month during the pandemic and has remained at that level. People can visit OregonFoodFinder.org to find pantry locations in their area.

Indiana families are navigating the summer without SUN Bucks, a federal grocery benefit which delivered $120 per child last summer.

Gov. Mike Braun's administration chose not to participate in 2025, citing prior planning gaps.

Mark Lynch, director of advocacy for the Indy Hunger Network, said the funding blackout hit the state hard.

"We really are feeling and seeing the impacts of not having the SUN Bucks program this year," Lynch emphasized. "That $120 per summer for those students that they had last year have created some longer lines at our food pantries."

State leaders said administrative hurdles kept Indiana out of the program. Supporters argued skipping SUN Bucks puts pressure on food banks and leaves low-income families with fewer options.

Lynch noted to help bridge the gap, Indiana expanded its summer meal sites to include prepackaged meals, which do not require daily pickups.

"But there's school starting soon and they're giving their workers some time off for the summer, so that might be ending in the next week or two," Lynch explained. "That's just an example and that happens around the state in rural, suburban, and in city communities."

The Indy Hunger Network and other partners continue to support Hoosiers through tools like the Community Compass app, which shows nearby meal sites and grocery assistance programs.


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