DENVER – El desayuno escolar sigue aportando grandes beneficios en Colorado y los EE.UU., según revela un nuevo Reporte del Desayuno Escolar elaborado por el Food Research and Action Center (Centro de Investigación y Acción Alimentaria (FRAC, por sus siglas en inglés).
El dato duro es que aproximadamente 11.2 millones de niños de familias con bajos ingresos recibieron un desayuno saludable el año pasado, 320 mil más que el año anterior.
El documento muestra que cada vez más niños están recibiendo desayunos escolares saludables en Colorado y en todo el país. El FRAC destaca que que el año escolar pasado más de 11 millones de niños de bajos ingresos desayunaron en la escuela, 320 mil más que el año anterior.
El Presidente del Food Research and Action Center, FRAC, Jim Weill, afirma que ese número podría seguir aumentando con un nuevo programa de la USDA llamado “Community Eligibility”, el cual permite que las escuelas alimenten a todos sus estudiantes sin costo alguno en las áreas donde la mayoría tiene bajos ingresos.
“La ventaja de esto -explicó- es que elimina el estigma de que estos programas sean vistos como ‘para niños pobres’. Elimina el diferencial entre lo que comen los niños. Elimina el papeleo. Por donde se vea, es fabuloso ofrecer a todos los niños comidas gratis.”
A nivel nacional, el año escolar pasado desayunaron en su escuela sin costo, o a precios rebajados, 53 de cada 100 estudiantes. Esa cifra aumentó hasta en 10 niños en la década anterior.
A nivel estatal, en Colorado más de 131 mil niños desayunaron en su escuela el año pasado, 8 mil más que un año antes. El reporte citado del FRAC refleja que 67 escuelas más comenzaron a servir desayunos en esa temporada, sumando en total casi 14 mil. Cate Blackford, gerente de nutrición infantil en Hunger Free Colorado, dice que desayunar en el salón de clases tiene beneficios que rebasan la sola nutrición.
“Una de las cosas que nos ha emocionado mucho ver en Colorado -dijo- es que cuando los niños desayunan juntos, son más participativos, y lo que encuentran es que hay un sentido de comunidad y de camaradería en términos de desayunar y ‘partir el pan’ juntos.”
Blackford agrega que cuando aumenta la participación en el desayuno, no sólo hay menos niños con hambre; también se ven mejorías en su salud, su conducta en la escuela y su habilidad para aprender.
Nota a los editores: Weill puede ser localizada en el 202-986-2200, ext. 3010; Blackford, en el 303-228-7990. Lea el School Breakfast Scorecard (en inglés).
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Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online tool could help more school districts participate.
The effort is a key component of the Healthy School Meals for All initiative approved by voters in 2022.
Taylor Frederick - culinary programs manager with Nourish Colorado - said over the past couple of years, school meal operators have identified best practices that can be adopted by other school districts, including how to work with local farms and ranches.
"How you can find your local producer," said Frederick, "and even how to put out specific bids for specific local items, and how to work these sorts of things into your menus."
The new Colorado Local Food Program Guidebook, available online at 'guidebook.nourishcolorado.org,' offers tips and tools for launching and sustaining farm-to-school programs.
The guide also offers ways for parents and community members to engage with their local school district, to encourage them to opt into the voluntary program or make menu recommendations.
Frederick explained that the guide begins with a short quiz that helps direct users to the right resources.
For example, food producers who want to sell their produce to reliable kiddo customers can learn how school district cafeterias operate and purchase food.
"To better understand the school market channels," said Frederick, "the bid process, the price points that school districts are working with, their timing, and a little bit about their menus and products that they are looking for."
He said school meal operators can also get tips on how to transition from serving canned and processed foods to preparing meals with fresh ingredients through a series of training videos.
"Some different types of kitchen equipment that might be in the schools, we have training videos on those," said Frederick. "Some vegetable cookery techniques. Those were the big things that school districts and school meal authorities were really saying that they wanted."
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During National Nutrition Month, groups like Virginia Fresh Match are providing people with healthy fresh food options.
Since 2009, the coalition of farmer's markets and mobile food stores has been helping people on SNAP or EBT get access to healthier foods. Some groups have found almost 24% of the benefits are used for healthy foods, while more often they are spent on sugary snacks, premade foods, and meats.
Elizabeth Borst, director of advocacy for Virginia Fresh Match, said everyone should have the opportunity to access healthy foods.
"Just making sure that people both have access to high-quality food and that quality food is affordable to them," Borst explained. "Fresh fruits and vegetables can often be the last thing that people will choose when they are on a really limited budget, so we want to make sure that is accessible to people."
The Consumer Price Index showed food prices drastically increased between 2022 and 2023, but prices have slightly declined in 2024.
Food insecurity has been a long-standing issue for Virginians. Hunger Free America's 2023 Annual Hunger Survey found almost 774,000 people in Virginia are food insecure. Borst emphasized her group is focusing on its "food is medicine" work to ensure no one goes hungry.
While Virginia Fresh Match has been able to accomplish a lot during its multiyear history, there have been some challenges. Borst observed one long-term challenge has been funding sustainability. Like the rest of the world, the pandemic presented a significant hurdle for them, though it created some interesting changes.
"We just had a huge bump in our redemptions and usage of the program," Borst stressed. "That really didn't taper off even though there's been a 40% decrease in SNAP benefit allotments once the pandemic emergency benefits ended."
Emergency allotments provided all SNAP recipients with an additional $95 per month, affecting 470,000 families across the state.
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To reach more hungry families, one Texas nonprofit is setting up mini food markets in schools.
The Tarrant Area Food Bank in North Texas provides 60 million meals a year to families in 13 counties.
It's taking the food directly to school campuses in some lower-income neighborhoods, with what it calls "Ready-to-Learn-in-School Markets."
Food Bank President and CEO Julie Butner said the markets have changed the way they're helping the community.
"And the markets are very much like a retail experience," said Butner, "where the kiddos or the parents can go in and do shopping and get the foods that they want, that they know their families will enjoy."
The area served by the food bank has food insecurity rates that range from just over 10% in Denton County, to more than 17% in Hamilton County.
Butner said more food banks across the country are partnering with school districts to operate on school campuses. She said they hope to have 100 in-school markets by the end of the year.
The markets are established in areas that are deemed food deserts, meaning there isn't a grocery store within a one mile radius of the school - and at least half of the students qualify for free breakfast or lunch.
In addition to addressing the need for food, Butner said the markets also teach valuable skills to students.
"They're helping stock the shelves, helping family members select products, checking family members in that are receiving products," said Butner, "because you do need to qualify in order to enter the market."
According to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture data, the number of households experiencing food insecurity rose from almost 34 million in 2021 to more than 44 million in 2022.
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