LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A huge portion of America's children are headed back to class hungry, according to a new report. The good news is that some Arkansas school districts are changing that - and getting great results - just by offering in-class breakfast.

Three out of four teachers and administrators say they see students who don't have enough to eat, according to the "No Kid Hungry" campaign. However, Tiffany Barnard, child nutrition director at the Drew Central School District in Arkansas, said a grant from "No Kid Hungry" has allowed the district to offer breakfast in the classroom.

Students and teachers love it, she said.

"I had one of them tell me it's kind of like it was at grandma's house when they were growing up - that they all sit down in the morning and eat their breakfast together," she said. "The teacher eats with them. She said it's like having breakfast at her grandparents' house when all 20 grandkids were present."

According to No Kid Hungry, U.S. teachers with hungry students report spending nearly $40 a month of their own money to feed them. Research indicates students who don't eat breakfast learn less, have more behavior problems and go to the school nurse more often.

Barnard said her district had seen all of that, from teachers buying food to students complaining to the nurse of headaches and stomach problems.

"First thing she asks them is, 'When's the last time you ate?' And a lot of times, they would say 'Oh, well, around 7 o'clock yesterday,' you know," Barnard said.

Drew schools provide free breakfast in every classroom, kindergarten through 12th grade. They offer grab-and-go items such as milk and cereal bars four days a week, with hot food once a week. That may be enough to help Arkansas graduate thousands more students every year.

Barnard said they haven't been doing it long enough to see better test scores, but the teachers already report fewer discipline problems.

"There's less chaos in the class," she said. "They say now the kids are paying attention to what you're saying, because they're not looking at the clock every five minutes to see if it's time to go to lunch."

The school district got a $10,000 start-up grant from No Kid Hungry. The group also is working with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance.


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September is Hunger Action Month. In North Dakota, it isn't just food banks trying to help underserved populations get nutritious items. Health facilities at the community level are chipping in, too. Community Health Centers are federally qualified clinics that provide primary care to all patients, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.

Shannon Bacon, director of equity and external affairs with Community HealthCare Association of the Dakotas, said since 2021, locations in this region have elevated patient screening to get a better understanding of their needs, including whether they have enough healthy food to eat.

"One example, they could ask, you know, in the past 12 months, were they ever worried about whether their food would run out before they had money to buy more?" she said.

She added that type of dialogue with a trusted health provider can help reduce any stigma about hunger and suggested this broader approach to meeting patient needs can help lead to better outcomes for these patients. Through a partnership with the Great Plains Food Bank, some Community Health Centers in North Dakota have onsite pantries, where patients who screen positive for food insecurity are sent home with fruits, vegetables and other healthy items.

Bacon said during these screenings, people also can be referred to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP benefits, and added that there's an awareness gap in which some patients who meet the criteria don't know where to turn in their community.

"One health center found that a large majority of the patients who said, 'Yes, I am interested in getting connected with food and nutrition resources today,' also said they hadn't visited a pantry in the last year," she continued.

She said asking these questions during a wellness visit can help communities better support individuals who are falling through the cracks in the local safety net.


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California is home to more than 181,000 people who are unhoused, with 75,000 in Los Angeles alone, so the Los Angeles Food Policy Council will host a panel discussion today on options for getting healthy food to the unhoused population.

The event will feature firsthand accounts from people experiencing homelessness, plus experts from local agencies and nonprofits.

Alba Velasquez, executive director of the council, said the discussion is aimed at finding solutions.

"We want to center our conversation around what sorts of policies need to be in place in order to make systemic change that would allow more, healthier food options to be easily accessible to some of our most vulnerable communities," Velasquez explained.

She noted the panel will hear from community members with lived experience and will explore a more dignified approach to providing food, favoring healthier, more thoughtful choices, instead of defaulting to cheap, convenient options like instant noodles or pasta.

Velasquez suggested policymakers look for ways to increase acceptance of electronic benefits transfer at local restaurants for hot meals.

"How do we make hot meals easier to access for folks that don't have refrigeration units to store, or don't even have a secure place to stay, because they're constantly moving?" Velasquez asked.

The panel, which is open to the public, will take place at 10 a.m. today at the Huffington Center in Koreatown. Speakers include the host of a podcast called "We the unhoused," as well as representatives from the Los Angeles Community Action Network, the Los Angeles City Controller's office, the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority and the Skid Row People's Market.


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In observance of Hunger Action Month, a new statewide collaborative has launched to address food insecurity in South Dakota.

Nearly 14% of U.S. households struggled getting food last year, according to new U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

That includes over 100,000 South Dakotans, said Timothy Meagher, who's on the steering committee for the South Dakota Healthy Nutrition Collaborative.

Its members are looking to tackle food insecurity by integrating a network of resources - from healthcare groups and universities, to community foundations and food producers.

Meagher said the group aims to "align resources to actions."

"Because we believe we can improve nutrition," said Meagher, "decrease the disease, and provide every South Dakota citizen with an opportunity to be the best version of themselves."

Along with the new national data, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement that the high rate of food insecurity is "a direct outcome of congressional actions" - including blocking the expansion of the Child Tax Credit, and restricting access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Meagher said the collaborative's one-year goals include assessing the landscape of organizations that deal with hunger and improving coordination among them, elevating voices of advocates, researchers and people experiencing food insecurity, and advancing policy to address the issue.

"Basically, we're putting on a whiteboard," said Meagher, "'Here's what we know collectively. What do we need to know, and how do we take action on it?'"

Nutritious diets can help prevent cancer and heart disease, which are the two leading causes of death in the state, according to the South Dakota Department of Health.


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