This week, the holiday break is over for many Indiana students, and local food banks say their goal is to ensure kids have enough to eat this semester.

One in every seven Hoosier children faces hunger at home, according to the nonprofit Feeding America.

Emily Weikert Bryant - executive director of Feeding Indiana's Hungry - said food banks across the state can help those kids and their families get what they need, on and off school grounds, this semester.

"Many of our members have pantries at schools, or do mobile pantries at school sites," said Weikert Bryant, "working with those school communities to provide access to families, not just the child that attends the school, but the families of the children."

Weikert Bryant said continuing pandemic-aid measures guarantee students get a healthy breakfast and lunch on campus, and food banks have other programs to fill the need for food off-campus.

She added that folks with incomes less than 185% of the federal poverty line - or about $49,000 a year for a family of four - can enroll children in free and reduced-price lunch programs. That also qualifies them for pandemic food-aid benefits.

Parents can call 211 to find local food assistance.

One option is a backpack program, which provides food for after school, weekends and holidays.

Marijo Martinec, executive director of the Food Bank of Northern Indiana, said her organization is feeding more than 2,800 kids across four counties through its backpack program this school year. She said school officials and social workers decide which students are eligible.

"The schools make sure that the families, if there's multiple students in one family in various grades," said Martinec, "that they all try to get in the program."

Martinec said bullying can be a concern for students who participate in food-aid programs, so discretion is a critical component.

"Receiving that food discreetly really is to protect them," said Martinec. "So that they don't have to feel any shame for being in the situation that they're in and needing that food assistance."

She added, since students often share their backpack contents with family members, the Food Bank of Northern Indiana is piloting a new program to provide larger quantities of food.

During this week's presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris proposed reviving the Child Tax Credit, which was part of the American Rescue Plan Act.

Harris says she'd raise the credit to $6,000 for newborns, renewing focus on its impact for Ohio families. However, the U.S. Senate recently rejected House Resolution 7024, which aimed to expand the Child Tax Credit.

Analysts have said the proposal could have lifted 400,000 children out of poverty, including thousands in Ohio.

Lauren Reliford, public policy director for the Children's Defense Fund, cited a "lack of political will" as the main barrier to expanding the credit.

"But at this point, childhood poverty is a policy choice," she said. "The folks that have the power to do it know and have seen the evidence - and they haven't done it."

A Child Tax Credit expansion initially passed in the House with bipartisan support, including all but one Ohio representative. However, critics of the expansion have voiced concerns about the cost to taxpayers and potential misuse. These factors contributed to its rejection in the Senate, despite widespread support from family advocacy groups.

Reliford also pointed to the broader impacts of poverty on children and the long-term consequences of inaction.

"Poverty is a toxic stress," she said. "Children see their parents being stressed, and they take that on, too. And so, why are we allowing these children to grow up in spaces and places without the necessary resources they need?"

The Child Tax Credit has been credited with significantly reducing childhood poverty during the pandemic, but its future remains uncertain as the debate continues in Washington.

A national program to connect children and families with the outdoors is at risk of ending without help from Congress.

The Every Kid Outdoors program provides fourth graders and their families the opportunity to appreciate nature and wildlife without breaking the bank.

Julia Hurwit, Outdoors Alliance for Kids campaign manager for the Sierra Club, said the program encourages children to seek out an active and healthy outdoor lifestyle, leading to a sustained relationship with the natural world by offering a free, one-year pass.

"This includes things like national parks, national historical sites, national marine sanctuaries," Hurwit outlined. "This pass begins on September first every year for the current class of fourth graders and gives them access to those places."

This month and continuing through Oct. 5, the Outdoor Alliance for Kids is organizing a range of events and actions to spread awareness and advocate for Congress to pass the Every Kid Outdoors Reauthorization Act. It would secure $25 million in permanent funding and extend the program to fifth graders.

The Sierra Club believes the wellness of current and future generations, the economy and the health of communities and the planet depend on people having a personal, direct and lifelong relationship with nature.

Hurwit added it helps if kids are introduced to the great outdoors early in life.

"Every year, it's about 200,000 fourth graders who are able to access this pass," Hurwit pointed out. "You can get a voucher for free online, and then you turn it into a physical parks pass in certain locations across the country, including most national parks and federal lands."

She noted much of the Sierra Club's belief in the importance of the Outdoor Alliance program is based on studies.

"When a kid goes to a national park or goes to public lands for the first time with their own family and with multi generations, it really encourages them to continue going because they're seeing someone they really look up to," Hurwit explained.

Iowa has released an interactive website to help parents find real-time child care options for their kids.

Iowa Child Care Connect, which the state has nicknamed "C3," uses crowdsourcing technology, helping people use up-to-the-minute data to find child care where and when they need it.

Sheila Hansen, senior policy advocate for the nonprofit Common Good Iowa, said C3 is a vast improvement over what the state had before.

"It was kind of clunky and it wasn't really very fast," Hansen recounted. "Hopefully this will be a vast improvement upon that and families will be able to just go in there and immediately find openings in their area."

The site also offers information on subsidies the providers accept along with current real-time openings and quality ratings. Hansen argued the state should focus on improving pay and working conditions for child care workers.

She acknowledged while the technology is a step forward, Common Good Iowa and other advocates said the state does not need more brick-and-mortar child care centers. It needs more staff, which has been the real challenge.

"That's because they're just unable to find the people who want to work in child care because the pay is so low or the benefits aren't there," Hansen explained.

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services requires child care providers to complete various training requirements and update their certification every two years.


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