FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jen Adach, jadach@frac.org, (202) 986-2200 x3018
Kimberley Chin, Maryland Hunger Solutions, kchin@frac.org, (410) 528-0021
House Releases CNR Plan
Washington, D.C. – June 11, 2010 – Yesterday, House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller released his bill for Child Nutrition Reauthorization. The bill takes several steps forward to ensure that low-income children can participate in child nutrition programs and receive the meals they need, including:
- Supporting improvements to direct certification for school meals;
- Providing competitive grant funds to promote the expansion of the School Breakfast Program;
- Creating new paperless options for universal school meals;
- Lowering area eligibility for Summer Food to 40 percent in rural areas;
- Creating state pilots that make it easier for schools and community-based organizations to provide meals to children after school, on weekends, and during school holidays;
- Adding an additional meal or snack for children who are in child care for over eight hours in some states; and
- Enhancing the nutritional quality of food served in school-based and preschool settings.
“Chairman Miller’s bill makes substantial and positive new investments in the child nutrition programs, helping to make critical improvements that will enable low-income children to access the nutritious food they need. And it moves the process forward in important ways,” said Kimberley Chin, director of Maryland Hunger Solutions.
“A strong Child Nutrition bill is a key step in reaching the President’s goal of ending childhood hunger by 2015 and in reducing childhood obesity,” Chin continued. “Maryland Hunger Solutions is committed to working with Chairman Miller, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and other members of the Maryland Congressional Delegation to continue to fight for the best possible bill and continuing to move toward President Obama’s goal of $1 billion/year of improvements in these effective programs that boost children’s health and learning.”
