toledoblade.com --

WASHINGTON - Groups that fight against hunger are working to persuade Congress to renew quickly legislation updating federal child nutrition programs, including the national school lunch program.

Groups like the Columbus-based Children's Hunger Alliance and the Food Research Action Center in Washington say that some "modest'' investments in federal child nutrition programs could reap large dividends by ensuring that more American children get enough to eat.

In addition to the school lunch program, other child nutrition programs aimed at low-income children include the school breakfast program, the summer meals program and the Women, Infants and Children's program.

"We have these programs in place. All have good structures and the ability to feed children,'' said Ellen Vollinger of FRAC. "But, in some cases, there's just too much red tape for schools and inadequate support for program sponsors.

"With some modest changes in the law, and a modest financial investment, these programs could do a better job.''

The U.S. House has passed legislation designed to renew and update federal child nutrition programs for the next five years. Now the spotlight turns to the Senate.

The Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee approved its version of the legislation last week, and a full Senate vote on the measure is expected soon.

The need for the federal child nutrition programs has been highlighted in recent years as the number of children participating has grown, Ms. Vollinger said. That's the result of two things, she added.

First, there is a growing effort in the states to ensure that as many eligible children as possible participate in the programs. Second, the number of eligible children has increased because of the economic downturn of the past few years, Ms. Vollinger said.

"But there's still too big a gap between the number of children eligible compared to the number who participate,'' she said.

Nearly 425,000 children in Ohio participated in the free and reduced-price lunch program last year, according to "Hunger In Ohio: 2004,'' a report by the Columbus-based Children's Hunger Alliance. The report also showed that nearly 160,000 Ohio children participated in the school breakfast program.

In Lucas County, nearly 18,000 children received free or reduced price lunches in the last school year, but only 6,400 participated in the school breakfast program, the report showed.

The rate of participation drops off even further for summer meal programs for low-income children in Ohio, the report indicated. Only 13 percent of low-income Ohio children participate in summer nutrition programs, according to Bill Dolan, CEO of Children's Hunger Alliance.

In Lucas County, 1,674 children participated in the summer meal program last year, down slightly from the year before and 16,100 children fewer than the number who received free or reduced price lunches during the school year, the report showed.

If those 16,100 children had participated in the summer meals program, Lucas County could have received an estimated $905,000 more in federal funds, according to the report.

"We still have a long way to go on this. We need to look at what are the barriers to participation, and what we need to do to bring more federal dollars home,'' Mr. Dolan said.

In Michigan, the picture is similar, according to a new FRAC report, "The State of the States.'' The report, which covers the last school year, shows that 433,000 Michigan children received free or reduced price lunches, while only 176,000 participated in the school breakfast program.

An average of 60,000 low-income Michigan children participated in the summer nutrition program in July, the report indicated.

"It is critical that Michigan do everything it can to assure that households who are eligible for help know about the available programs and are able to access them,'' said Jane Marshall, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan.

Clearly, states and localities can work harder to increase participation, anti-hunger advocates say.

"In most of the programs, benefits are paid for 100 percent by the federal government,'' noted Jim Weill, president of FRAC.

In addition, "most are entitlement programs, without federal spending caps, so they can grow as need grows, and as states, localities and schools make decisions (within the parameters set by federal rules) to expand eligibility or increase benefits,'' Mr. Weill added.

There are a number of reasons why fewer students participate in school breakfast programs and summer meal programs than in the free and reduced price lunch program, anti-hunger advocates say.

For example, while a majority of Ohio schools offer children access to free and reduced-price lunches through the national school lunch program, only half of the schools participate in the federal school breakfast program, according to the Children's Hunger Alliance.

"It can require a lot of bureaucratic changes to get started. Part of our job is to help schools with that and encourage them to try the breakfast program,'' said Sherri Palmer, marketing media manager for the Children's Hunger Alliance.

For schools that do participate, student participation often is higher in the fall and winter during the cold weather, said Jane Bruss, spokeswoman for Toledo Public Schools. In the good weather, children often don't want to cut short their time outside to go into school and get breakfast, she said.

In addition, many students participate in other activities in the morning and don't have time to get breakfast, Ms. Bruss added.

The summer meal program is a different story, activists say. The first hurdle is finding groups to sponsor the summer meals program, Ms. Palmer said. Groups try to set up plans in schools and neighborhood centers within walking distance of low-income families, she added.

The next step is getting the word out to families about the summer meals.

"The key thing is letting them know where the meals are. Every year, it's different. So it's a challenge to get the word out in the best way possible,'' Ms. Palmer said.

There are some "modest,'' but key, changes that Congress could make to help states boost participation in the various child nutrition programs, Mr. Weill and other advocates said.

For example, anti-hunger activists support continuing a 13-state pilot program designed to see if more groups would sponsor summer meals programs when paperwork is reduced.

In 2001, participation in the summer meals program increased by 9 percent in the 13 states, while participation in the rest of the states fell 3 percent, according to the FRAC report.

Mr. Dolan of the Children's Hunger Alliance hopes to convince the Senate to expand the pilot program to more states, including Ohio. "This would make it easier and cheaper for people to operate the program,'' Mr. Dolan said.

In addition, Mr. Dolan wants the Senate to renew a four-pilot program designed to boost the use of fresh fruits and vegetables in child nutrition program. Ohio is one of the four states in that pilot program, which has been immensely popular, Mr. Dolan said.

Mr. Dolan and others are lobbying for changes that would make it possible for more rural areas to participate in child nutrition programs. That can be difficult for many rural areas now because of the way the rules are written, they say.

Contact Karen MacPherson at: kmacpherson@nationalpress.com or 202-662-7075.

Permanent Link