One of the best ways to help Fresno County schoolkids learn? Feed them free school meals

Every child should have access to food every day; no child should be hungry.

At Fresno Unified School District, we provide free school meals to all children through federal provisions for low-income districts. But in many other school districts in the Central Valley and throughout California, there are children who are not able to access the school meals they need to grow up healthy and ready to learn.

As a first-generation American whose parents had limited educational opportunities, I know what it means to grow up as one of Central Valley’s “vulnerable” children. And as a Fresno Unified school board member and the founder of the nonprofit Cultiva La Salud, I have come to learn that there are real solutions to preventing childhood hunger and closing the racial achievement gap in our schools.

Senate Bill 364: The Free School Meals for All Act of 2021, proposed by state Sen. Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, would make all K-12 students eligible for free school meals. It would also offer incentives to school districts to serve freshly prepared meals made with ingredients sourced from California farmers.

I have worked with researchers from Stanford University and the UC Nutrition Policy Institute, as well as our partners at the Dolores Huerta Foundation, to study barriers to school meal participation during the pandemic in Fresno Unified and five other Central Valley school districts in towns and rural areas. Preliminary findings indicate families prefer fresh food in the school meal program, such as fruits and vegetables, instead of processed and packaged items.

Families also noted that the Pandemic Electronic Benefits Transfer (P-EBT) program has been successful, and they want this program to continue during emergencies and other periods when children are out of school. Skinner’s legislation includes provisions to make both of these programs permanent.

Now that some students at Fresno Unified are attending school in person, while others are learning remotely, nutrition service workers have adapted to serve meals to both groups.

When kids eat regularly, and they eat good food, we’re influencing palates and establishing patterns of good diets. We are helping to prevent tooth decay and health issues such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease later in life. Free nutritious meals can also help students reach important academic milestones — such as reading by 3rd grade — which is a predictor of a child’s future.

Getting good nutrition on the plates of all of our students — particularly for disadvantaged communities — would be a solid step towards breaking cycles of generational poverty and inequities in health outcomes.

I come from an immigrant family. My mother had about a third-grade education, my father about a fifth-grade education. My parents’ income was limited, and while they weren’t in a position to help me in reading, writing, or arithmetic, they encouraged me to do well in school. I grew up with profound love. I benefited from free lunches at school and that helped alleviate some of the financial stress on them.

There are many students in districts throughout California that come from immigrant and refugee households whose parents are not English literate, and who have had limited educational opportunities — they are disadvantaged. When you add food insecurity, they face additional challenges and stress. By helping to make sure that our students are fed, we’re taking away one of the impediments that can inhibit their ability to be successful in school and in life.

And when we maximize procurement and purchasing from local farmers, we are investing in our economies and helping farmers to create stable employment for farm workers. We are also cutting down on pollution by not transporting food long distances.

Sen. Skinner’s Free School Meals for All bill represents the type of change we need to create a better world. I really hope it is adopted.

This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 9:37 AM.