By Kim Newell Green, San Francisco Chronicle, December 17, 2019
As a pediatrician, I know that one of the most powerful tools for ensuring the health of my patients and of all our nation’s children is nutritious food. As such, school lunch in particular is vital, not only to their health but also to their learning capacity.
The Trump administration has recently proposed changes to the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Nearly a million students may lose automatic eligibility for free school lunches under the administration’s proposal. If this proposal goes into effect, these children — many of whom depend on school meals for daily nutrition — will be hungry at home and in school and therefore unlikely to reach their potential.
For millions of Americans, particularly those in lower-income communities, access to healthy foods remains a challenge. Across the nation, many families rely on the National School Lunch Program and Child and Adult Care Food Program to nourish their children. Without access to high-quality, healthy foods and nutrition education, children within these communities are not only unable to perform their best in the classroom but are also at high risk for preventable diseases, like diabetes and obesity.
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