JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri – According to the Missouri Kids Count 2021 Data Book, more than 200,000 children in Missouri face food insecurity.
Today marks the last day of a summer nutrition program in Counties Cole and Osage that has provided food ingredients, a gift certificate, and even free books to hundreds of children in the area weekly.
Elizabeth Anderson, Osage County’s community economic development engagement specialist for the University of Missouri Extension, said it was unique in that in addition to providing the food themselves, they also provide recipes for children to try for themselves.
“I was trying to find recipes that didn’t need an adult to help them with,” said Anderson. “If you could really make it all by yourself from start to finish and share it with your siblings or friends or family members.”
The Missouri No Kid Hungry program worked with the nutrition program staff at the University of Missouri Extension and the Missouri River Regional Library. They also decided to use the library’s book mobile, a 12-meter long bus with reading corners inside so that children participating in the program can choose a book from the free book cart.
Claudia Cook, director of the Missouri River Regional Library, added that learning what it takes to plan food, cook, and even shop for groceries is a good skill when kids want to use the gift card to keep those in the package the ingredients contained. She added that the library is particularly excited that the program was able to support literacy as well.
“The kids say, ‘Yeah, let’s get the free book’ and run to the book cart to check the free book cart,” noted Cook. “It was just great for me to see her so excited about it.”
Food insecurity had decreased before the pandemic. In Cole County, it decreased from nearly 20% in 2015 to just under 12% in 2019, and from more than 16% to about 12% in Osage County.
The partnership, also supported by the Missouri Family and Community Trust, is one of many efforts to keep this advancement going.
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SEATTLE – A growing number of Washington state children are starving because of the pandemic. Local programs aim to reverse this worrying trend.
Child hunger rates are projected to increase in 97% of the state’s counties compared to pre-pandemic rates.
Amee Barlet is the associate director of the Washington Programs for Save the Children. She said her organization has provided more than 12 million meals to families in Washington state thanks to local people since the pandemic began.
“The community knows what it needs,” said Barlet. “We know that working with communities is the best way to go, so we learn from community leaders and our partners how we can best serve families.”
Barlet said their efforts included grocery voucher programs for local grocery stores in Yakima to allow families to select culturally relevant groceries and grocery carton distributions.
Tamara Sandberg is the U.S. Food Safety and Nutrition Advisor for Save the Children. She said one in six children could experience food insecurity this year.
She said Save the Children has made efforts across the country to connect children in rural areas to school lunches through partnerships with local organizations and school districts.
“Make sure that meals are delivered to children if they cannot access school meals or if school is down,” Sandberg said. “We helped build school pantries and new mobile food delivery routes. We did a number of things in collaboration with local organizations.”
Sandberg said federal efforts to fight hunger are also important. She says two interesting moves in Washington, DC are re-approving child feeding and the next farm bill.
Barlet said a story she heard recently underscored the importance of fighting hunger right now. She said a Save the Children partner told her about a child whose home was recently broken into.
“The thing that upset the kid the most was the fact that the thief took their food,” said Barlet. “I wasn’t talking about the lack of television or the lack of toys – the food was what really upset this kid.
Disclosure: Save the Children contributes to our fund for reporting on child issues, early childhood education, education and poverty issues. If you would like to support news in the public interest, click here.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Prior to the pandemic, Ohio counties saw fewer children in poverty and other advances in child welfare, but the public health emergency has wiped out many of those gains, according to new data from the Child Defense Fund. Ohio (CDF-Ohio).
The state saw unemployment rise 97% from 2019 to 2020, which resulted in many families losing health insurance as well. This year’s KIDS COUNT County Profiles show how kids and families are doing, broken down by county and school district.
Morghan Hyatt, data policy associate at CDF-Ohio, said the data could help local governments determine how to spend the American Rescue Plan dollars.
“The funds from the American Rescue Plan Act represent a great opportunity to make further progress in improving the well-being of children across Ohio, with their specific needs for each district,” said Hyatt. “And these data-driven strategies can improve the lives of families and children.”
According to KIDS COUNT data, the number of Ohio children enrolled with Medicaid decreased 2% in fiscal 2020. Ohio receives $ 12 billion through the American Rescue Plan.
Kim Eckhart, Kids Count program manager for the CDF-Ohio, said she would like the local county governments to invite the community’s votes to sit down at a table as they allocate restoration funds.
“We want them to invite the public when they decide how to allocate those dollars, including community-based organizations that may be making some strategic investments that would really tackle things,” said Eckhart. “I think of things like blackboards, daycare.”
Eckhart added that Franklin County could be a model for engaging with local residents about the allocation process.
Franklin County’s Board of Commissioners heard testimony from parishioners last month requesting that the $ 255 million the county is receiving be used in areas such as healthcare, childcare and affordable housing.
Disclosure: Children’s Defense Fund-OH Chapter / KIDS COUNT contributes to our fund for reporting on child issues, education, health issues, and hunger / nutrition / nutrition. If you would like to support news in the public interest, click here.
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RALEIGH, NC – In some North Carolina counties, high poverty rates mean children and parents do not have access to quality pre-K learning. Some groups are trying to change this by giving parents of color the opportunity to encourage change directly in their children’s schools.
Empowered Parents in Community group director Jovonia Lewis said that the experiences of many Black and Brown children from birth to seven can create profound academic differences.
She said even before the pandemic, the number of black and Latin American children in North Carolina reading at grade level had fallen well below that of white children.
“But with the outbreak of COVID, we really saw how fragile our system is,” said Lewis. “How understaffed is our current education and childcare system for those who need its services.”
Lewis pointed out that unlike the K-12 system, early childhood education is decentralized and deregulated across the country and can vary widely from one location to another.
Your group has received $ 300,000 in grants over three years from the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation to support organizations run and served by Black, Latin American, and Native American communities.
Lewis added that differences in discipline and “behavioral labeling” for black children begin as early as preschoolers. She said the funding will help address these types of inequalities through training on policy and anti-racism, and equipping more black families with the tools to fill gaps in the system.
“So we’re helping empower parents,” said Lewis. “Understand how to navigate the system, but also disrupt the system in places of inequalities and inequalities in racism so that they can come together, build power and stand up for what their families need.”
A 2019 Princeton University study concluded that racial prejudice contributed to inequalities in school discipline. It found that black students in grades K-12 were at least three times more likely to be arrested or deported for incidents on school grounds than white students.
Disclosure: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina Foundation contributes to our fund for community affairs reporting and volunteering, early childhood education, health issues, hunger / nutrition / nutrition. If you would like to support news in the public interest, click here.
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