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Giving Every Child A Chance

Giving Every Child A Chance. www.acnj.org 35 Halsey Street Newark , New Jersey 07102 973.643.3876 fax: 973.643.9153. Food For Thought:. Expanding School Breakfast to NJ Students Campaign Kick-Off September 28, 2011 McGinnis School Perth Amboy, New Jersey.

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Giving Every Child A Chance

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  1. Giving Every Child A Chance • www.acnj.org • 35 Halsey StreetNewark , New Jersey 07102973.643.3876 fax: 973.643.9153

  2. Food For Thought: Expanding School Breakfast to NJ Students Campaign Kick-Off September 28, 2011 McGinnis School Perth Amboy, New Jersey

  3. Advocates for Children of New Jersey is… An independent, non-profit, non-partisan organization working to put children’s needs first at the local, state and federal levels. ACNJ’s goal: To give every child the chance to grow up safe, healthy and educated.

  4. Benefits of School Breakfast • Improves students’ academic achievement and classroom behavior. • Increases children’s ability to focus on school work. • Decreases trips to the school nurse. • Increases attendance rates. • Increase children’s scores on the Healthy Eating Index

  5. NJ Lags Nation on School Breakfast Yet…just 28 percent of eligible NJ children participate. New Jersey ranks 46th in the nation on giving children this nutritious start to their school day. New Jersey law requires districts with 20 percent or more eligible children to provide breakfast in school.

  6. School Breakfast by the Numbers • Only 4 percent of the 313 New Jersey districts required to provide school breakfast serve between 75 and 100 percent of eligible children. • Half of these districts serve less than 25 percent of students.

  7. High-Poverty Districts, Low Participation Many NJ districts with thousands of low-income students have very low participation rates. Sixty-eight districts with 50 percent or more eligible children serve breakfast to 30 percent or fewer eligible children.

  8. Targeting High-Need Districts In these 68 districts, participation rates range from a low of 4 percent in University Academy and Greater New Brunswick Charter Schools to a high of 30 percent in Irvington. If school breakfast were provided to all eligible children in these 68 districts, an additional 105,000 school children would receive school breakfast. These districts would receive an additional $32.7 million in federal dollars.

  9. The Growing Need • Child poverty in New Jersey increased 8 percent over a 5-year period. • 273,000 children lived in families earning below the federal poverty level in 2009.    • Nearly 600,000 New Jersey children live in low-income families.

  10. School Breakfast Falls Behind • Steep jump – 58 percent -- in children receiving food stamps from 2006 to 2010. • School breakfast participation has increased only 9 percent during roughly the same time period.

  11. School Breakfast Reaps Returns Federally-funded program free to families with incomes under 130 percent of the federal poverty level – $29,055 for a family of four. Families with incomes between 131 and 185 percent of the federal poverty line – or up to $41,348 for a family of four – qualify for reduced-price meals. Many districts with high concentrations of low-income children can provide breakfast free to all students at little or no cost.

  12. Unclaimed Federal Dollars New Jersey districts would collect roughly $21.7 million more annually if schools increase student participation to 60 percent of students receiving school lunch, according to the Food Research and Action Center. If New Jersey reached this benchmark, 90,545 additional children would receive a healthy breakfast at the start of their school day.

  13. The Solution Studies show innovative approaches to school breakfast increase student participation. • Breakfast in the classroom • Grab-n-go • Second chance breakfast

  14. Currently, few New Jersey school districts serve breakfast in the classroom or use these other innovative approaches. Perceived Barriers Include: • Loss of Instruction Time • Concerns About Clean Up • Cost Perceived barriers often turn out to be easily overcome.

  15. Success Stories From Around the U.S. Chicago Public Schools mandates classroom breakfast at all elementary schools. Participation rates jumped to more than 70 percent in some schools. Colorado developed implementation guides and held training sessions for school administrators. Participation rates climbed to as high as 92 percent in some schools. Detroit Public Schools offers breakfast to all students free of charge.

  16. Recommendations • State, county and local leadership • Issue instructional time directive • Issue Provision 2 Guidance and track and report on districts’ efforts • Restore state funding for school breakfast. • Implement dual-enrollment in food stamps and school meals

  17. Next Steps ACNJ’sFood for Thought Campaign elevates this issue on the state and local levels. Advocates should use data to convince school boards, superintendents, parent-teacher organizations and others to expand school breakfast participation. County-level data is available at www.acnj.org

  18. For More Information • advocates@acnj.org • www.acnj.org • 35 Halsey StreetNewark , New Jersey 07102973.643.3876 fax: 973.643.9153 Giving Every Child A Chance

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