FRAC Chat

In this #FRACTurns50 blog, FRAC’s Founding Executive Director, Ron Pollack, shares the organization’s critical role in the expansion of the school meals programs. This is the third installment of a three-part blog series on FRAC’s early role in strengthening the federal nutrition programs.

When FRAC began its operations in 1970, the National School Lunch Program had been in existence for almost a quarter of a century. Enacted in 1946, the program was designed for two purposes: safeguarding the health and well-being of our nation’s children, and encouraging the consumption of agricultural commodities, especially those in surplus so that domestically grown food would yield better prices for U.S. farmers.

Labor Day traditionally honors America’s workers. It reminds us annually how important jobs, decent pay, and safe working conditions are for our nation. This Labor Day, too many of our fellow Americans are struggling with job loss, cutbacks in hours, and food hardship. Over 10.6 million more Americans were unemployed in July 2020 than in February 2020. Hardship is particularly acute among Black- and Latinx-headed households.

At the beginning of March, I joined FRAC’s child nutrition team as a Bill Emerson Hunger Fellow. Two weeks later, schools across the country were closing, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and my team started working to ensure students and their families had access to meals during this unprecedented time. Schools and community partners started offering meals through a variety of models, but families needed more. In its second response package, the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, Congress authorized the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program.

FRAC and our network of anti-hunger partners are working tirelessly to ensure that no one goes hungry during this pandemic. But this is not enough to secure the future of the millions of Americans who are struggling against hunger.

While we await the next coronavirus relief stimulus package, it’s important to consider whether measures taken so far have reached the most vulnerable populations. The COVID-19 pandemic is one that affects all groups, but one that has impacted groups differently. With unemployment rates skyrocketing, infection rates spiking, and racism being declared a public health crisis in over 20 cities, Black communities and other marginalized racial and ethnic communities are being hit the hardest.