FRAC Chat

In honor of Black History Month, here are 8 Black anti-hunger champions you should know.

If you’ve ever watched “I’m Just a Bill” from Schoolhouse Rock, you’re familiar with the process of how a bill becomes a law. But one thing the animated bill from the video may not have explained is how budget reconciliation works. Congress is currently pursuing budget reconciliation to pass the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package based on President Biden’s American Rescue Plan.

COVID-19 and the unexpected switch to remote learning have negatively impacted college students’ academic performance, mental health, and food security. Even before the pandemic, food insecurity was widespread across the most well-resourced campuses.
Food insecurity has historically and disproportionately affected students of color, older students, former foster youth, parenting students, students who experienced childhood food insecurity, and first-generation college students.

Before school districts across the country were forced to close their doors in the spring due to COVID-19, the School Breakfast Program was providing much-needed nutrition to just over 12.6 million low-income children on an average school day. from September through February of the 2019–2020 school year, according to FRAC’s annual School Breakfast Scorecard, released yesterday.

Recently released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows that the Pandemic Electronic Benefit Transfer (P-EBT) program provided a total of $10.7 billion in nutritional assistance to eligible families with school-age children between April and September 2020. When schools shuttered last spring in response to the pandemic, 30 million children lost access to free and reduced-price school meals. In response, Congress created P-EBT through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.