Bread for the World members have for decades advocated for federal nutrition programs that enable families all around the country to put food on the table. A harsh reality is that rural households have higher rates of food insecurity than the national average. Rural grocery stores have difficulty stocking a variety of affordable and nutritious foods. Similarly, rural households face challenges in accessing grocery stores that offer healthy and fresh foods because the stores can be a long distance away and often have higher prices. Children have a difficult time coping with food shortages at home.

Many Native Americans living on reservations and Tribal communities face these situations.  A 2014 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) found that the share of Tribal households without a vehicle and located more than a mile away from a supermarket (65 percent) was significantly higher than that of non-Tribal households with the same geographic characteristics (20 percent).  Another obstacle is that, although many Native Americans who live on reservations are eligible to participate in SNAP, participants can only redeem their benefits at USDA authorized retailers, which can be scarce in and around reservations.

A recent webinar from Food Systems for the Future highlighted this specific challenge and featured a fourth-generation independent grocer in South Dakota who serves a Tribal community. R.F. Buche, who is the president of Buche Foods, explained that all of his grocery locations are on or near Native American reservations in South Dakota, and that SNAP redemptions account for up to 60 percent of sales at some locations.

In place of SNAP, many reservations operate FDPIR, or the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations. Around 55,000 households participate in FDPIR—about 10,000 more than just three years ago. The USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) collaborate to purchase and distribute foods for FDPIR. USDA piloted the FDPIR Self-Determination Demonstration Projects, also referred to as “638” demonstration projects. Authorized by the 2018 farm bill, these projects grant Tribal Nations the authority to purchase from commercial vendors of their choice, such as Choctaw Fresh, which prioritizes organic growing methods, community resilience, and healthy food access.

“… Choctaw Fresh gives people the ability to utilize our mobile market and put farms in certain areas, which means we’re able to reach those people that live in scarce areas that aren’t able to have access to eating healthy,” stated Tomika Bell, a distribution manager at Choctaw Fresh, in an interview with Modern Farmer.

These demonstration projects also allow Tribal Nations to invest in their local and regional economies across Indian Country. Nigel Gibson, a Tribal Council Member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, commented to Modern Farmer about the dual benefits of the “638” demonstration projects. “…the pilot [projects] aren’t only improving health and nutrition – they also help boost local economies and livelihoods if properly supported.”

In November 2023, Institute Insights published another piece on how FDPIR is being implemented that focuses specifically on Sioux reservations.

The “638” demonstration projects were originally authorized for five years after Congress passed the 2018 farm bill. They are subject to line-item funding – which means Congress must appropriate funding specifically for these projects to continue. The uncertainty of both funding and program continuity creates uncertainty for Native business operators who participate in the program. As a result, groups like the Native Farm Bill Coalition have called for Congress to permanently authorize the “638” demonstration projects, which would enable them to continue uninterrupted.

Including improvements in a new farm bill could prove difficult because this legislation has stalled in Congress. Luckily, Representative Sharice Davids (KS-03), Representative Frank Lucas (OK-03) and Representative Tom Cole (OK-04) have introduced a separate bill to make permanent the ability of the USDA to enter into self-determination contracts with Tribal entities to administer FDPIR, similar to the “638” demonstration projects. This is captured in the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations Act of 2025 (FDPIR Act of 2025), introduced in June.

“To be able to expand like that would not only give us opportunities food-wise within the community, but it also could give us [economic] help within the community because when you expand, you’re able to provide more job opportunities,” Tribal Council Member Nigel Gibson said in a comment about funding for the “638” projects.

When local communities are included in decision-making and implementation, they often invest back into their communities — meeting local challenges with local solutions. Passing the FDPIR Act of 2025 would be a first step in ensuring that these critical demonstration projects can scale up and become permanent.

Isabel Vander Molen is a climate-hunger policy advisor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Supporting Community Leadership in Reducing Hunger in Indian Country appeared first on Bread for the World.

For about 600 million people in Africa, life means living without reliable access to electricity. Cooking, reading, and keeping warm or cool are more difficult. Farming is far more labor-intensive yet produces less food. Relying on collecting and burning firewood is becoming less and less sustainable as Earth’s population grows and greenhouse gas emissions change the climate.

This is why Mission 300, a new initiative to expand access to electricity in Africa, is so important. It will take extraordinary efforts with an “all hands on deck” approach to bring energy security to hundreds of millions of people. The good news is that the initiative is a partnership between two international financial institutions (IFIs), the World Bank Group (WBG) and the African Development Bank (AfDB), and it has attracted support from other stakeholders, whose contributions are essential to securing the financial resources needed for electrification projects.

Bread for the World is a longtime advocate of U.S. support for IFIs, which implement global nutrition and anti-poverty initiatives that advance our mission of ending hunger. Mission 300’s goal of achieving universal access to electricity is an essential component of ending hunger.

According to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, energy security is critical for global food security, from powering machinery and irrigation systems to producing fertilizers and transporting fresh fruits, vegetables, and other foods. 

Through the Mission 300 partnership, African governments, the private sector, and development partners will work together to ensure greater energy security, which in turn will support economic growth and improved food security. The availability of electricity will help spur opportunities for Africa’s youth.

Africa is the continent with the youngest population worldwide. As of 2024, approximately 40 percent of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa was 15 or younger. In 2023, there were about 211 million children younger than 5, and a total of approximately 680 million children under 18. African children are nearly 25 percent of the world’s children.

Access to reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy, such as electricity, is critical for children’s access to food and education. When daily activities such as household chores and farming are less labor-intensive and more productive, secondary benefits include greater food availability and resources for school feeding programs.

The West African country of Côte d’Ivoire is nearing universal access to electricity. The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) gives an example of a family who has benefited from access to electricity.

The Kima family live in Anono, a village on the outskirts of the capital city of Abidjan. In the evening, the room where 10-year-old Aziz Kima does his math homework is brightly lit thanks to the household’s recent connection to the electricity grid. As his mom, Gisèle Kima, says, “It is more practical and less dangerous than studying by candlelight.” Gisele’s work as a seamstress is also easier and more productive because she has electricity.

The Mission 300 initiative underscores the power of global partnerships to help advance prosperity. The WBG and the AfDB are working with partners like the Rockefeller Foundation, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Sustainable Energy for All, and the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) trust fund to mobilize resources and align efforts in support of powering Africa. Many development partners and development finance institutions are also supporting Mission 300 projects through co-financing and technical assistance. It is worth noting that the United States and other industrialized countries relied on a similar combination of stakeholders to achieve their own universal electrification.

Mission 300 is not without its critics, who have raised concerns about the initiative’s reliance on fossil fuels in some countries. Governments around the world have agreed that humanity’s use of fossil fuels must be reduced immediately to limit the increase in Earth’s temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Other stakeholders have opposed plans to finance the project with concessional loans to governments rather than grants, arguing that this will only exacerbate Africa’s debt burden. While critics agree that Mission 300 has great potential, they emphasize that it must prioritize sustainability and local ownership and control, and must not increase debt.

If successful, Mission 300 will contribute to U.S. programs that Bread supports, such as the McGovern-Dole Food for Education program, which relies on local partnerships and has served over 5 billion school meals, and Feed the Future, the signature U.S. food security initiative that focuses on agriculture and nutrition. To be most rapid and effective, economic development requires consistent access to energy, from farms to classrooms.  

Mission 300, along with its broad coalition of stakeholders, is set to make a historic improvement in access to energy in Africa that will enable millions of people to create better livelihoods for themselves and their families.

Abiola Afolayan is director, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Expanding Access to Electricity to More African Children and Families appeared first on Bread for the World.

In recent years, global remittances have been nearly three times as much as ODA. For example, in 2023, the World Bank Group estimated that total remittances to home countries were $656 billion, whereas total ODA was $224 billion. Remittances are even more important at a time when ODA budgets are being cut in the United States and other donor countries. The money sent back home can be used to meet basic needs like food, education, and health care.

“At first, it was hard for me to buy food. But now they send money each and every month for me to buy food,” said a widow in Mzuzu, Malawi who participated in a discussion of food security with researchers from the University of Waterloo. “[Before] I wouldn’t even afford to buy fertilizer. Of course, this year I didn’t cultivate maize, but they have already started sending money for me to buy maize at the market. So, I don’t have food problems right now.”

Research has shown that remittances can have a greater impact on reducing poverty than, for example, cash transfer programs, because they can reach a greater share of the population. In 2024, more than an estimated $200 billion in remittances was sent from the United States alone.

The new tax on remittances in the U.S. will add to the 6 percent in fees people already pay to send money home. This cost is twice as high as the target set in the Sustainable Development Goals of a 3 percent limit on remittance transfer costs. The tax will apply to a total of nearly 50 million people—23 million people with green cards, 14 million people with non-immigrant visas, and 12 million undocumented people.

There is also the risk that remittances will decrease in response to the sharp increase in U.S. immigration actions. While a projection of the impact on total remittances is not yet available, the Center for Global Development analyzed remittances sent by foreign-born U.S. residents and identified the hardest-hit countries, based on the anticipated lost remittances relative to their Gross National Income (GNI):

The dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has already created a sudden interruption in resources to these countries. This means families in places like Guatemala and Haiti are depending even more than before on remittances to meet their basic needs. A one percent tax on remittances will further diminish these countries’ capabilities to reduce hunger, food security, malnutrition, and poverty.

Promoting economic resilience calls for sustainable, long-term approaches. Remittances, while they provide critical lifelines, are not a substitute for systemic development. ODA remains a critical component of global development alongside countries’ own investments in their communities’ well-being.

Additionally, communities are developing and implementing creative ways of increasing their incomes and improving their livelihoods. For example, the U.S. government, alongside other donors, has invested in Village Savings and Loan Associations (VSLAs) for years. VSLAs are groups of people who act as an informal community bank, pooling their financial resources together and offering each other small, low-interest loans. These loans are often used to respond to emergencies, grow businesses, or pay school fees. Once established, they can operate without external funding.

CARE International, the global nonprofit organization that developed this approach in 1991, has seen that VSLAs strengthen families’ finances and improve their well-being. Notably, VSLA members are up to 60 percent less likely than other community members to face food shortages.

Ending hunger and reducing poverty requires a holistic approach that includes resources such as remittances, VSLAs, ODA, and other potential sources. U.S. policy should reflect this.

Jordan Teague Jacobs is senior international policy advisor with Bread for the World Institute.

The post Tax on Remittances Will Increase Hunger appeared first on Bread for the World.

For nearly 80 years, federally subsidized school meals have ensured that children from lower-income families have access to nutritious meals at school. School meals are a core investment in children’s nutrition and a lifeline for millions of children.

Bread for the World has long advocated for inclusive policies and sufficient funding for school meals programs, most recently through our Nourish Our Future campaign. Some provisions in H.R. 1, the 2025 reconciliation bill, will make access to school meals more difficult.

Most spending on child nutrition programs goes to the National School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast Programs (SBP). More children have access to these meals because of two key policy changes, one implemented in the late 1980s and the other in 2010. They are direct certification and the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), respectively.

Direct certification, introduced in the late 1980s, enables school districts and state departments of education to use existing data from programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – SNAP (household food assistance), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families – TANF (cash assistance), and more recently, Medicaid (federally-funded health insurance) to determine eligibility for free or reduced-price school meals. Direct certification has expanded school meals to millions of children. During the 2018-2019 school year, for example, 98 percent of children who participated in SNAP were directly certified for school meals.

School meals became even more accessible in 2010 with the introduction of the CEP, part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. This provision enables schools with a high population of students participating in safety net programs, like SNAP and Medicaid, to serve free meals to all students without collecting individual school meal applications.

To be eligible to participate in CEP, a school must show that 25 percent of its identified student population is eligible for free meals through direct certification. Schools that participate in CEP are reimbursed by the federal government for the meals they provide. CEP helps create a school environment where students who cannot afford meals are not stigmatized. More than 54,000 schools serving more than 27 million children participated in CEP in the 2024-2025 school year. Research from North Carolina public schools also suggests that CEP helps to improve attendance, reduce the number of suspensions, and raise test scores in some subjects.

H.R. 1, which made unprecedented cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, will jeopardize access to free and reduced-price school meals for children who are directly certified as eligible for these meals through SNAP and Medicaid. This potential loss of meal access for low-income school children will be harmful to them, their families, and their entire school community.

The roughly 20 percent cut to SNAP in H.R. 1 is estimated to reduce or eliminate SNAP benefits for nearly 4 million Americans, including 1 million children. As a result, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that in an average month, 96,000 children will lose access to school meals.  

Millions of families who participate in Medicaid will face additional barriers to accessing school meals, especially in the 44 states that use Medicaid to certify students directly for free or reduced-price school meals. The CBO estimates that 7.8 million people will become uninsured under the changes made by H.R. 1.

Fewer students participating in SNAP and/or Medicaid also makes it more difficult for schools and school districts to meet the requirement for CEP: 25 percent of students must be eligible for free meals through direct certification.

Elected officials at every level have denounced cuts to SNAP and Medicaid in H.R. 1, but fewer have responded to the follow-on impacts on school meal participation. These cuts will threaten infrastructure that expanded school meal access. Decades of progress towards healthier, more accessible school meals could be reversed. In turn, fewer children will enjoy the health and learning benefits of better nutrition.

Yet, the effort to restore and protect expanded school meal access is fully underway. Groups like the School Nutrition Association (SNA) and the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) have historically supported CEP and direct certification, and they have sounded the alarm on the impacts of H.R. 1 on child nutrition programs. Bread and other advocacy organizations will continue to press our elected leaders to undo the harm done by H.R. 1 and demonstrate by their actions that our country still cares about making sure no child goes hungry.

Taylor Johnson is a domestic policy advisor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post The Hidden Hunger Bill: Downstream Impacts of H.R. 1 On School Meals appeared first on Bread for the World.

Bread for the World emphasizes that, in addition to providing development assistance, the United States needs to institute and maintain policies that enable businesses in lower-income countries to compete fairly for customers in this country. One major reason is livelihoods—ways of earning a living or jobs. The world cannot end hunger in a lasting way if people are unable to provide food for themselves and their children.

A key policy that improves market access for low-income countries in Africa specifically is the African Growth and Opportunity Act, or AGOA. Managed through the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, AGOA eliminates tariffs on some goods that African countries export to U.S. markets. It is one of the main ways Congress established to enable businesses in lower-income African countries to trade more of their goods with the U.S. But, without action from Congress, AGOA is set to expire on September 30, 2025.

It is difficult to compete as a small, perhaps recently established business in a lower-income country. The government may not be able to provide the support that businesses in high-income countries may take for granted, ranging from roads and ports to processing and storage facilities.

Moreover, many of the nations included in AGOA face unsustainable levels of external debt. Ghana, Zambia, and Malawi are in default, meaning that a country is unable to fulfill its financial obligations to lenders, and debt restructuring is required. Six other countries– Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Kenya, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Mozambique—are at risk of debt distress.

When importing countries such as the United States impose tariffs on goods from lower-income countries, the goods become more expensive for consumers in those countries. This is why the elimination of tariffs imposed by the United States, as provided by AGOA, has helped many African farmers increase their exports to U.S. markets. In 2022, African farmers in participating countries exported a total of $2.9 billion worth of agricultural products to the U.S., more than three times as much as the $750 million in products exported in 2000, when AGOA was first passed into law. Participating African farmers were able to earn a living and create jobs based on exporting goods such as citrus, grapes, fruit juice, nuts, wine, dairy, and other foods. By contributing to higher farm revenues, AGOA in turn helps to increase the incomes of producer households.

AGOA’s success cases also include significant increases in exports of automobiles and auto parts from South Africa, processed foods from Mozambique, and garments and textiles from Kenya, Mauritius, and Lesotho. In 2023, the top exporters to the United States under AGOA were South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Angola, and Côte d’Ivoire.

AGOA was last reauthorized in 2015 for 10 years and will expire this September. Members of Congress, officials of African governments, and many leaders in business, advocacy, and academia have proposed improvements to AGOA.

Two of these suggested improvements are to expand the list of eligible countries to include some in North Africa and to increase the types of products that may be imported into the United States under AGOA. Other suggestions include identifying and eliminating additional barriers to participation in AGOA; better integration of AGOA into regional trade vehicles, such as the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA); and strengthening the technical skills and capacity of African exporters.

Congress should reauthorize AGOA so that this important legislation does not lapse. Renewing AGOA is a way for the U.S. to enable African countries to further develop their economies and reduce rates of hunger and malnutrition while prioritizing growth and market development. Now is the time to act on this.

Rick Rowden is a senior international policy advisor, Policy and Research Institute, with Bread for the World.

The post Urgent Action Needed on the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) appeared first on Bread for the World.

An important aspect of this federal holiday history is the contribution of People of African Descent from within the U.S. and Ayiti (Haiti), previously called Saint-Domingue, which became an independent country in 1804. Despite the enslavement of People of African Descent from Ayiti and their own fight for independence from enslavement from France and the fight of enslaved and freed People of African descent in the U.S. to be free within the U.S., both contributed to the revolutionary war of the U.S. from 1775-1783. It was not until 1782 when the British government would formally acknowledge American independence and call for the end of hostilities.

One notable example of Haiti’s contribution to the revolutionary war was the Chasseurs-Voluntaries de Saint-Domingue which was a regiment of over 500 Haitian free men of African descent who fought at the Siege of Savannah (Georgia) in 1779. Their contribution was pivotal in one of the bloodiest battles of the war. Further, France’s loss of Saint-Domingue helped lead Napoleon to sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. in 1803. This acquisition doubled the size of the U.S., setting the stage for westward expansion. Ayiti also contributed to the abolitionist movement in the U.S.

Although the mutual dream and kinship of freedom, liberation and trade between Haiti and the U.S. existed, Haiti was not recognized by the U.S. as an independent and free country until 1862. Frederick Douglas, who was formally enslaved, a leading abolitionist, and an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church elder, became U.S. Ambassador to Haiti in 1889. Ambassador Douglas praised Haiti as “a beacon of liberty for successfully overthrowing slavery and colonialism.”

Ayiti and the U.S. have experienced profound lament and rare hope in the pursuit of their aspirational dreams of being “a beacon of liberty.”  This month, and especially July 4^th, is an invitation to remember this dream belongs to all, both freed and enslaved people, from the past and today.

This aspirational dream of liberty includes the freedom to vote for our government leadership and to build out relationships with them and for all. In the U.S., we encourage the right to speak up and stand up with our advocacy asks. Today, advocacy for the farm bill is one of the most important timely policies we are called to advocate for. Our recent Advocacy Summit and related Pan African Consultation did this. We encourage you to do the same. You can learn more at www.bread.org/ol.  

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post The Dream and Pursuits of Liberty of the U.S. and Haiti appeared first on Bread for the World.

In 1993, Dr. Cain Hope Felder, a New Testament scholar of African descent, served as the editor of The Original African Heritage Study Bible: King James Version. The Rev. Dr. Renita Weems, a woman of African descent and a mentee of Dr. Cain Hope Felder, wrote the book Just a Sister Away, in which she focused on women of African descent relative to the Bible. People like Dr. Cain Hope Felder and Rev. Dr. Weems have understood Africa matters in the Bible.

May 25 is Africa Day—or Africa Liberation Day for some. It is a day when all of us have another opportunity to take a closer look at the importance of Africa and her diaspora in our lives. The Bible is a good place to start. African leaders, peoples, and places are identified throughout the Bible. Further, many of us are Africans or people of African descent—or live among people of African descent. Do you know your story as it relates to this and to your community?

May 25 also invites us to scrutinize the negative narratives and images of Africans and people of African descent. For example, while it is true that the data does show disproportionate numbers of Africans and people of African Descent affected by hunger and poverty, this data often does not show the counter narrative of faith, resilience, resolve, and financial contributions of Africans and the African diaspora. Did you know Africans in the diaspora are Africa’s largest financiers? Remittances from the diaspora to Africa grew from $37 billion in 2010 to $96 billion in 2021.

Further, the largest social movement in the United States was the continuing Black Lives Matter movement, according to the New York Times. Recently the vice president of the United States, the first woman of African descent in this role, visited African nations with priorities on democracy, economic development, and partnership. This, after the African Leaders Summit in December 2022 was hosted by the president of the U.S. Executive orders concerning a way forward with Africa and the African diaspora were signed.

A historic session of the UN Permanent Forum of People of African Descent was held in December 2022—around the same time as African leaders visited Washington, D.C. The second session is happening this year at the UN. Bread for the World invites you to a webinar about this forum on Africa Day, May 25, 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., EST. The theme is Africa Day: Pan Africanism, Liberation, and Restorative Justice. You can join the meeting on Zoom.

Recently, Bread for the World partnered with the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia—along with the Black Church Food Security network—for an Earth Day weekend, at which we celebrated the importance reinvesting in Black Farmers with the Farm Bill. Learn more about the Farm Bill, which supports Africa and the African Diaspora, and how you can help.

* New American Standard Version

Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Africa Day Matters! appeared first on Bread for the World.

By next year, nearly 14 million more children are likely to be severely malnourished because of the pandemic’s impacts. This means that 58.9 million young children—or almost the whole population of South Africa—will likely face life-threatening malnutrition if the global community doesn’t act.

Nutrition has historically been a relatively low priority for country governments and donors.

Despite growing global recognition of the importance of maternal and child nutrition, investments in nutrition have only gone up by 7 percent in recent years (since 2015)² —not nearly enough to address the problem.

The post Global Malnutrition Fact Sheet 2022 appeared first on Bread for the World.

We know this from our work on global nutrition that the 1,000 Days between a woman’s pregnancy and a child’s second birthday is a time of tremendous potential and enormous vulnerability. It is true everywhere, including here in the United States. 

The post MEMO ON THE HIGH RETURNS OF INVESTING IN A 1,000 DAYS INFRASTRUCTURE appeared first on Bread for the World.

The post A 1,000-Day Human Infrastructure: Smart Investments in Maternal and Child Nutrition and Health appeared first on Bread for the World.

What is a “1,000-Days infrastructure”? The concept focuses on infrastructure that is tailored to a specific period of about 1,000 days—between a woman’s pregnancy and a child’s second birthday. This is a time of tremendous potential for individuals, communities, and whole nations. Research in the fields of neuroscience, biology and early childhood development provides powerful insights into how nutrition, health, and education during the 1,000 days shape a person’s entire life.  It is why several of the world’s leading economists have called for greater investments in the nutrition and well. 

The post Building Back Better with a 1,000-Days Infrastructure Package appeared first on Bread for the World.

For many, the back-to-school season is a source of pride. It serves as a reminder of our historic national commitment to education for all. This commitment has contributed to the vision of a civil democracy that advances moral leadership and civility.

The great African American educator and faith leader Nannie Helen Burroughs said, “Education and justice are democracy’s only life insurance.” It was with this in mind that Burroughs, with support of the National Baptist Convention USA Inc., began creating a trade school for black high school- and junior college-aged girls.

While African Americans leaders like Burroughs were advancing education for all, they were also directly affected by a contradictory policy of “separate but equal,” which was, in reality, an inequitable system that prevented African Americans from an education. This policy limited job choices and the ability of African Americans to put food on the table.

This month’s Pan African devotional by Heather L. Taylor reminds us of this policy. She writes that the policy was a part of the disenfranchisement that was done through a discriminatory legal system. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jim Crow laws of the south mandated racial segregation thereby laying the foundation for institutionalizing separate and drastically unequal public-school facilities and other resources for black Americans.

This was true even after the 1896 U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Plessy vs. Ferguson that public facilities and services may remain separate but equal. The advocacy of our ancestors finally ended racial segregation in public schools in the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.

The long-term effect of this court case has been mixed. Today, many students find themselves in schools that are re-segregated and unequal despite the hard-fought battles to not only integrate schools but to appropriate equitable resources to insure an education.

In a recent Atlantic article Will Stancil pointed out that “racially divided schools are a major and intensifying problem for American education—maybe even a crisis.” The article cites the National Center on Education Statistics, which discovered that the number of segregated schools approximately doubled between 1996 and 2016. During the same time, the number of children of color attending such a school rose from 59 to 66 percent. For black students, it rose even higher: 59 to 71 percent.

The past and present failure to end “separate but equal” in practice, rather than only in law, has led to today’s cycle of underinvestment in many students of color. The devotional points out that higher school spending is associated with a significantly lower risk of students facing hunger and poverty when they become adults.

In a rapidly changing information-based economy, education is more important than ever to students’ ability to compete for jobs that will support a family.

Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker-Smith is senior associate for Pan-African and Orthodox Church engagement at Bread for the World.

The post Still separate, still unequal appeared first on Bread for the World.

The McGovern-Dole program’s purpose is to reduce hunger and promote literacy and primary education, especially for girls. It does this by providing school meals and by carrying out other activities that boost the impact of providing these meals. So far, McGovern-Dole has reached 40 million children with food at school. It is currently active in 24 countries.

Over the years, the McGovern-Dole program has led to important improvements in children’s food security and nutritional status and in school enrollment, attendance, and gender parity. It has been proven effective in getting children, particularly girls, into school and helping them stay in school. School meals improve students’ ability to concentrate and learn. They also strengthen food security for the children’s families. In the longer term, educating girls is critical to ending hunger and malnutrition in future generations.

The post The McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program appeared first on Bread for the World.

At precisely 11:20 a.m. on a cold, late-fall morning, the bell rings at Anne Frank Elementary School in Philadelphia, Pa. A minute later, the morning stillness in the cafeteria is disrupted by the conversations and shouts of more than 200 second graders. They file into the room by classroom and go through the line to pick up their lunches. For the next couple of hours, the large room is filled with noise and energy.

Among the first group of students eating a school-provided lunch daily is Aidan, the 7-year-old son of Barbie Izquierdo. His sister, Leylanie, age 9, will eat lunch during her grade’s appointed time 40 minutes later.

This lunchtime routine plays out every weekday at the school and in schools across the United States. Whether it’s breakfast in the morning before classes or lunch at midday, the food provided to school children under national nutrition programs gives them the energy they need for the next few hours of learning. Meals provided after school or at day-care centers are also important parts of the national nutrition program.

While these children don’t think about it, the food that is subsidized by the federal government is quietly nourishing their bodies and brains so they can learn and grow. As Mickey Komins, the principal at Anne Frank Elementary—and probably any educator—will tell you, “We’re teaching for a lifetime — not just for that day.”

Teaching today and laying the foundation for students’ futures entail not just classroom instruction but making sure students have full stomachs so their minds can be fed. Feeding students involves staff at all levels in every school that carries out any of the government’s child nutrition programs, from administrators down through teachers and cafeteria workers.

One cafeteria worker who sits at a cash register at the end of the food line at the Philadelphia school tells a student, “Go back and get a fruit cup.” Workers know the students they see every day and make sure they are following the government’s nutrition guidelines by eating something from each of the major food groups — protein, grains, and fruits and vegetables. Cafeteria managers sometimes use students to test new menu items or encourage students to try a new vegetable. In these ways, students are also being educated on eating well and developing healthy habits for a lifetime.

There’s such a thing as a free lunch

All Philadelphia public schools provide every student with a free lunch regardless of their family income, a practice at many schools across the country where a high percentage of students would qualify for free meals. At many other schools, family income determines whether a student pays the full price, reduced price, or gets a meal completely free.

At the end of the school day, Barbie comes to the school to pick up Aidan and Leylanie. Leylanie does her assigned chore of washing the dishes while Barbie sits with Aidan and helps him with his homework. Barbie asks her children every day what they had for lunch. She is reassured that they receive a solid, nutritious meal during their school day. One day a week, Aidan and Leylanie eat a free breakfast at school with their classmates, but they choose to eat breakfast at home on the other days.

“If school couldn’t provide lunch for children, there would be a lot of children going home with probably nothing to eat at all,” says Barbie. This isn’t the case for her children now, but it used to be. “There were times when I had to send my kids to bed because I didn’t have enough food for them to eat. So had they not received any type of food in school, then they would have had nothing.” The single mother was on SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) just a couple of years ago after losing her job.

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Just like everybody else

Barbie moves to the kitchen to begin preparing dinner, a dish of noodles with broccoli. When dinner is ready, the family eats together at the dining room table. “People always think that we’re asking for a handout because we’re on welfare or public assistance,” explains Barbie. “And what we’re really asking for is the opportunity to show them that we’re just like you. We’re smart, we have wants, we have needs, we have dreams. We want the best for our kids just as they want the best for their kids. We just grew up in different circumstances.”

Barbie is currently taking classes toward her associate degree. She is interested in working in the field of criminal justice. “If I can build my life to a place where they don’t have to worry about their home being taken from them and they don’t have to worry about opening the fridge and nothing being in there, then I’ve accomplished everything.”

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What Do We Want Congress to Do?

Bread for the World is urging Congress to pass a child nutrition bill that protects nutrition programs and gives more hungry children access to the meals they need to thrive.

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