RoxanneThe American Families Plan is making the news, as the President unveiled what it would entail. While the plan tackles several issues in the U.S., it offers a significant investment in boosting children’s nutrition across the country, and with good reason.
The issue of food insecurity has been around for years. With the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it’s become even worse, especially for low-income households. While they may have been struggling to put food on the table before, job and income loss caused by the coronavirus made it nearly impossible for these households to meet their nutritional needs. And since schools shut down as well, many children in those households ran the risk of going hungry due to no more reduced-price breakfasts or lunches.
President Biden believes that all children should receive the nutrition they need. If they don’t, they can be physically and mentally impacted to the point that they cannot learn and grow. And if their success is stunted at an early age, that could carry on into adulthood, making it impossible for them to exit the cycle of poverty they currently find themselves in.
A diet lacking in healthy foods has been proven to increase the risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other diseases in children. And since 20 percent of children suffer from obesity, their futures can look bleak if they continue to carry extra weight as they age, as those risks will only get higher.
Obese adults put a massive burden on this country’s healthcare system. They also decrease work productivity due to sick days. Studies have shown that even the military can be hampered by health problems linked to obesity, putting our nation’s security at risk.
All of these issues can be reduced or avoided by tackling food insecurity when children are young. With a $45 billion nutrition investment, that’s what Biden’s American Families Plan aims to do.
Children’s Nutrition Improvements That the American Families Plan Could Provide
There are three main ways in which the American Families Plan looks to tackle food insecurity amongst our youth:
1. $1 Billion to Incentivize Healthy Foods
The more healthy foods schools include in their meals, the better for our kids. To ensure schools do everything they can to improve the nutritional value of their meals, the American Families plan will invest $1 billion. This money will go to schools that exceed nutritional standards with their menus via increased meal reimbursement rates.
2. $17 Billion to Increase School Meals Participation
The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) covers meals for all students at high-poverty schools.
Through a $17 billion investment, the President aims to make the CEP more accessible by easing eligibility requirements. If successful, this would feed 9.3 million more children with school meals.
3. $25 Billion to Make Summer Pandemic-EBT Permanent
When schools closed during the pandemic, many families wondered how they’d replace their children’s free or reduced-price meals. Summer Pandemic-EBT filled this void by giving families funds to buy food, and Biden hopes to make it permanent with a $25 billion investment that would feed 29 million children.
