Read the April 2023 report!
To learn more about the Arizona Department of Education’s $6.75 million investment in school meals through May 2024, click here.
1 in 7 kids in Arizona face food insecurity, so eliminating childhood hunger is a top priority for AzFBN. A 2021 study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that, from 2003–2018, the healthiest meals children ate during the day came from school cafeterias. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 45 percent of Arizona families with children reported being food insecure, and school meals became even more critical.
In April 2022, AzFBN (thanks to a grant from Share Our Strength/No Kid Hungry) partnered with researchers from the Food Policy and Environment Research Group at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University (ASU) to begin a comprehensive assessment of the costs and benefits of expanding healthy school meals in Arizona. The main goal of the research is to understand if this is feasible and sustainable in our state.
Here are some preliminary findings and outputs:
- LITERATURE REVIEW: The ASU assessment looked at the articles reviewed by Healthy Eating Research, a national program of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, regarding the impact of healthy school meals for all on (1) school meal participation, (2) diet quality of students who participate in meals, (3) food security of participants’ families, (4) academic performance, (5) attendance, (6) body mass index, and (7) school finances. Those findings are summarized here, and ASU’s expanded review with additional findings can be found here.
- COST ESTIMATES: The ASU assessment included three cost model scenarios of different ways to increase participation in the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program:
- Removing the Reduced Price Category (ACCESS PDF HERE)
- Making the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) More Accessible
- Implementing Healthy School Meals for All
- PERSPECTIVES FROM ARIZONA PARENTS AND SCHOOL COMMUNITY MEMBERS: Responses to a statewide survey of key stakeholders demonstrated overwhelming support for healthy meals in Arizona! See the summary document for details, here.
AzFBN Thanks:
Share Our Strength/No Kid Hungry
Food Policy and Environment Research Group at the College of Health Solutions at Arizona State University
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