Giving Compass' Take:

• Food Tank reports on California Gov. Gavin Newsom announcing a budget that proposes US$80 million for school food programs serving more than 3.5 million children in the state.

• How can communities become involved in assisting children to obtain healthier food? What are other states doing?

• Here are the challenges for children in the UK to have a healthy diet. 

School food advocates cheered earlier this month when California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a major boost in state funding for California school food. The Governor’s 2020-21 budget proposes US$80 million for school food programs serving more than 3.5 million children in the state, many of whom rely on free-and-reduced school meals for up to 50 percent of their daily nutrition. This is huge news, as California has not made new investments in feeding the state’s most food-insecure students in over a decade. If spent well, these new funds could generate major benefits for children’s health, farmers, school food workers, the climate, and our state’s soil and water resources.

This vital funding boost follows a surge of advocacy over the past year, including three widely supported school food bills in the state legislature in 2019 aimed at increasing plant-based and organic food and expanding universal access to school meals. Building on this momentum, Friends of the Earth worked with a broad spectrum of allies–– including Natural Resources Defense Council, Community Alliance with Family Farms,  Edible Schoolyard Project, Conscious Kitchen, Center for Ecoliteracy and the office of Kat Taylor, Co-CEO of Beneficial State Bank and a major leader on this issue–– to urge the Newsom administration to invest in a more comprehensive approach to school food.  This vision focuses on upgrading food quality and freshness, serving more climate-friendly, plant-based and organic food, supporting local farmers, developing food and garden education programs, and investing in worker training and higher-skilled, better-paid jobs. These integrated elements are all needed to build a vibrant, economically viable school food community that supports children’s health, workers, and sustainability.

Read the full article about boosting healthy food for kids and markets for farmers by Kari Hamerschlag at Food Tank.