Making Our Children Healthier By Expanding Their Access To Nutritious Food

Posted November 24th, 2009 by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand

Too often lost in the debate over health care reform is the importance of preventive measures such as exercise and healthy eating to ensure that a doctor’s visit is less likely to be needed in the first place. This is especially true for children whose early brain development and future health depend on good nutrition in the first years of life, which is why I introduced The Access To Nutritious Meals For Young Children Act. This bill will strengthen the Child And Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), a program funded by the Child Nutrition Act, which provides meals to children enrolled in Head Start, Early Head Start and child care programs in both day care centers and family child care homes.

Currently, CACFP reimburses providers for up to two meals and one snack per day. As parents work longer and longer hours to make ends meet, for millions of children in this country the child care program or elementary school they attend is their primary source of food. That’s why my legislation would expand the program to allow three meals and one snack each day.

It would also increase the reimbursement rates by 20 cents per meal and 10 cents per snack. As we all know, fuel and food costs have risen in recent years making nutritious food more and more out of reach to low income Americans. Our reimbursement rates to child care providers must rise accordingly.

In addition, while currently, the program is only available in areas where 50 percent of the population is low-income, I’ve expanded the program to areas where 40 percent of the population is low-income. Expanding eligibility would enable many more homes to participate in CACFP and many more children who desperately need nutritional meals and snacks to be served by this important program.

Finally, this bill will make participation in CACFP less of a burden by streamlining the program and paperwork requirements as well as increasing the Administrative Reimbursement Rate for CACFP sponsoring organizations by $5 per family child care home per month. These reforms will make the program more affordable and more likely to reach more children.

It is my hope that through my comprehensive child nutrition agenda, we can begin to give children a healthy start in life so that they can achieve their full potential. It’s been found that as the nutrition of meals at school improves, manic behavior decreases and concentration increases. That’s why it’s imperative that we institute a wide array of reforms including banning trans fats in cafeteria kitchens across the country, raising the federal reimbursement rate of food by 70 cents per meal, and giving the Department of Agriculture more regulatory power over all food in schools, including snack machines.

Through the passage of The Access To Nutritious Meals For Young Children Act, we will take one very important step toward increasing the nutrition of millions of children around the country, which in turn will lead them on a road to success as well as reduce their lifetime health care costs in the long run.

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Posted Under: E: Excellent Childcare T: TV & After-School Programs

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5 Comments

February 26, 2010 at 3:47 pm by Mary Cirucci

Although your intensions are good, I think this is overly invasive and not necessary. Where is the money going to come from to pay for the extra meals? It’s going to come from raising taxe on a hard working middle class family like me who is making the right choices for my family but already taxed to the limit! Our goverment leaders keep forgetting that. Poverty is not a joke. And I sympathise with people who are having a hard time putting food on the table. I propose that goverment is not the answer to every problem. We need to depend on an encourage the local churches and businesses to help feel those in our neighborhoods. Our church food bank feeds more than any other in our county. There are a number of churches running excellent food bank programs and they are doing a great job. There are other solutions to feeding the hungry outside of goverment mandates. I don’t agree that nutritious foods are more expensive. It’s the pastries and pop tarts and sugary cereals that are expensive. I can get bananas for .49 a lbs. A Dozen eggs for a buck, bread and peanut butter goes a long way and is certainly nutritious. We also have several “day old” outlet stores that provide bread and bakery items at significant discounts. Sorry, I can’t jump on board this band wagon.

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December 4, 2009 at 2:23 pm by Connectregard

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November 25, 2009 at 3:29 am by Katy

This act is a reauthorization of an existing act that reimburses child care providers for offering nutritious food.

The standards are extremely high, (and laid out in great detail. Because truly nutritious food is more costly, many child care providers have dropped out of the program when their reimbursement for children who are not at 185% of the poverty level was dropped in 1996.

My son has been at several home day care programs that followed the program. (one was not reimbursed, but followed the guidelines out of her love for the children she cared for.) They all consistently reported that they believed the meals they offered to be significantly more nutritious than those families typically offer.

Even as a very health-conscious mom, I have to admit that my choices for my son at times are influenced by his preference and convenience. So, even when cost is not a factor, which it is for the vast majority of us, feeding our preschoolers the best meals possible can still be challenging.

Over the long term it is legislation such as this that makes lasting change in health care and the many related social issues we face in the United States.

Lastly, as an educator, I am highly aware of the impact that nutrition has on children’s ability to perform at school, emotionally, behaviorally, and academically.

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November 24, 2009 at 6:39 pm by Donna Norton

Thanks for standing up for moms and kids in Congress!

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November 24, 2009 at 4:59 pm by Karen

I have more of a question than a comment. At firsr blush, it seems anyone would be crazy not to support this type of legislation…However, what I don’t see here is a dicussion related to ensuring nutrition. It appears as though this bill will expand the reach of existing legislation. Is there any language in the bill that defines “nutritious food” or ensures that only meals that are actually balanced and nutritious are reimbursed?

Thanks!

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