Masks are mostly gone and schools are open for in person learning. Still, the pandemic highlighted unique findings about food security, meal access, and funding priorities that merit further exploration. Simple things like proximity to home meal pick up sites and even the advertising around when and where to pick up meals can make a difference in whether students go hungry or not.
We learned a lot about how the pandemic changed access to school meals for families. In response to school closures due to quarantine orders, schools pivoted to different service models to get needed food to children. In New York City (NYC) Public Schools, the largest school district in the nation, schools adopted a grab-n-go meal model. During the pandemic, this model allowed families to visit their local school to easily, quickly, and safely pick up nourishing meals to feed their young ones. While it did have an incredible reach and served ~300,000 - 500,000 meals per day, this was significantly less than the nearly ~1 million per day in meals that had been served just prior to the COVID-19 pandemic onset. Similar models were being repeated throughout the nation wherever schools were closed to in person learning.
In 2021, with funding partially from the New York Health Foundation, the Tisch Food Center explored the concerns and experiences families had about pandemic school meals to better understand the facilitators and barriers to getting school meals. In terms of facilitators, many parents told us that they were able to participate in the grab-n-go meals because the pick up locations were conveniently located - often, right across the street or a five minute walk! These families also discussed that frequent and transparent communication about these meals from parent coordinators, teachers, principals, other school personnel, or even friends, helped encourage their participation. Families also reported that the quality and variety of items were, on average, pretty good.
However, the reverse was often true for barriers. Families who dropped off or who only picked up a few reported that it was often inconvenient to go pick up meals - for an assortment of reasons. They may have been confused or unaware of important information, like locations and times, or even the options that might be available. Our study highlighted some of the biggest barriers in grab-n-go meal participation more thoroughly, check it out here. That study, along with other research, allowed us to form a policy brief that pointed to some other concerns, click here. This policy brief discusses opportunities to improve school meals and participations like, investing in more in school cafeterias redesigns (which improves the willingness of students to eat school food and socialize) and incorporating more nutrition education in school curricula to help students value and appreciate the healthy free school meals that are served throughout NYC public schools.
You may wonder why we’re writing about this now? Well, countless barriers that were identified as key to increasing school meal participation still exist today. The NYC City Council has budgeted funding to assist in some aspects that are needed. However, with many competing priorities, funding was limited and, sadly, some of the crucial work even done at the Tisch Food Center was cut..
As we reflect on this during the middle of summer 2023, we predict that summer meal participation will likely be much lower than meal participation during the school year . One reason for this decline is simply that it can be a burden for families to get their children to certain designated pick up locations. And while NYC Public Schools posts the summer meal locations on their website here, many families may not even know about the posting or the meals. This is because when school is out, families don’t always receive notices from schools.
Here at the Tisch Food Center, we believe that adequately funding the needs of the NYC Public School meals program translates directly into better nourishing the nearly 1 million NYC Public School students who are ready to learn and are able to keep learning during the summer. In a district where nearly 80% are food insecure, even a small increase in summer meal participation means that hundreds of thousands are more food secure. Early childhood and teen years are a time of both rapid body and brain development, which set up health for adulthood, as well as the ability to focus and learn in school. This means the impact can be huge. History may not necessarily repeat itself, but it definitely can rhyme. Let’s get children fed!
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