Home McAuliffe: 297 percent school participation increase in child hunger program
Local

McAuliffe: 297 percent school participation increase in child hunger program

Contributors

Governor Terry McAuliffe and First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe announced that 341 Virginia schools across 47 public school divisions have enrolled in the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) for the 2017-18 school year.

virginiaCEP is a federal program that allows schools with high poverty rates to provide breakfast and lunch to all students at no cost. In the 2014-2015 school year, the first year Virginia schools were eligible for CEP, 86 schools across 11 divisions participated. Since that time, the program has experienced a 297% increase.

“I’m proud to announce that our efforts to increase meal participation across Virginia have reached this great milestone,” said Governor McAuliffe. “Dorothy and I understood that we needed to work with schools and provide them with additional resources to help break down barriers to food access. We simply cannot build the workforce we need to compete in the 21st century if tens of thousands of Virginia children are starting each school day with an empty stomach.”

“The CEP program is an essential part of our work to make sure that no child goes hungry in Virginia,” said First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe. “When we make school breakfast and lunch available at no cost to every single student, we are recognizing meals as essential to a child’s ability to learn. Under CEP, school meals are treated like textbooks and computers, as necessary tools for students and not dependent on a family’s ability to pay. Our progress in CEP expansion is an example of how our unique public/private partnerships can effectively target solutions and make real change for Virginia’s children.”

“The successful expansion of the Community Eligibility Provision and other federal nutrition programs prove that Virginia schools are seeing the connection between school meals and student success,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Steve Staples. “When schools adopt CEP, they are able to ease administrative burdens and focus instead on the work of teaching and feeding their students.”

First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe has made it her priority to end childhood hunger in Virginia by connecting schools with longstanding federal nutrition programs that ensure every student has access to healthy food. Her partnership with the No Kid Hungry Virginia campaign has resulted in millions more school meals served to Virginia students at no cost to them.

 

2017-18 participating divisions include:

Alleghany Co. (1 school), Augusta Co. (1 school), Bristol City (5 schools), Brunswick Co. (5 schools), Buchanan Co. (6 schools), Buckingham Co. (3 schools), Charlottesville City (3 schools), Chesapeake City (6 schools), Colonial Beach (2 schools), Covington City (2 schools), Cumberland Co. (1 school), Danville City (12 schools), Dickenson Co. (3 schools), Franklin City (3 schools), Franklin Co. (5 schools), Fredericksburg City (4 schools), Greensville Co. (4 schools), Halifax Co. (7 schools), Hampton City (14 schools), Harrisonburg City (1 school), Henrico Co. (10 schools), Henry Co. (14 schools), Hopewell City (6 schools), Lee Co. (10 schools), Lynchburg City (14 schools), Martinsville City (5 schools), Newport News City (26 schools), Norfolk City (30 schools), Norton City (2 schools), Orange Co. (1 school), Petersburg City (9 schools), Portsmouth City (14 schools), Prince Edward Co. (1 school), Pulaski Co. (4 schools), Richmond City (45 schools), Roanoke City (19 schools), Russell Co. (2 schools), Scott Co. (3 schools), Smyth Co. (4 schools), Staunton City (3 schools), Suffolk City (3 schools), Sussex Co. (3 schools), Tazewell (4 schools),Virginia Beach (4 schools), Waynesboro City (2 schools), Westmoreland Co. (1 school), Wise Co. (7 schools).

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.