The national anti-hunger campaign “No Kid Hungry” has selected Tennessee as one of six states that will participate in its 2019 School Breakfast Leadership Institute and receive a $50,000 grant. Selected through a competitive proposal process, teams from Georgia, Maryland, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, and Wyoming will convene on June 11-12 in New Orleans, La., to develop comprehensive action plans to expand access to school breakfast in their states.
No Kid Hungry’s School Breakfast Leadership Institute brings together national, state, and local leaders to develop new and better ways to connect kids with school breakfast.
Tennessee’s state team is composed of leaders from the Tenn. Dept. of Education (TDOE), Tenn. Organization of School Superintendents (TOSS), and the State Board of Education.
“We are excited about this unique opportunity to work together to identify the most effective ways to ensure that students have breakfast at school, “ said Lori Paisley, executive director of healthy schools at TDOE. “We believe that healthy students learn better, and a good breakfast sets our students up for success. The support we will receive will allow us to establish goals and develop key strategies to improve access to breakfast across the state.”
Research shows that hunger has long-term impacts, including lower test scores, weaker attendance rates, and a higher risk of hospitalizations and chronic diseases. No Kid Hungry and its partners focus on school breakfast as a critical way to end childhood hunger.
One out of every five kids in Tennessee is growing up in a family that struggles with hunger. Even so, school breakfasts only reaches 65 percent of students who may need breakfast, because accessing traditional cafeteria breakfast service can be challenging for many kids.
School breakfast is an energy source for kids across the nation. Breakfast after the bell provides breakfast in a way that is more convenient and accessible to students, resulting in more kids starting the day ready to learn.
For more information about the School Breakfast Leadership Institute, please contact [email protected]. No child should go hungry in America. Join the fight at NoKidHungry.org.
