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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Nom Nom Nom: President Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Provides Free Meals for All Detroit Schools

Nom Nom Nom: President Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act Provides Free Meals for All Detroit Schools

by Imani Gandy (ABL)|  September 6, 201112:03 pm| 51 Comments

This post is in: Open Threads, Yes We Did

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 A new program enacted under President Obama’s Health, Hunger-Free Kids Act authorized the USDA to select up to three states to test the Community Eligibility Option, and long story short — all students in Detroit Public Schools will receive free breakfast, lunch and snacks.

Free healthy food for Detroit children!

That’s what Obama’s talkin’ about:

All Detroit Public Schools students will receive free breakfast, lunch and snacks in an effort to remove the stigma of being from a low-income family.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture program chose Michigan as one of three states to participate in the pilot program. Charter schools and districts in Michigan can participate if at least 40% of students are eligible for public assistance.

“One of the primary goals of this program is to eliminate the stigma that students feel when they get a free lunch, as opposed to paying cash,” said DPS Chief Operating Officer Mark Schrupp. “Some students would skip important meals to avoid being identified as low-income. Now, all students will walk through a lunch line and not have to pay. Low-income students will not be easily identifiable and will be less likely to skip meals.”

Although not required to participate, parents are still being asked to fill out a survey that includes income analysis to ensure that children, schools and the district will continue to receive millions of dollars in benefits and resources from the state and federal governments, as well as private grants. Program funding dependent on the surveys includes tutoring, after-school programs, field trips, technology and equipment, DDOT bus cards, free college testing, enrichment activities and others.

The Community Eligibility Option is among the early reforms enacted under President Obama’s Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, which authorized the USDA to select up to three states to test the option in School Year 2011-12. A main factor in choosing the finalists was the prevalence of high-poverty areas. The option will be offered to more states in successive years, and will be available to all states beginning School Year 2014-15.

What’s the GOP talking about?  How The Poors™ can’t be all that poor since, like, 96% of them have such luxuries as refrigerators.

Advantage, Obama.

[This post is a couple weeks old, but I figure lots of folks will be talking about Detroit today, (given the rally in Detroit yesterday, the transcript and video of which you can view on my blog here) so it seemed important to highlight what the Administration’s policies have done to help Detroitians. Detroitites? Day-toize? Whatevs. -ABL]
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Reader Interactions

51Comments

  1. 1.

    Culture of Truth

    September 6, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    Health, Hunger-Free Kids Act

    That acronym does not spell REAGAN therefore it must be socialist plot.

  2. 2.

    Earl Butz

    September 6, 2011 at 12:08 pm

    Another big government giveaway to those kids.

    What, you don’t think that’s how Fox will have this spun, and the rest of the obeisant media dutifully parroting, by this afternoon?

    Advantage, Obama.

    I think not. Half the working class is greased up and ready to kill the other half. Identity politics, how does it work?

  3. 3.

    ruemara

    September 6, 2011 at 12:11 pm

    Well, I liked it the first I heard it and I still like it.

  4. 4.

    Anne Laurie

    September 6, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Detroitians. Detroitites? Day-toize?

    When I lived in the state (mid-state, not Detroit), the default seemed to be “Michiganders in the Detroit area“.

    Yes, we called ourselves Michiganders. Although the more aspirational newscasters preferred “Michigan residents”, or “residents of Detroit”.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    September 6, 2011 at 12:20 pm

    Nanny state!

    Also, too, food goddess Alice Waters.

    http://www.edibleschoolyard.org/

  6. 6.

    Rommie

    September 6, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    The other angle of attack is to pick on the food served to the children. If it’s more than bread-and-water level some CN-aligned (Completely Nuts) person(s) will demand that lettuce, government cheese, chocolate milk, etc., is outrageous luxury the country can’t afford with the massive deficits. Even the children have to learn Shared Sacrifice!

    If they get it on the taxpayer’s dime and broken backs, the kids will eat their biscuit and deal with it!

  7. 7.

    Zifnab

    September 6, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Damn you, Obama! You are nothing more than a Republican in sheep’s clothing, with your constant catering to the deeply conservative and corporate-friendly “young children in public schools” demographic!

  8. 8.

    danimal

    September 6, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    If Obama would only use the bully pulpit to talk about economic injustice, liberals would rally behind him. Instead, all he does is parrot FoxNews talking points and pursue Republican policies.

    /because I didn’t get into the fights last weekend

  9. 9.

    BlizzardOfOz

    September 6, 2011 at 12:29 pm

    So Dear Leader took a few minutes off from killing Pakistani children and fellating Wall Street for a photo op with some kids. Good for him.

  10. 10.

    Linda Featheringill

    September 6, 2011 at 12:33 pm

    Ooooh. I really like the idea of the whole school system getting free lunches, etc. Right on!

    I don’t know what areas they are trying this in but I would bet that Cleveland would be a good area too.

    Hooray for the Obama administration!

  11. 11.

    WereBear

    September 6, 2011 at 12:34 pm

    Oh, our President and First Lady really have hearts… and they’re in the right place!

    On a related health issue, I’ve been enjoying this book:

    Wheat Belly

    I’ve been reading this cardiologist’s blog for a while, want to support his work… because it worked for me!

  12. 12.

    Emma

    September 6, 2011 at 12:38 pm

    Considering all the studies that show that good nutrition and basic preventive medical care for children from birth to twelve years old would reduce adulthood disease by something like half, you’d think we would have gotten on the ball already.

    Silly me. It’s logic and basic humanity, not class warfare.

  13. 13.

    Lindsey from Detroit

    September 6, 2011 at 12:44 pm

    Detroitians. Detroitites? Day-toize?

    We’re Detroiters. :o)

  14. 14.

    Linnaeus

    September 6, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    Detroitians. Detroitites? Day-toize?

    I grew up in the Detroit area; the term that the local media typically uses is “Detroiters”

  15. 15.

    Jon

    September 6, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    I live in SE Michigan, and it’s “Detroiters.”

  16. 16.

    Patrick

    September 6, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    In my daughters former school district, they didn’t take cash. They used a payment system myschoollunchmoney.com or something like that.

    Instead of using cash, you go through the line and you have a number. If you don’t remember it, they look it up for you.

    Real question here – why buy everyone food? For lower income families, just put money into their account.

    Why not this sort of solution versus a “free lunch for everyone” approach?

  17. 17.

    cat48

    September 6, 2011 at 12:47 pm

    I hope this is expanded. It’s hard to be different in any way when you’re a child in school. I really like this program. Good story.

  18. 18.

    Linnaeus

    September 6, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    And yes, this is a great idea. I’m glad to see it, and I hope it can be expanded.

  19. 19.

    JPL

    September 6, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    When Barnes was governor of GA, he mentioned that serving breakfast at schools is an inexpensive way of preparing students for the day. You can experiment all you want with teaching methods but if your audience is hungry, they won’t pay attention. He lost his battle for reelection.

  20. 20.

    BobS

    September 6, 2011 at 12:56 pm

    This is a good program that I support.
    But if that ‘We Are the World’ photograph was distributed by the White House to sell doubters on the program, it doesn’t exactly reflect the demographics of Detroit Public Schools.
    And as far as Obama’s visit to Detroit to smile on the serfs on Labor Day, fuck him. I can barely fit a piece of paper between my thumb and index finger to describe how much better he is than Reagan or W on labor issues.

  21. 21.

    FFrank

    September 6, 2011 at 12:57 pm

    Damn it! I miss government cheese. Some of the tastiest cheese that existed.

    I’m psyched that this will give the kids breakfast, that gets them thinking at least.

  22. 22.

    Ryon Lancaster

    September 6, 2011 at 12:58 pm

    Yup, its Detroiters, and Michiganders. Though I think Michiganians is also now accepted by act of legislature. Another example of Republican stupidity…

    This is good news, and a good place to start, since there are pretty much no supermarkets in the city.

  23. 23.

    Keith G

    September 6, 2011 at 1:00 pm

    All Detroit Public Schools students will receive free breakfast, lunch and snacks in an effort to remove the stigma of being from a low-income family

    I have noticed that some have taken great pleasure in knocking Texas, and like all states it can be worthy of shame. But we alleviated the above problem over a decade ago by instituting a swipe-card payment system. The student swiping the lunch card may be part of an assistance program or may be a kiddo whose parents have prepaid.

  24. 24.

    PhoenixRising

    September 6, 2011 at 1:03 pm

    Real question here – why buy everyone food? For lower income families, just put money into their account.

    Um, because OMGWTFBBQ Socializm!

    Seriously, the school lunch program has a proud history of being a kind of welfare that poor people can take. WWII Army induction records demonstrated the need for all our children to get a good meal every day, regardless of parents’ circumstances. Soldiers with pellegra can’t shoot straight–this was a social program with pragmatic roots.

    The years that my laid-off-public-employee parents were income eligible, we got one high-fat, processed hot meal a day at school and two healthy lowfat meals at home with the money they had back in their pockets to spend on their choice of groceries.

  25. 25.

    Keith G

    September 6, 2011 at 1:04 pm

    @Anne Laurie: We Buckeyes called you something else.

  26. 26.

    Son of Prog

    September 6, 2011 at 1:06 pm

    @Keith G: As much as I like the spirit of the program and am happy to see it implemented and that the kids won’t have to stand at the register while the lunch-lady pulls out a clipboard and looks for a name to check off, I like the idea of swipe-cards or some other non-monetary system that glosses over whether parents are paying in or not.

  27. 27.

    Martin

    September 6, 2011 at 1:09 pm

    I have it on good authority that none of those elementary school kids pay federal income taxes – therefore they are undeserving of any of this. Where’s the free meal program for our hedge fund managers?

  28. 28.

    BobS

    September 6, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    @Keith G: Would that be when you were escaping Ohio and vacationing in northern Michigan?

  29. 29.

    WereBear

    September 6, 2011 at 1:10 pm

    What a bunch of nitpicking & fussing.

    How many people could use the help these days, huh? If you can afford to feed your own children, send up a prayer of gratitude to your deity of choice and throw the money at some starving puppies & kittens, ‘kay?

    Committing to FEEDING EVERY CHILD is what this is about. And I’m all for it.

  30. 30.

    Martin

    September 6, 2011 at 1:13 pm

    @Keith G: Ah, but this doubles as a stimulus program, which Detroit desperately needs. There’s damn few kids in Detroit with parents that wouldn’t benefit from the extra few bucks saved, and if the cafeteria has to scale up for the entire student population, that’ll add a few jobs as well.

  31. 31.

    kay

    September 6, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    @BobS:

    But if that ‘We Are the World’ photograph was distributed by the White House to sell doubters on the program, it doesn’t exactly reflect the demographics of Detroit Public Schools.

    The program doesn’t reflect the demographic of Detroit Public Schools.

    It’s state-wide. Michigan qualified because Michigan has X number of districts where 40% (or more) of children receive free or reduced-cost lunches.

    Many, many more schools than those in Detroit will receive free lunches.

    Where I live, 30% of children receive free or reduced lunches, and it looks nothing like Detroit.

    I think the article is a little deceptive, because it’s incomplete. It’s accurate as far as it goes, but the focus on Detroit is misleading.

  32. 32.

    MonkeyBoy

    September 6, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    Why is the USDA running this program?

    It seems the USDA has a program of subsidizing food producers by buying up their surplus and it probably is the case the the producers sell their best quality food to the public while having the USDA buy up the lesser quality to feed to a captive market.

    A quick google turns up USDA defends meat quality of school lunch program

    “The meat products supplied to federal food and nutrition programs are of the same quality as those products available to consumers in their local supermarkets,” the Department of Agriculture said in a statement released late Wednesday.
    __
    The statement was prompted after the Humane Society of the United States showed Hallmark Meat Packing workers kicking sick cows and ramming them with the blades of a forklift. Hallmark and Westland Meat Co., both based in Chino, supplied ground beef for the National School Lunch Program and Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger.

    Considering the economic interests behind the USDA program I’m not sure if they are the right ones to run this program, but then again outsourcing something similar to the “free market” would probably wind up with even crappier food for kids.

  33. 33.

    Keith G

    September 6, 2011 at 1:20 pm

    @BobS: I love me some walleye fishing at Clinton in the UP. Started there as a 4 yr old (a Kennedy was President).My brother and sisters were there last week.

    I loved Ohio, growing up in one of its bluer parts. Only escaped the lack of employment in 1982.

  34. 34.

    kay

    September 6, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    @BobS:

    This is that rare instance where the WH promo picture is more accurate than the words of the newspaper article :)

    That’s what the kids receiving this program will look like.

  35. 35.

    Patrick

    September 6, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    @PhoenixRising: I don’t have a problem with providing them breakfast and lunch. Looking at this:
    “One of the primary goals of this program is to eliminate the stigma that students feel when they get a free lunch, as opposed to paying cash,” said DPS Chief Operating Officer Mark Schrupp. “Some students would skip important meals to avoid being identified as low-income. Now, all students will walk through a lunch line and not have to pay. Low-income students will not be easily identifiable and will be less likely to skip meals.”

    You can accomplish that goal by eliminating cash payments for lunch like my previous school district did. All the kids use a number to pay. If you qualify for free lunch, the money is on your account. There’s no student stigma.

    Maybe, as Atrios would say – the administrative costs are prohibitive and it’s cheaper to just do it.

  36. 36.

    BobS

    September 6, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    @kay: Thank you for your clarification. I’m always suspicious I’m being propagandized by the White House Happy Factory@Keith G: Ohio has mostly been a place to endure on the way to the Smokies or Florida. Except for occasional day trips to Cedar Point or Cleveland&Columbus (following the Tigers/Wings/Wolverines), and long ago, the occasional ball game my dad would take us to at Crosley Field in Cincinnati (to see the National League teams we couldn’t see in Detroit).

  37. 37.

    Keith G

    September 6, 2011 at 1:34 pm

    @Martin: I wasn’t carping. I was just pointing out a worthwhile program that in one way or another helps most of Texas’ 4.8 million students.

  38. 38.

    kay

    September 6, 2011 at 1:36 pm

    @Martin:

    I agree. I think they’re pumping some money into Michigan (and the other two states that qualified) anyway they can.

    Community Eligibility. It’s meant to benefit those communities that contain poorer districts.

  39. 39.

    ericblair

    September 6, 2011 at 1:54 pm

    @Patrick:

    Maybe, as Atrios would say – the administrative costs are prohibitive and it’s cheaper to just do it.

    I can believe that. Growing up outside the US, it was a bit of a shock to come here and see how complicated the benefits and tax bureaucracies are compared to elsewhere, since a lot of the paperwork is dedicated to making sure people not entitled to benefits don’t get them.

    This is another perverse advantage for goopers, since they can bitch that the Wrong People get benefits, force the paperwork to become more onerous to prevent that, then bitch about the enormous slow bureaucracy they created in order to slash benefits across the board. Easier and more seductive the Dark Side is, hmm.

  40. 40.

    different church-lady

    September 6, 2011 at 2:10 pm

    I’m sure I’m not the first person to observe this, but ‘having’ a refrigerator is not the same things as owning a refrigerator. Not the same thing at all.

    Next up: poor people aren’t really poor because they sleep on mattresses instead of straw and live in dwellings that have indoor plumbing.

  41. 41.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    September 6, 2011 at 2:23 pm

    Our local schools in our tiny town on the Oregon coast will all get free meals with this since they are at around 70% eligibility now.

    Of course, this is just Obama’s evil plan to feed a new generation of eeevul libruls so there’s that.

    Also. Too.

    Good to see ya ABL! :)

  42. 42.

    ABL

    September 6, 2011 at 2:33 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: i ain’t dead yet! :)

  43. 43.

    Keith G

    September 6, 2011 at 2:38 pm

    @different church-lady:

    Next up: poor people aren’t really poor because they sleep on mattresses instead of straw and live in dwellings that have indoor plumbing.

    Well at least no one is strapping them to the top of a car…yet.

  44. 44.

    ellie

    September 6, 2011 at 2:44 pm

    I learned something interesting about the FDA and supermarkets from a chef. The government gets first pass at the produce in our local Kroger stores, then restaurants, then the public. Good. I am all for children eating their fruits and vegetables.

  45. 45.

    boss bitch

    September 6, 2011 at 2:59 pm

    Why the heck is anyone complaining about that old photo? Seriously. is it going to be plastered all over their milk and juice box or something?

    Anyways, the program will go nationwide in a couple of years.

  46. 46.

    BobS

    September 6, 2011 at 3:09 pm

    @boss bitch: Not complaining about the photo, per se. I questioned the use of the photo as an accurate representation of the children in Detroit Public Schools, and placed it in the the context of the feelgood bullshit that the Obama White House is fond of spewing.
    This program is one of the rare instances when Obama’s deeds actually live up to the talk from him and his sycophants who comment so frequently here.

  47. 47.

    Arclite

    September 6, 2011 at 3:25 pm

    Hmm, in my daughter’s school, everyone pays for lunch by scanning their meal card. No one knows how you pay for your card: the families who can afford it fill the card up with cash (done at the front office every couple of months), the poorer families have it subsidized or paid for by the government.

    I’m all for free lunches for poor kids, but if the goal was simply to homogenize the way lunch is paid for to prevent the poor from being identified and stigmatized, why wasn’t this in place already? And why couple it with a program making lunch free for everyone? It seems like a roundabout way of solving the issue.

  48. 48.

    karen marie

    September 6, 2011 at 3:31 pm

    @Patrick: It’s really nice that struggling, low-income parents don’t have one more hoop they have to jump through by forcing them to document their income and having their kids’ free school meals at risk because they made $1 too much during a particular time period.

    Poor people have enough to do trying to scrape through without adding one more humiliation to their lives.

  49. 49.

    Admiral_Komack

    September 6, 2011 at 3:49 pm

    I’m glad the children are being helped.

    Hi, ABL! :-)
    (waves)

  50. 50.

    Dr. Psycho

    September 6, 2011 at 6:29 pm

    And of course Jewish residents of Michigan are Michigas…. :o)

  51. 51.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    September 6, 2011 at 8:55 pm

    @ABL:

    Let’s keep it that way! :D

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