Coming TO NEW york city this Fall: 838,000 students with access to universal free school lunch!

by: Liz Accles

Executive Director, community food advocates

Friends and Partners,

Big news!: We've made a great leap forward towards free school lunch for all in NYC! We are thrilled to announce that the Fiscal Year 2018 City budget agreement includes expansion of universal free school lunch to most public school students across all neighborhoods and grade levels.

Our preliminary analysis shows that an additional 475,000 students in 890 schools will benefit from equal and universal access to free school lunch in NYC. This brings the total to 828,000 students (84% of the student population) in 90% of all k-12 schools!

This is a momentous step forwards towards addressing the stigma and shame in our cafeterias and mitigating the affordability crisis for families struggling to make ends meet and provide their children with nutritious meals.

Before we plan our next phase of work and implementation, we want to pause and celebrate this truly amazing accomplishment. The Lunch 4 Learning campaign kicked off four years ago, and each year our incredible base of partners has grown.

In our first year we secured universal free school lunch for free standing middle schools. This was an important first step, but each year we ramped up the fight.

This year, with a game-changing commitment from New York State Health Foundation, we were able to work with the strategic communications firm, Global Strategy Group, who, together with the New York City Council, the Public Advocate, and all five borough presidents; our union partners,

DC 37, UFT, and CSA; the Lunch 4 Learning Parent Caucus and student leaders; pediatricians; and anti-hunger and community-based organizations, really helped lift our work up in ways that the de Blasio administration could no longer ignore. We truly could not have spearheaded and sustained the Lunch 4 Learning campaign over the years without the dedication and support of so many people.

This has been a labor of love for all of us here at Community Food Advocates, and we are very excited to begin work to ensure effective implementation in each school and make sure New York is a truly universal free school lunch city with no student left out.

Many Thanks,

Liz Accles

Executive Director

Community Food Advocates

LUNCH 4 LEARNING IN THE MEDIA

Read Bloomberg's coverage of the NYC budget:

"NYC Budget Deal Has Millions

for Youth Jobs, Free School Lunches" and

view NBC 4 New York's ongoing coverage

of the Lunch 4 Learning campaign

For a full list of press coverage from NY1,

the New York Daily News, HuffPost, News

12 Brooklyn (and many others!) since the

new year, view our press page here.

STUDENT TESTIMONY ELEVATES L4L CAMPAIGN

Students meet with Council Member

Margaret Chin after providing testimony

before City Council Finance Committee

High school student leaders from

Community Food Advocates' Youth Justice

League testified before City Council on May

25th, shortly before the budget was released.

The students rounded out a chorus of

requests for expansion of universal.

Finance Committee Chairwoman,

Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, and others,

praised the students for their advocacy and

eloquent, deeply personal testimony.

LOOKING BACK ON A MOMENTOUS YEAR: 2017 HIGHLIGHTS

8,000+ Postcards Delivered to the Mayor & November 15th Rally

Parents and Community Members Speak Out About Universal

Spring 2017: Donald Nesbit, Executive Vice President of Local 372, DC 37 (pictured), parents, community and union members speak out about universal in targeted ads throughout NYC.

May 15th Rally

Center: Ksenia Novikova, student at New Utrecht High School and Youth Justice League member speaks; Left: Councilman Peter Koo, Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Diana Reyna; Councilman Vincent Gentile; Right: Councilman Ben Kallos; Councilman Richie Torres; Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson