If Massachusetts were a country, it would be among the wealthiest nations in the world, with the ​fifth highest GDP per capita. And yet, despite all that wealth, last month the Boston Globe reported that a ​staggering one million people in our state are now food insecure​. According to recent Feeding America projections, Massachusetts has experienced the most rapid increase in hunger of any state in the nation this year, with a particularly shocking ​102% increase in childhood hunger.

Did you know that every student in Massachusetts has access to free school meals this school year? The pandemic prompted swift action on state and federal levels to make it easier for children to access the food they needed each day. Because of stigma, cost and paperwork, less than half of low-income students ate breakfast and lunch daily before temporary federal legislation removed those barriers. Today, more kids are eating meals at school, but without legislation at the state level, recovery from our current crisis could mean that those barriers go back up.

We spoke with Jennifer Lemmerman, Director of Government Affairs at Project Bread, about their campaign to make school meals permanently free for all students in Massachusetts. 

EDIBLE BOSTON: So this particular program, is this something that started during the pandemic, or is this something that had been a goal previously?

JENNIFER LEMMERMAN: We believe it’s an absolutely necessary step along the road to ending hunger in Massachusetts, this belief that all children should have access to meals at school, at no cost to the family and with no paperwork or income verification. When a child is at school, if they get hurt, they get to go to the school nurse. And every kid has equal access to that. We don't say that one kid has to pay a dollar for a Band Aid, another kid gets it free. It’s part of making sure that kids are ready to to learn and to make the most of their school day. And we feel the meals are exactly the same. So it's always been something that we have felt is the direction that we should be going.

That said, this crisis has certainly shed a light on the state of hunger in our state and in our nation. And it was already way too high in Massachusetts, one in 10 kids. But since the pandemic, it's now one in five kids are food insecure, and Black and Latino families are, unfortunately, impacted at twice that rate. So we do feel we're in an environment right now that that food insecurity is is really being highlighted and, obviously, exacerbated by this crisis.

And part of the response to that is that the federal government approved, and the state government implemented, this universal school meals program, that feeds every child 0 to 18 and in Massachusetts and actually all over the country right now. School meals at no cost to them. No paperwork required. Our country has has really made a statement that this is the least we need to do for kids right now. And we feel that that is a barrier that should never be put back up.

EB: Is there any opposition to this, and if so, what arguments are people making that this should not continue?
JL: We're not naive that it's gonna cost money. So I think that's probably the biggest concern that people will raise about it. But we really feel that the state budget and the federal budget and where we choose to spend those dollars is a statement of our priorities. And so, for us, we feel that feeding kids should absolutely be a priority. And and here in our state, the biggest places that we spend our money is on health and education. And that's because we, as communities, value that investment in our future, for our kids. And food insecurity is so intimately tied in to those issues and really fits into that prioritization.

EB: Where would the money be coming from?
JL: We’re working on the drafting the legislation at this point, but there are federal programs that schools can opt into, that, obviously, the higher the population of kids in the community that are eligible for free or reduced price meals, the more they can have picked up by the federal government. So that's a big place. We need to maximize that as much as possible, which is really in line with project’s overall policy goals of maximizing the federal nutrition programs.  So that's the first thing, making sure that every school that is eligible for those federal programs is utilizing them. The remaining meals that are served that are not eligible for federal reimbursement would be picked up by the state, and it would be in the state budget. 

EB: And then what would the timeline look like? Do you feel optimistic?
JL: We’ll start in January at the start of the new legislative session, gathering cosponsors for that legislation. Through January and into the spring, we’ll be working with our grassroots and coalition partners to reach out to as many legislators as we can get to sign on to this legislation. So that would be the first major steps and down the line we’ll certainly plan to do coalition lobby days. And, lots of that advocacy that needs to be done.

I think for this one, the thing about this legislation is not only is it passing a bill, but there's a real element to this of changing the dialogue around meals and what we expect them to be, what we expect people to pay or not pay.

What kids are provided with when they’re at school to make sure that they are ready to learn. So I think there's a big component of going out and talking to the school communities and and the parent groups, all of the different stakeholders, and really making the case for why this is important. 

That is something that we're ready to the ground running with as soon as we have this legislation, and I think that will be one of the biggest goals, just really changing the dialogue. Leran, our manager of public policy and research and I work closely together. He has a one year old also, our kids are two months apart. He said to me, and I’m paraphrasing here, he said ‘You know, if we passed this, by the time our kids get to school and they grow up, that this is just the way things are. I really feel like it's gonna change the way that they think about who deserves food and what food access is in people's lives.’ Which is just very cool to think about.

Learn more about Project Bread’s anti-hunger initiatives at projectbread.org. Sign up here to join the coalition for universal school meals in Massachusetts.

This story appeared as an online exclusive in December, 2020.