Community Education Council District 2
333 Seventh Avenue
New York, New York 10001
Tel (212) 356-3915 Fax (212) 356-7506
www.cecd2.net
Shino Tanikawa, President
Simon Miller, Vice President
John Keller, Treasurer
Robin Broshi, Recording Secretary
Claude Arpels
Banghee Chi
Beth Cirone
Eric Goldberg
Sonni Mun
Tamara Rowe
Resolution #
In Support of Free and Healthy School Lunch for All NYC Public School Students
Co-sponsored by: Claude Arpels, Beth Cirone and Shino Tanikawa
WHEREAS, federal law allows New York City to make healthy school lunches
universally free for every public school student; and
WHEREAS, New York City is not taking advantage of the great opportunity in making
healthy school lunches universally free for every public school student; and
WHEREAS, the need for universally free school lunches is clear; and
WHEREAS, one in every four New York City children lives in a home that lacks enough
food; 68 percent of New York City’s 1.1 million public school children have families
whose income is low enough to be eligible for free school lunch; an additional 7 percent
have incomes that qualify them for reduced priced meals; and
WHEREAS, the consequences of childhood hunger are dire: hunger negatively impacts
children’s learning and health; and
WHEREAS, school meals are a critical tool in the fight against hunger; and
WHEREAS, in 2013, 250,000 out of 780,000 students eligible for free or reduced price
meals did not participate in the subsidized school lunch program; and
WHEREAS, hundreds of thousands of students in New York City public schools do not
participate in federally funded school lunch due to the programs’ poverty stigma. Many
of these students, especially as they get older, go without eating school lunch for fear of
being labeled poor by their peers, with long-lasting health and educational consequences.
(Currently, 81% of elementary school students eat school lunch while the participation
drops to 61% in middle school and 38% in high school); and
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WHEREAS, some income-eligible children are not enrolled in the free or reduced-price
lunch program because their parents do not submit the paperwork. Many of these parents
are concerned about sharing personal financial information, or do not know about the
program; and
WHEREAS, making lunch universally free to all students eliminates many of the
barriers and ensures all New York City public school children have access to a healthy
lunch; and
WHEREAS, in September 2014, the city invested an additional $6.25 million a year to
provide free lunch to all 177,000 students in the sixth through eighth grades without
requiring parents to verify their income; and
WHEREAS, the free lunch program in middle schools has resulted in increased
participation (an increase of nearly 10% in the first six months of the program compared
to the same period the prior year) while the participation rate in elementary schools,
which did not offer universal free lunch, grew very little ; and
WHEREAS, expanding the program will allow more students access to healthy meals
without the stigma and embarrassment, which currently deter many children from eating
school lunch; and
WHEREAS, with an additional $13.5 million investment, all public school students in
NYC will have access to free lunch; and
WHEREAS, Community Education Council District 2 believes that New York City
should take advantage of all available federal and state programs to provide free meals;
and
WHEREAS, the Community Education Council District 2 believes the City should make
the investment so that all public school children have access to healthy meals through
universal free lunch; and
BE IT RESOLVED, that Community Education Council District 2 calls upon the Mayor
to make school lunch free for all students irrespective of the income levels of their
parents.
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