CHILDREN’S HUNGER ALLIANCE APPLAUDS OHIO SENATE FOR BUDGET ALLOCATION ADDRESSING CHILDHOOD HUNGER
Senate Invests $250,000 Per Year to Help 1 in 5 Ohio Children Living in Food-Insecure Households
COLUMBUS, OH (June 22, 2017) – Children’s Hunger Alliance, a statewide non-profit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in Ohio, today expressed its gratitude to the Ohio Senate for including a generous investment of $250,000 per year in the biennial state budget. With this funding, Children’s Hunger Alliance will have the capacity to expand its programming in four core areas – early childhood nutrition, afterschool meals and snacks, school and summer nutrition expansion and nutrition education.
“I want to express our sincere thanks to President Larry Obhof and members of the Ohio Senate for their investments in our children,” said Judy Mobley, president and CEO of Children’s Hunger Alliance. “More than 575,000 of Ohio’s children do not have enough to eat, and they rely on the nutritious meals we help provide through our work with community partners. Lack of proper nutrition negatively impacts a child’s ability to learn and thrive.”
One in five Ohio children are food insecure, but that number increases to more than one in four children in southeast Ohio, where Children’s Hunger Alliance’s is focused on maximizing federal nutrition programs where the need is most critical. Children’s Hunger Alliance works alongside community partners to implement sustainable solutions to childhood hunger, leveraging the USDA’s federal nutrition programs, administered by the Ohio Department of Education, to offset food and administrative costs. For every $1 Children’s Hunger Alliance invests in programs, $3 in federal child nutrition funds is returned to the state of Ohio.
Last year Children’s Hunger Alliance provided approximately 5 million meals and snacks a year to Ohio children through its partnerships with 275 afterschool programs, 12 daycare centers, and nearly 900 in-home child care providers throughout Ohio. They also helped increase access to school breakfast and summer meals for thousands of students. The organization also led more than 2,000 children and child care providers through nutrition education curriculum to create a foundation of healthy eating.
The state budget now will be considered by the joint Budget Conference Committee, which includes members of both chambers. Once the Conference Committee drafts its recommendations, the budget will be sent back to the House and Senate for final approval.
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About Children’s Hunger Alliance
Founded in 1970 in Columbus, Children’s Hunger Alliance is a statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger in Ohio. The organization’s mission is to purposefully ensure children without access receive healthy food, nutrition education and physical activity. The organization works with partners to help provide millions of nutritious meals and snacks to hungry children throughout Ohio. Learn more at childrenshungeralliance.org.