Column: Expand free school meals, because all keiki deserve to eat
Nearly 1 in 3 households with children struggles to put food on the table. For these children, school meals may be the only balanced meal they get in a day.
Child advocates, parents discuss bill to expand free and reduced meals for Hawaiʻi keiki
A community forum was held Saturday at McKinley High School to discuss a senate bill that would expand access to free and reduced-price meals for public school keiki.
The price of hunger: Navigating the cost burden of free meals for Hawaiʻi students
Hawaiʻi Appleseed’s “Equity on the Menu” shows a cost estimate of $26 million per year. This would be 1.2 percent of the Hawaiʻi DOE’s overall annual budget, set this year at just over $2 billion.
Keiki Caucus introduces 2025 legislative package
Legislators and advocates identified five top priority issues impacting Hawaiʻi’s youth and families, including tax credits for household and dependent care services, funding for community schools, paid family leave, e-cigarette regulations, and universal free school breakfast and lunches.
Legislative deadline looms over universal free school meals bill
A bill to provide universal free school meals in Hawaiʻi is once again in jeopardy at the state Legislature.
Enthusiasm surrounds measure to provide universal free school meals
Thousands of students already take advantage of programs for free or discounted meals, but access often depends on a family’s income. Many students in low-income families need the support but can't get it.
Hawaiʻi sees first school meal reimbursement rate increase in 40 years
A long awaited boost to federal child nutrition program funds announced by the US Department of Agriculture in February, is now flowing into the state.
Bills to transform Hawaiʻi’s school meals die in Senate
The bills aimed to provide cheaper and more locally sourced meals to the nearly 170,000 public and charter school students in Hawaiʻi.
DOE hopes a $35 million kitchen in Wahiawa will improve school lunches and give farmers a boost
The DOE plans for a centralized kitchen concept but local advocates say it's better to increase cooking capacity at individual schools.
Inside the push to make school meals free in Hawaiʻi
Nutrition incentive programs like SNAP help stretch budgets and put good food on tables.
Free school meals for all Hawaiʻi students
As Hawaiʻi’s public school students begin to return to in-person learning, we are faced with a stark new reality: Many of them are hungry.
Every keiki needs a (healthy) breakfast
It is up to all of us to ensure that our keiki have the nutrition they need to be academically successful and healthy. We need to all work together in our communities to make this happen.
More kids need school breakfast
The returns on investing in school breakfast are clear: better academic performance for our children, fewer behavioral problems for our teachers to handle, relief for struggling and busy families in the mornings, and millions more federal dollars coming to our state.