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Search Results for: community eligibility

Legislature to consider making more schools hunger-free

We all want kids to succeed in the classroom. This week, the Legislature has the opportunity to fuel students’ learning by making more Nebraska schools hunger-free zones through LB 1066, which would include provisions of LB 1004 and LB 1065 through a committee amendment. The underlying bill is the annual technical bill for education in Nebraska, and through AM 2640, would make important changes to allow more schools to take advantage of the federal Community Eligibility Provision (CEP). The CEP allows schools in high-poverty areas to serve free breakfasts and lunches to all students. Research shows that universal school meals increases meal participation and improves overall health and nutrition for students.

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Legislative Update

Today marks the 9th day of the 2016 Nebraska Legislature, and this year’s short 60-day session promises to be an important session for kids and families in our state. In the coming months, the Unicameral will consider many bills impacting child well-being in the areas of child welfare, economic stability, health, and juvenile justice. Throughout the session, we’ll be bringing you updates on the measures that will affect Nebraska’s children and families the most and let you know what you can do to help.

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Making Nebraska’s Schools Hunger Free

As Thanksgiving approaches, we look forward to celebrating the holiday with our families, around a table of everyone’s favorite dishes. But what happens for families that struggle to put food on the table during difficult times? As the poverty rate for Nebraska families remains high, so does food insecurity: according to our 2014 Kids Count in Nebraska Report, in 2013 one in eight households in our state wondered at some point in the year where they were going to get their next meal.

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5 Scariest Nebraska Kid and Family Stats

  All of Nebraska’s children deserve the opportunity to grow up to be happy, healthy, successful adults. Our state does many things right, and there is no doubt that our’s is a great state to be a kid. But despite our many successes as a state, there are things we need to fix.

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OPS Schools Recognized for Being Hunger-free

  We know that hunger can be a barrier to learning, and we have previously mentioned on the blog that schools that have a significant portion of low-income students now have the option of becoming hunger-free zones by serving free meals to all enrolled kids.  In the first year that this option was available in Nebraska, 6 Omaha schools moved forward with this option known as Community Eligibility. Earlier today, we joined Conagra Foods and Nebraska Appleseed in honoring OPS for making schools hunger free.  We hope that as the success stories about this new option continue to spread, more schools will consider becoming hunger-free zones where kids can focus on learning without being distracted by hunger.  Here are some highlight’s from today’s event.

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Health Care in 2015

Good health and access to quality affordable health care is important for everyone, but it’s even more important for kids.  This is because our health during critical developmental years can have consequences that last into adulthood.  When health or developmental issues aren’t identified early, they can become more challenging and costly to address. Regular health check-ups during childhood help ensure that children are immunized against common childhood diseases that can be debilitating or even deadly. A new study indicates that there may even be an impact on earnings in adulthood based on access to health care as a child.

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Will Nebraska Move Forward on Hunger-Free Schools?

Earlier this year, we mentioned Community Eligibility as a new option for providing school meals in a way that makes high-poverty schools hunger-free zones.  Ensuring that children aren’t hungry in school can help them be better prepared for their primary job of learning.  Community Eligibility allows eligible schools to serve free breakfast and lunch to all students without needing an application. Earlier this year, the list of eligible schools was released.  Of the eligible schools in Nebraska, 46 are in the Omaha Public School District.  On Monday, I spoke to the OPS school board to encourage them to move forward to at least pilot community eligibility in the district this year.  Read my comments here.

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A New Tool to Address Child Hunger

Children do best in school when they arrive for the day ready to learn and one of the most important things a kid can do in the morning to prepare for school is to start the day off with breakfast.   It used to be that most kids had a family breakfast at home in the mornings, but both the rise in food insecurity and the number of children with both parents in the workforce have reduced the likelihood of kids receiving a morning meal.  In 2012, 1 in 8 Nebraska households was considered food insecure, meaning that they don’t always know where their next meal is coming from, and almost 2/3 of Nebraska kids had all available parents in the workforce. Schools have a resource that they can leverage to help students start the day ready to learn. It’s the federal school breakfast program.  Unfortunately, Nebraska has not been using this resource to its full potential, currently ranking 49th in the nation for the number of eligible kids participating in the breakfast program. This school year, thanks to a change in federal law, some Nebraska schools will have a new option to help increase the number of kids being fed called community eligibility.  Through community eligibility, high poverty schools can start serving free meals to all students.  This increases the administrative efficiency of the program and reduces the stigma that kids eating free or reduced price school meals often face.  In states where community eligibility has been tested, it has also improved participation rates in the school breakfast program. Hungry kids are less likely to be able to focus on their classroom work and can have poorer health.  We need to do a better job as a state of using all of our available resources to address child hunger and we hope that Nebraska schools who are eligible will consider taking up this new option to help ensure that more of or school kids are starting their day off with the benefits that breakfast can provide.  

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National School Breakfast Week

This week is National School Breakfast Week, and this year’s theme is “Take Time for School Breakfast.” For many students, there isn’t always time for breakfast—we’ve recently highlighted how our state can better ensure that schoolchildren reap the many benefits that a nutritious breakfast has to offer, starting with alternative models of breakfast delivery. Community eligibility, a federal program established in 2010 that eliminated applications for “identified schools,” or schools with a student population where at least 40 percent of students are automatically eligible for free school meals. The program, which saw significant success in the handful of states in which it was piloted, will be expanded to all states in the upcoming school year.

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State Policy Agenda 2025

The following is a list of Voices for Children’s priority legislation for the 109th Legislature, 1st Session. Live updates for our bills will updated accordingly throughout the session.  We’ve linked to the bill landing pages below. You can also watch the Nebraska Legislature Live throughout the session. This link will provide direct access to active live streams of committee and legislative hearings, along with links available for later live streams set to take place as well.  Please feel free to reach out to us to get involved on any of these bills and make your voice heard for Nebraska kids. To contact your state senator, click here. Juvenile Justice LB 65: Exempt individuals under nineteen years of age from payment of certain court costs and fees and change provisions of the Nebraska Juvenile CodeIntroducer: Senator DeBoer Status: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Support LB 149: Eliminate the prohibition on suspending a student in prekindergarten through second gradeIntroducer: Senator HansenStatus: Referred to Education CommitteeVoices for Children’s Position: Oppose LB 352: Change provisions relating to reports on student achievement and discipline required under the Quality Education Accountability ActIntroducer: Senator BallardStatus: Referred to Education CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Support Click here to read Voices for Children’s position LB 395: Change provisions relating to unlawful possession of a firearm by a prohibited juvenile offender and sealed recordsIntroducer: Senator DeKayStatus: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Oppose LB 407: Provide for criminal proceedings against juveniles charged with felonies following unsuccessful juvenile court proceedings and provide for inadmissibility of certain statementsIntroducer: Senator J. CavanaughStatus: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Determining LB 430: Provide an additional exception to the prohibition on suspending a student in prekindergarten through second grade and change provisions relating to short-term and long-term suspension under the Student Discipline ActIntroducer: Senator MurmanStatus: Referred to Education CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Oppose LB 492: Change juvenile court jurisdiction relating to habitual truancy and provisions relating to compulsory school attendanceIntroducer: Senator ConradStatus: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position:  Support LB 556: Change jurisdiction of juvenile courts and adult criminal courts and change provisions relating to detention and hearings under the Nebraska Juvenile CodeIntroducer: Senator RiepeStatus: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Oppose LB 567: Authorize school policies relating to community engagementIntroducer: Senator QuickStatus: Referred to Education CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Support Click here to view Voices for Children’s position LB 584: Change sentencing provisions for crimes committed by a person younger than eighteen years of ageIntroducer: Senator SpiveyStatus: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Support  LB 670: Require schools to adopt a safety plan and provide and change requirements related to training for staff of child care and schoolsIntroducer: Senator MurmanStatus: Referred to Education CommitteeVoices for Children Position: OpposeClick here to view Voices for Children’s position LB 684: Transfer juvenile probation functions to a new Juvenile Probation Agency in the executive branchIntroducer: Senator BostarStatus: Referred to Judiciary CommitteeVoices for Children Position: Determining LB 700: Provide for confidentiality of prosecutions and adjudications of minors, extend jurisdiction under the Nebraska Juvenile Code, provide requirements for custodial interrogations of juveniles and young adults, prohibit use […]

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