WASHINGTON, DC- Philadelphia area Congressional members met with Tom Vilsack, Secretary of the United States Department of Agriculture, to discuss the decision made by the Bush administration to terminate the Philadelphia Universal Feeding pilot program. During the meeting, U.S. Senators Bob Casey and Arlen Specter and U.S. Representatives Chaka Fattah, Allyson Schwartz, Robert Brady and Joe Sestak urged Secretary Vilsack to reverse the decision to terminate the program which ensures 120,000 school children in the Philadelphia-area have access to nutritious meals.
“The Philadelphia area delegation had a substantive meeting with Secretary Vilsack,” said Senator Casey. “Providing school children with nutritious meals must be our number one priority. I will continue to work with Secretary Vilsack, his staff and my colleagues in Philadelphia to ensure that this goal is met.”
“Ending the Universal Feeding Program would reverse the good work done to fight hunger and have a devastating impact on the many children in Philadelphia who rely on the school district as a source of nutrition,” Senator Specter said. “I am pleased that Secretary Vilsack was willing to listen to me and my colleagues about the important benefits of the program and it is my hope that the USDA reconsiders the decision.”
Congressman Chaka Fattah said, “We are excited that Secretary Vilsack had expressed so much support for innovative solutions to ensure that federal funds are appropriately spent and all eligible children receive the nutrition they so desperately need. We look forward to Philadelphia’s opportunity to share its experience with the School Lunch Pilot program and be a model when the House and Senate take up reauthorization of Child Nutrition.”
Congresswoman Schwartz said, "It was a productive meeting with Secretary Vilsack, and I look forward to working with the Secretary and my colleagues to ensure that children in Philadelphia get the nutrition they need to be healthy and to reach their potential in school."
Congressman Brady said, “I appreciate that Secretary Vilsack took the time to further discuss this issue and understand the importance of having the USDA reverse its decision. There is no reason to replace an efficient process with an additional level of red tape, increased paperwork and increased cost. We have to all work together to ensure that the most at-risk eligible children in the Philadelphia School District don’t fall through the cracks and are denied essential nutritional services.”
“As Dr. Mariana Chilton of Drexel’s School of Public Health pointed out to the School Reform Commission, almost 78,000 children in Philadelphia alone live in households that do not provide them with access to enough food for an active and healthy lifestyle,” said Congressman Sestak. “Today’s meeting was an important opportunity to emphasize the effectiveness of using demographic surveys to offer free lunch to everyone in high-need schools rather than use individual applications that are too often not filled out by poor families. I am drafting legislation to build on the success of this pilot and allow any school in the country with a high level of student eligibility to offer free lunch to everyone. We must ensure that this program is not eliminated, but instead used as a model for future nation-wide initiatives.”
In cooperation with the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, the District began the Universal Feeding Program in 1991. The program created a more streamlined alternative for counting and claiming meals under the National School Breakfast and School lunch program because parents and students weren't required to fill out application forms for free or reduced-price meals.
Instead, the eligibility requirements were based on a comprehensive socio-economic study. This method eliminated cumbersome paperwork and administrative layers for parents and for the School District to ensure that every child is able to receive meals at no cost.
Currently 120,000 school children get access to nutritious meals through this program – that's 72% of all Philadelphia kids in public schools and 200 of the neediest schools out of the total 280 Philadelphia schools participate in the universal meals program.
Philadelphia schools serve more than 50,000 breakfasts and 115,000 lunches every school day and the program is considered to be a model of an effective, straightforward program for getting increased numbers of healthy meals to more kids.
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