We're going to talk now about something called lunch shaming. That's when kids are publicly identified as being from families that can't afford to pay for school lunch, maybe they're identified with a wristband or a hand stamp. But then those kids are bullied or ostracized because of it. New Mexico has become the first state to make that kind of lunch shaming illegal with something called the Hunger-Free Students Bill of Rights. The bill makes schools talk to parents, not students when the student has cafeteria debt.
Read MoreNew Mexico students will no longer be singled out if they have debt in the school cafeteria. Our state became the first in the nation recently to outlaw what's known as "lunch shaming," which can include serving students a cold sandwich instead of a hot meal, requiring that they help clean up after the meal or stamping their arm with a message to parents that they owe money in the cafeteria.
Read MoreEvery day in this country students come to school without a way to pay for lunch. Right now it's up to the school to decide what happens next.
Since new legislation out of New Mexico on so-called lunch shaming made headlines, we've heard a lot about how schools react.
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Read MoreThe law’s passage is a victory for anti-hunger activists, who have long been critical of lunch-shaming practices that single out children with insufficient funds on their electronic swipe cards or who lack the necessary cash. These practices can include making the child wear a wrist band or requiring the child to perform chores in exchange for a meal.
Read MoreJennifer Ramo, executive director of New Mexico Appleseed, told the New York Times, “It sounds like some scene from ‘Little Orphan Annie,’ but it happens every day.”
Read MoreJennifer Ramo, the executive director of the anti-poverty and anti-hunger group New Mexico Appleseed who helped draft the law said, “People on both sides of the aisle were genuinely horrified that schools were allowed to throw out children’s food or make them work to pay off debt..”
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Read More“Keeping Families Together,” is a pilot project that addresses the intersecting problems of homelessness and child abuse and neglect. It is the first time New Mexico has turned to housing as a tool to reduce the state’s longstanding epidemic of child abuse. The idea comes by way of New Mexico Appleseed, an Albuquerque think tank that estimates 16,000 homeless children reside in New Mexico, placing the state among the 10 worst in the nation.
Read MoreNew Mexico Appleseed was the recipient of the 2016 Creative Innovator Award from the Santa Fe Community Foundation. Here is the amazing video produced about Appleseed’s work in the community.
Read MoreIn 2017, thanks to Appleseed's work, New Mexico was the first state to ban the practice of lunch shaming. This landmark piece of legislation was quickly adopted by many other states and praised as commonsense law.
Read MoreNew Mexico students will no longer be singled out if they have debt in the school cafeteria. Our state became the first in the nation recently to outlaw what's known as "lunch shaming," which can include serving students a cold sandwich instead of a hot meal, requiring that they help clean up after the meal or stamping their arm with a message to parents that they owe money in the cafeteria.
Read MoreThe story of ‘how’ New Mexico Appleseed focuses on improving the lives of the poor and underserved through systemic change. Results are high impact and lasting.
Read MoreSpreading the word about federal programs available to help the many children who "fall through the cracks" and end up hungry during summer, when school lunch programs are not available.
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