NM Appleseed’s Rapid Response to the SNAP Crisis

Using Existing Infrastructure to Address Childhood Hunger

New Mexico is facing an unprecedented child hunger catastrophe. It is a perfect storm of furloughs, layoffs soaring food costs, and the stoppage of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits that are immediate threats to the health and well-being of children across our state. What is a clear humanitarian failure will quickly become educational and mental health failures, as well.

In early childhood, inadequate nutrition impedes development of executive function, working memory and attention regulation. School-age children demonstrate developmental delays, cognitive deficits and long-term academic underperformance. Adolescents show elevated rates of anxiety, depression, dysthymia and suicidal ideation.

Read that last one again. That’s not just about nutrition. It’s also about the trauma of not knowing where your next meal is going to come from.

New Mexico Appleseed has created Operation MESA (Meal Expansion for Student Assistance) as a rapid response that uses existing infrastructure and legal authority to feed children immediately. The SNAP crisis is just one of many that families are facing, and Operation MESA is a long-term solution that can be operational as long as children and families need it to be.

The best part about Operation MESA is that cities, counties, schools and communities can implement most of these recommendations without state permission. That said, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s continued leadership on the child hunger front, along with that of the Legislature, would be incredibly helpful to get statewide buy-in and more children fed.

Open all after-school meal programs to the community

New Mexico has hundreds of U.S. Department of Agriculture after-school meal sites operating around the state that can serve anyone under 18 in their community who needs a meal. These meals are completely reimbursable by the USDA and support local economies by purchasing food and hiring staff.

Implementing Operation MESA could turn every after-school feeding site into an immediate community resource, ensuring children have access to nutritious food during critical afternoon and evening hours when nothing is in the cupboard at home. Communities could add flu shots, food bank pickup locations, and connect children and families with any services they offer.

Enforce state Breakfast After the Bell law

In 2011, New Mexico Appleseed wrote the nation’s first law requiring high-poverty schools to serve breakfast after the bell rings so 100% of students could receive free meals after the start of the school day. Yet, most school principals and superintendents routinely ignore the law, such that 60% of students in New Mexico are still unable to access free school breakfast.

Every school required to offer Breakfast After the Bell must make meals available to students to eat between passing periods, upon arrival or during appropriate breaks. Feeding your students breakfast is not optional.

Emergency grocery benefits for studentS

The New Mexico Legislature and the governor could provide emergency food assistance specifically for households with children that operates similarly to the Summer EBT program that feeds families when school is out and school meals are not being served. Every eligible family would receive $120 per child for every month SNAP is disrupted. These benefits can be issued immediately on EBT cards. This provides stability for families and reduces the anxiety and stress that hungry children bring into classrooms.

It is a smaller ask of the Legislature than covering the entirety of the state SNAP benefits and has the additional benefit of mitigating educational damages.

The current hunger crisis represents both a moral test and an academic emergency. Will we allow New Mexico's children to go hungry and watch our educational outcomes plummet? Or will we mobilize Operation MESA to ensure no child goes without food, and every child can focus on learning?

This is going to be a long-term problem as the economy evolves. Operation MESA is a long-term solution. The evidence is clear. The infrastructure exists. The legal authority exists. New Mexico citizens and leadership at every level must act now.