In his first four months in office, President Biden has delivered historic progress for American families and the American economy. The American Rescue Plan has provided every state with much needed funding including Utah with $1.4 billion for recovery efforts – and that is just the beginning. The American Families Plan is a once-in-a-generation investment in the foundations of middle-class prosperity: education, health care, and child care. As the Public News Service reports, the American Families Plan would address the food insecurity that Utah families are experiencing.
Public News Service: American Families Plan Would Boost Summer Nutrition for UT Kids
Food insecurity among rural Utah children, already a problem prior to the pandemic, has grown worse in the past 15 months. Children’s advocates said while free and low-cost school lunch programs help feed thousands of Utah kids each year, a Biden administration proposal could permanently expand these nutrition programs, particularly outside of Utah’s urban school districts. The multi-billion-dollar American Families Plan would provide direct payments to families to cover kids’ meals during the summer break.
Neal Rickard, child nutrition advocate for Utahns Against Hunger, said the plan would close a major gap in current food programs. “The thing about summer meals in Utah is that we are a fairly rural state, most of the state is not an urban area,” Rickard explained. “And while districts do a great job of providing summer meals while they’re available, there are still a lot of places that are just never going to be fully accessible for summer meals.”
The program would provide eligible families $300 or more a month during summer break for groceries.
