Commissioned Research Informs Eos Foundation’s Forthcoming Anti-hunger Initiative
October 22, 2012
McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
In this wealthy nation of ours, 16.2 million children are going hungry and do not have access to healthy food each day.
The Eos Foundation intends to do something significant to combat hunger and ensure a next generation of well-nourished children in Massachusetts.
In April 2012, the Eos Foundation commissioned a team including UMass Boston’s Center for Social Policy, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center (MassBudget), and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) to conduct research to inform its decision making on its forthcoming anti-hunger initiative. The team’s research was directed towards understanding how the food assistance programs work in Massachusetts and then identifying places—leverage points—where the foundation's philanthropic funds could make strategic improvements to the programs.
The team reviewed all federally funded food programs in Massachusetts, and then examined in greater depth school meal programs and several aspects of the federal Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP).
In addition to an overview of the programs, the research, completed in September 2012, provided:
• detailed enrollment and participation data on school breakfast, school lunch, and summer food programs
• extensive information gathered from in-depth case studies of elementary and middle schools in three Massachusetts school districts
• examination of SNAP policies, including their potential for improving children's participation in school food programs
Two key research findings reveal that, on an average school day,
• 65% of those on the free or reduced price school food plan do not eat school breakfast
• 20% of Massachusetts children on the free or reduced plan do not each school lunch
RESOURCES
Read the summary charts on major fundings, Breakfast and Lunch Participation in Massachusetts Schools.
View the food assistance programs chart showing who is eligible, who runs them, where they get funding, and how people can gain access.
See a posting by President Andrea Silbert on the Eos Foundation's strategic approach to fight hunger
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